Vercetti Estate

Vercetti Estate, also known by its former name of Diaz's Mansion, is a mansion located on the south eastern corner of Starfish Island in Vice City. The mansion and its surrounding compound has been prominently featured in both Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for different purposes.

Description

Basically, the property consists of a large red and pink mansion surrounded by well cut lawns, pools, lavish terraces, and a low wall. The compound is also equipped with a private dock to the south, as well as a helipad on the mansion's roof.

GTA Vice City

Use in storyline

In GTA Vice City, the mansion starts of as Ricardo Diaz's place of residence; as a result, the estate is known under Diaz's name and is considered Diaz's Gang territory, the only place where the gang may be seen. Over the course of the storyline, Tommy Vercetti and Lance Vance eventually launch an attack against Diaz at the mansion, killing Diaz and claiming the mansion as his own. Tommy promptly renames it the "Vercetti Estate", and Diaz's Gang ceases to exist as the mansion grounds is henceforth occupied by the Vercetti gang. After Diaz's death, the mansion serves as a staging area for Tommy to tighten his grip on the city's businesses, eventually leading to the property earning the player $5,000 a day.

Vercetti Estate is eventually featured prominently during the final mission of the game "Keep Your Friends Close", when a firefight in the mansion ultimately leads to Lance's and Sonny Forelli's deaths.

Amenities

Until Rub Out, the mansion is primarily known to only spawn an Infernus of varied colors and a Stretch or a light grey Admiral (used by Diaz in the mission Guardian Angels) which occasionally takes the place of the Stretch on the driveway of the compound. When the player acquires the mansion, the Infernus is changed so that it will always appear white (implying it belongs to Lance Vance). The mansion will also come equipped with a working garage that can hold up to two road vehicles. The compound itself features other special quirks. To the west of the mansion is a hedge maze where the player can find a Sniper Rifle, while the southern terrace to the mansion's private dock will eventually spawn a Sea Sparrow when the player collects 80 hidden packages.

The interior of the mansion comes complete with several rooms. The centerpiece of the mansion is its main hall, with high ceilings, dark decors, doorways to two rooms, and a massive stairway that leads to the second floor. Downstairs, players have access to a living room to the right that includes a bar and a posh sitting area. The second room, Ricardo's/Tommy's office room, is located on the second floor, containing a desk, a safe, seating, and security televisions. The room contains a save point, as well as the player's default "Street" clothing pickup. Upon 100% completion of the game, a "Frankie" shirt will also be made available in the room.

The mansion's remaining interiors consist of hallways that lead to a stairwell to the roof and basement, as well as the mansion's indoor swimming pool towards the back. A small room in the basement contains nothing but Health, Body Armor, a Pump Action Shotgun, and an M4. This room is most likely the Mansion's armory.

The rooftop of the mansion features a helipad which usually spawns a Maverick. Explosive barrels are also scattered around the lower level of the roof.

Upon 100% completion, three sitting bodyguards will spawn in the living room; the player can "hire" any of them for a fee by walking into any of the three halos next to them.

Visual changes

As the player progresses through the GTA Vice City storyline, the interior of the mansion becomes progressively messier. Soon after the player acquires the mansion, the painting in the hallway are the first to be vandalized and defaced. After completing various asset missions, a shovel will appear beside the main entrance, followed by garbage bags, cigars, wine bottles and glasses, and pizza boxes around the stairs and entrance near the end of the storyline.

Other changes may be found as a result of other missions. Trophies are added on top of an unplugged TV in the first room after the player passes all the Hyman Memorial Stadium missions. There is also a table with more pizza and a tiger rug, plus a box for an RC helicopter that appears after completion of Demolition Man. In the second room, Tommy's desk is cluttered with books, paper work, a few posters of Candy Suxxx, and a vault filled with money.

GTA Vice City Stories

File:Diaz'Mansion-GTAVCS-exterior.jpg

Diaz's mansion in GTA Vice City Stories, as seen with its incomplete right wing.

The mansion is depicted in GTA Vice City Stories to be undergoing renovations. Most significant is construction work on the mansion itself for a new west/left wing, while the mansion's rooftop has been modified to sport a smaller helipad as well as a relocated rooftop access.

Other differences can be found around the building. The west side of the compound features a more natural pond instead of GTA Vice City's hedge maze, as well as dug out trenches; the south compound leading to the dock is far less elaborate, featuring only a simple lawn as opposed to an ornate terrace garden; a gazebo which incorporates architectural elements from the mansion itself can also be seen on the southeastern corner of the compound. The opening leading to the indoor pool has also been blocked off by an opaque window.

Predictably enough, Ricardo Diaz resides in the mansion, with mission strings from the character activated within the grounds of his estate. Cutscenes reveal one of the mansion's additional rooms implied to be located on the northeastern corner of the mansion.

Trivia

In the original PS2 version of GTA Vice City, when the player drives through the doorway of the mansion, the player is removed from the vehicle and the vehicle disappears. In subsequent versions of the game, the player is not removed from the vehicle and the vehicle is kept.
In the original PS2 version of GTA Vice City, the player can enter Blue Hell by flying a helicopter through the ceiling of the pool in the rear side of the mansion. This is fixed in subsequent versions of the game.
When inside the mansion interior in the PC version, the roof of the spiral stairwell is missing, revealing the sky.

References to Scarface

The mansion is a parody of Tony Montana's mansion in the famous 1983 movie Scarface. The interior lobby of the mansion is of the same design as Tony's mansion, except that Tommy's mansion sports a middle staircase rather than two side staircases; the "The World Is Yours" fountain - into which Montana falls after being killed - is also absent.

The office where the player saves their game also bears an uncanny resemblance to Tony Montana's office, down to the design of the desk, and the twelve security televisions to the right which depict portions of the Montana mansion (One picture is only a rear picture of his mansion (which is most likely from the climax of Scarface), but the other is of the inside of his mansion showing the one of the two side staircases and showing most of "The World Is Yours" fountain).

Comparison of building structure

In GTA Vice City Stories, the High Roller prostitution business lobby features roughly the same layout as the Vercetti Estate's lobby in GTA Vice City.