A new Grand Theft Auto 6 leak has indicated what year the game may take place. Previous titles from GTA's so-called 3D era such as Vice City and San Andreas took place in the 80s and 90s respectively, but the more recent HD era has largely been set in the present day with GTA 4 and 5, and many believed GTA 6 would follow this pattern.

A new leak from the now-suspended GTA6posts on Twitter suggests otherwise, however, allegedly showing a variety of clips from GTA 6's development, continuing from the massive, 90-video leak last year that revealed the game's protagonists and the return to Vice City. One new clip, in particular, may have revealed a rough estimate for the year of the game's setting through the cost of cigarettes. In the leaked footage, a gas station poster reveals cigarettes are priced at $4.10, and when factoring in inflation and past costs of items over the years, this seems to point to GTA 6 being set in the late '90s to the early 2000s, relative to GTA 5's 2013 setting, where cigarettes cost $6.

GTA 6's Time Period Could Pay Homage To Many Miami-Set Films & Shows Of That Era

Miami police officers Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett from Bad Boys 2 in the background of two GTA characters.

The last time players explored Vice City, the game had an 80s setting and heavily referenced movies such as Scarface or TV shows like Miami Vice, the latter of which was clearly a major inspiration even down to the city's name. A 90s or 2000s era game in Rockstar's version of Miami could take from some other classic media, as Miami-set stories had another boom in that time period. This setting would allow Rockstar to include the explosive "Bayhem" of the first two Bad Boys movies in GTA 6, the street races of 2 Fast 2 Furious, or even the crime scenes of CSI: Miami or Dexter. Miami Vice also received a Michael Mann-directed feature film adaption in this era starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as Detectives Crockett and Tubbs that the game could pay homage to.

Could GTA 6's Return To Other Time Periods Bring Back Past Protagonists?

Hossein Diba's HD versions of the GTA Trilogy and GTA 4's protagonists lined up brandishing weapons

If GTA 6 were to take place in this time period, it would also place it closer to that of the GTA Trilogy and GTA 4. Therefore, there would be the opportunity for Rockstar to include characters from those titles, much like the GTA Trilogy had CJ meeting GTA 3's Claude at one point in San Andreas before the latter's trip to Liberty City. It would be particularly interesting to see where Vice City's characters ended up a decade on from that game's events. Vice City's protagonist, Tommy Vercetti, is unlikely to return due to his voice actor, Goodfellas star Ray Liotta, passing in May 2022, but with GTA 6's female protagonist Lucia rumored to be linked to the Cuban gangs who appeared throughout Vice City, it would allow for characters such as Danny Trejo's Umberto to return to tie the two eras of Vice City together.

Rockstar still has yet to reveal anything official surrounding GTA 6 other than the news it's in development, and confirmation that the leaks last year were real, meaning that for now, this new GTA 6 leak's possible setting is all speculative. It's reported that the studio is targeting a Holiday 2024 release for Grand Theft Auto 6, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before fans get more concrete information surrounding the series' return to Vice City.

Source: GTA6posts/Twitter