The GTA 6 trailer is finally here! After more than ten years since Rockstar last announced a new game in the Grand Theft Auto series, it has returned. And we’re going back to Vice City!
Rockstar confirmed that the GTA 6 trailer would be released on December 5, 2023, but someone managed to upload an early, low-quality version. To stop the leak from spreading, Rockstar released the official trailer.
The 90-second trailer is short, but we get a glimpse of the main character, Lucia, and her male partner possibly named Jason, according to leaks.
It looks like a Bonnie and Clyde situation, with the two causing chaos in the city by robbing stores and running from the police.
We even hear a bit of Tom Petty’s music in the background. The game takes inspiration from Miami, Florida, and we get our first real look at the new state of Leonida and the GTA 6 map.
The best part is that the GTA 6 release date is confirmed for 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. However, details about a PC release are still unclear.
The wait is long, but in the meantime, here is all the important info about the new GTA 6 trailer, including clues, easter eggs, and more.
The Tom Petty Song Connections
If you’re wondering, the song in the GTA 6 trailer is Tom Petty’s “Love is a Long Road.” Many fans think the song was chosen to reflect the love story between the main character Lucia and her unnamed partner in crime. Others believe it might be a reference to how long players waited for the GTA 6 trailer.
But there’s more to the connection. Petty, who was from Florida (the state GTA 6 is parodying), was known to have loved the idea of contributing his song “Running Down a Dream” to the GTA: San Andreas soundtrack.
GTA 6 (Rockstar Games)The official Tom Petty Twitter account suggested he would have enjoyed having “Love is a Long Road” featured in the GTA 6 soundtrack. Though accounts run by the families of deceased artists might add their own ideas, it’s nice to think that Petty would have enjoyed this moment.
Still want more Tom Petty? At the end of the trailer, around 1:17, there’s a shot of a door with a rainbow-colored sticker that says “Petty Forever.”
Those “Random” Citizen Shots Aren’t So Random
Fans of bizarre Florida news have pointed out that much of GTA 6’s trailer includes references to real-life viral events from Florida.
These include the Florida Joker, the man watering his lawn in a thong, the alligator in the convenience store, and the woman twerking on top of a car. There’s a collection of these references and their real-life inspirations available online.
Beyond these fun callbacks, these references help us divide the trailer into different parts: callbacks, environment shots, and in-game plot scenes. So, the parts with Lucia and her partner, along with other moments featuring characters unrelated to a Florida event, could hint at characters important to GTA 6’s story.
The Many Locations That Were (and Weren’t) In Vice City
The GTA 6 trailer is full of references to Vice City, such as a quick look at the Ocean View Hotel where Tommy Vercetti stayed. But one of the most interesting parts of the trailer shows a location not found in Vice City.
When GTA 6 gameplay footage leaked last year, some fans saw Lucia swimming near a spot that looks a lot like the Seven Mile Bridge, which connects Miami to the Florida Keys.
Years ago, it was rumored that Rockstar wanted to include that bridge and the Florida Keys in the 2002 Vice City game but couldn’t because of time, budget, and technical restrictions. Now, it looks like GTA 6 might finally include that area. That scene with the Seven Mile Bridge adds to the idea that GTA 6’s map will be huge.
GTA 6 (Rockstar Games)Our First Stunt Jump Location?
Returning to the shot of the Florida Keys bridge for a moment, take a look at how the bridge is shown at 0:36 in the trailer. Part of the bridge on the right is unfinished.
While that’s true to life, the unfinished bridge forms a “ramp” leading to a nearby dirt road, which feels like something you might see in a GTA game. Could this be the first of many stunt jump locations in the game?
Lucia’s Ankle Bracelet
Although not technically part of the trailer itself (unless you count the thumbnail), Rockstar shared an interesting piece of GTA 6 art when they released the trailer. In that art, you can clearly see co-protagonist Lucia wearing a court-ordered ankle bracelet.
This suggests that the scenes of Lucia at the beginning of the trailer take place early in the GTA 6 campaign, before she is likely released on parole. This detail also suggests that Lucia’s movements might be restricted at the start of the game.
This is a familiar pattern in previous Rockstar games, including early GTA titles, where players face movement restrictions at the beginning of the game that stop them from accessing everything right away. In this case, it looks like players might need to escape to Vice City and explore the rest of the GTA 6 map later on.
The “Scarface Building”
The previously mentioned artwork also shows a small building with three round windows next to the Atlantic Hotel. This is not just a reference to a real Miami location; it’s actually the building where Tony Montana famously confronted the chainsaw-wielding enemies in Scarface. We can expect many more Scarface references in GTA 6.
Sharks and Dolphins
While the dog in the GTA 6 trailer (which we should protect at all costs) is currently getting a lot of attention, it’s interesting to notice how much wildlife is featured in the trailer.
It looks like GTA 6 may even try to compete with Red Dead Redemption 2 in terms of its variety of animals, which is impressive considering that RDR2 was set in a more wild, nature-filled location.
However, two of the most interesting animals in the GTA 6 trailer are easy to miss. Around the 10-second mark of the trailer, there’s a shot of the ocean near Vice City, which includes not just a group of dolphins but also what appears to be a shark. Stay safe out there, everyone!
GTA 6 (Rockstar Games)The Mysterious Town of Hamlet
In a memorable scene from the GTA 6 trailer, we see a woman from Leonida holding two hammers, and there’s a social media caption at the bottom of the screen that says “Neighborhood watch don’t play around in Hamlet.” This seems to suggest that there is a town in the GTA 6 game called Hamlet.
So, where is Hamlet? Well, the real event involving the hammer-wielding woman actually took place in Chatsworth, a suburb of Los Angeles, which is interesting because GTA 5 took place in a fictional version of Los Angeles.
However, Hamlet is more likely a stand-in for a fictional Florida town near Miami. Some leaks even say that Hamlet is located just south of Vice City and contains a military base.
Nine1Nine Banner
At the beginning of the GTA 6 trailer, we see a seaplane flying a banner that reads “Nine1Nine: Why Sixty Nine When You Can Nine 1 Nine?” This is not just a joke to remind us that Rockstar still has GTA’s sense of humor, but it also appears to reference Miami’s E11EVEN Club.
This means that we might see a version of that club in the game, and we may have already gotten a glimpse of it in one of the nightclub scenes in the trailer.
So Many Vehicle Customization Stickers
The GTA 6 trailer showed off many different vehicles, and a lot of them had window stickers for fake businesses like “Vice Vinyl.” In fact, most of the cars and trucks in the trailer seemed to have these kinds of stickers.
It was already expected that vehicle customization would be part of GTA 6, but the large number of car customization stickers we see in the trailer suggests that it will be a much bigger part of the game than it was in the original version of GTA 5.
GTA 6 (Rockstar Games)Is That Lucia?
The GTA 6 community is currently debating whether a woman in a white bikini who appears around the 0:38 mark in the trailer is Lucia. Some fans noticed that the bikini-clad woman looks a lot like Lucia, especially because she has two prominent moles or birthmarks on her face, which we also see on Lucia at the start of the trailer.
If this is Lucia, it could either be a flashback showing her life before being incarcerated, or it might be a version of Lucia after players have progressed through the game and improved her lifestyle. However, I think these might actually be two different characters.
The Vintage Car Outside of Boardwalk
If you look carefully at the shot of Vice City’s streets around the 0:33 mark in the trailer, you’ll spot a vintage yellow and white car. This seems to be a reference to the classic car that is parked outside Miami’s Avalon hotel. In GTA 6, the fictional Boardwalk hotel appears to be standing in for the Avalon in Vice City.
