GTA 6 Map Speculation Thread Hits 10,500 Posts After Three Years of Research

A dedicated GTAForums thread has spent nearly three years trying to figure out the exact shape, size, and scope of GTA 6’s Vice City map. Since launching in September 2022, the “Mapping Vice City” community has poured over 10,500 posts — more than 350 pages — into compiling evidence, debating theories, and refining predictions. The result is a huge, collaborative project that mixes educated guesswork with serious detective work.

The group’s mission has been simple but ambitious: map out the game world before GTA 6 even launches. Using Google Maps, Google Earth, Street View, Bing Maps, and Wikipedia, they’ve matched in-game locations from trailers and screenshots to their real-life Miami counterparts. They’ve compared every angle of the two official trailers and scrutinized Rockstar’s released images. They’ve even factored in the infamous 2022 leaks, although the thread enforces a rule against directly posting any leaked materials.

The fascination comes from how far the speculation goes. Members break down terrain shapes, building placements, skyline silhouettes, and even weather patterns. A big part of the fun is watching theories evolve — some stick, others fall apart when new footage emerges. Each idea gets peer-reviewed before it’s added to the group’s more formal map drafts.

One of the more unconventional ideas comes from contributor Pudgehodge, who thinks cloud formations in the trailers could be hiding map boundaries.

"I noticed that the northern area of the map almost always has these large/dense cloud formations. Do you think Rockstar might use clouds/weather as a map 'boundary' system? These cloud formations seem to be perpetually sitting in the distance in the north, and most shots that are actually in the more northern regions seem to be veiled in dense fog, mist, and clouds."

Pudgehodge suggested that if players try to fly into these cloud-covered zones, they might hit invisible restrictions, similar to how older GTA games used blocked bridges or closed tunnels to limit early exploration. They admitted the theory might be overthinking things, but the idea captures the thread’s spirit: nothing is too small to analyze.

The community’s methods range from the straightforward to the deeply creative. Some users focus on identifying specific real-world buildings, working out how they might be altered to fit Rockstar’s Vice City. Others zoom in on background details like highway layouts or waterway curves, then line them up with Florida’s geography. Even minor decorative elements in the trailers get inspected for clues about the game’s boundaries.

While most GTA players will explore the map blindly when the game releases in May 2025 for consoles, the “ Mapping Vice City ” crew aims to walk into the game already knowing where they’re headed. Their predicted map includes everything from Vice City proper to the surrounding countryside, small towns, and offshore areas — all stitched together from cross-referenced visual evidence.

It’s not the first time fans have tried to map a Rockstar game before release, but the sheer scale and longevity of this project set it apart. The dedication is fueled by a mix of excitement and curiosity, with members openly acknowledging that not every guess will be right. Still, the volume of research means a lot of their work is likely to match the final product.

For the rest of the GTA audience, the appeal of GTA 6 will be stepping into an unknown world and discovering it naturally. But for this community, the thrill will come from finding familiar landmarks they predicted years in advance — and confirming that their digital detective work was spot on.