State of Leonida

State of Leonida
STATE; State of Leonida
Appearance(s):	Grand Theft Auto VI
Name:	State of Leonida
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For the 3D Universe counterpart, see Florida.

The State of Leonida is a fictional state in the United States appearing in Grand Theft Auto VI. The state is based on Florida, with some influences from Georgia, and is home to a new version of Vice City (based on Miami).

Information

Leonida is known in-universe for its beach resorts, amusement parks, warm climate, and nautical recreation, and is home to what's described as the busiest port in the world. It's nicknamed "The Goodtime State", and appears to be named after the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, who led the first European expedition to Florida.

The state's seal - similar to Florida's real-world one - features a person being eaten by an alligator.

Leonida's northern border runs along Mount Kalaga National Park, which may border a neighbouring state, Gloriana. Some locations, including a prison in Kelly County, appear to be modelled on real places in Georgia rather than Florida.

Rockstar hasn't revealed the full map yet, so there's likely more of the state still to come.

Locations

List of Counties, Cities and Towns

Vice-Dale County

Kelly County

Kelly County
Port Gellhorn

Leonard County

Leonard County
Waning Sands

Mariana County

Ambrosia County

Ambrosia County
Ambrosia

Comparison to Vice City in GTA III Era

Leonida's version of Vice City is a spiritual successor to the Vice City of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, but the two settings differ in scale and setting as much as they're alike.

The GTA III Era's Vice City was set in 1986 (and 1984 in Vice City Stories), was based on 1980s Miami during its cocaine-fuelled boom years, and was explicitly located within the real-world State of Florida - it was, in fact, the only Grand Theft Auto city ever placed in a real US state rather than a fictional one. It was also a self-contained setting: two major islands and six smaller ones, connected by bridges, with no surrounding countryside to speak of.

Leonida's Vice City, by contrast, is just one city within a whole fictional state - Vice-Dale County alone appears to cover Vice City and the neighbouring town of Vice Beach, and Leonida as a whole stretches from the coast to national parkland and the rural Grassrivers. Rather than sitting in the real Florida, this rendition of Vice City belongs to the fictional Leonida, continuing the series' usual approach of building analogues for real states (see San Andreas for California/Nevada, or Liberty City's Alderney for New Jersey) rather than using the real one.

The two also differ in tone and time period: the 1986 city leaned heavily on its drug-trade and Miami Vice-inspired aesthetic, while Leonida's Vice City is set in the present day and brings in contemporary touches like social media that didn't exist in the original. It's too early to say how much of the classic city's geography (its islands, its Ocean Beach/Downtown/Little Havana-style districts) carries over, since Rockstar has only shown a handful of locations in Leonida so far.

Florida Retcon

Before Leonida was revealed, several earlier games had made passing references to a real-world Florida - Niko Bellic jokes about being "from Florida" in Grand Theft Auto IV, and it comes up a few more times across GTA IV, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. GTA VI's reveal retcons all of that: Florida is now treated as exclusive to those earlier games, with Leonida taking its place as Vice City's home state going forward.