Although rumors suggest that Grand Theft Auto 6 may take place primarily in Vice City, there are plenty of reasons as to why Rockstar Games should choose a different fictional city to focus on. With recent reports indicating the new installment could release as early as 2023, player excitement is ramping up and there has been much speculation over where the next Grand Theft Auto game will take place.

Last year, an allegedly-leaked report suggested that GTA 6 will take place in two locations, those being Vice City and a fictional South American city. It’s suggests that Grand Theft Auto 6's story will begin in Vice City, and then a mission will take the characters to a new city inspired by Rio De Janeiro.

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Though nothing has been officially confirmed by Rockstar, there have been mixed reactions to the rumors that GTA 6 will take place in Vice City. While some Grand Theft Auto fans are excited to potentially see the classic Rockstar city in updated PS5-level graphics, it would make more sense for the franchise to branch out and choose a new locale, especially given how many times the games have covered Vice City already.

GTA 6 Is A Chance To Explore Other Locations

pier and boardwalk in GTA 5

The Grand Theft Auto series has largely stuck to a three-city trifecta – Liberty City (New York), Vice City (Miami, Florida), and Los Santos, San Andreas (Los Angeles, California). Though the games give the locations fake names, they’re heavily inspired by their real-life counterparts in both looks and culture. The original Grand Theft Auto, released way back in 1997, allowed players to explore all three cities.

Ever since, Rockstar has primarily made Grand Theft Auto installments revolve around one of their three major fictional cities. The developer has featured Liberty City the most in its games, including in 2001’s GTA III and 2008’s GTA IV. Liberty City also had a titular feature in GTA: Liberty Stories, released in 2006, and it was also the setting for 2009’s GTA: Chinatown Wars. Vice City has also received its fair share of attention, with GTA: Vice City debuting in 2002 and Vice City Stories in 2006.

GTA Car driving on highway

Granted, there have been some exceptions to this theme. GTA II explored something entirely different. Rather than using a real-life city as inspiration, the producers created a fictional but futuristic city. Similarly, GTA: London explored a 1960s London, England, heavily diverging from the franchise’s typically modern (and American) cities. But for the most part, GTA prefers to stick to what it does best - or at least what it thinks it does best.

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While it would be interesting to see Vice City come to life in better graphics and updated gameplay, it would be even more thrilling to see GTA explore an entirely different city. Various GTA games have already explored Vice City, and if GTA 6 goes the same route, it risks feeling repetitive or even boring.

Rockstar seems to think the only large U.S. cities are L.A., New York, and Miami, but this disregards other major players like Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston. It would be especially impressive to see GTA go somewhere other than American soil and visit an international location, which they could very well do if the rumors about South America prove true. Rockstar has expressed some interest in exploring an international location, unfortunately it doesn't seem as though the company thought this was the right direction for GTA games. "I think for us, my gut feeling is, GTA London was cool for the time, but games were more limited then,” Dan Houser said in 2013, according to Develop. “These days I think we would love to set a game in the UK, set in London, whatever, but I don't know if it would be a GTA game.”

It remains unclear if Grand Theft Auto 6 will take place in Vice City or if the franchise will explore something new, and given that GTA 6 likely won’t be released until 2023, the answer to that question may be a long way away. However, going somewhere entirely new to the franchise would be the best choice to both surprise players and offer new gameplay options for them to explore.

NEXT: How GTA 6's Setting Will Influence Its Radio Stations & Music

Source: Develop