Rockstar Games dropped the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 today, shedding more light about the games characters and story. As fans tried to determine which actors could be voicing which characters, I was hung up on an entirely different but otherwise completely inconsequential detail: Is that the Clevelander?!
GTA 6 takes place in Vice City, the Grand Theft Auto facsimile of Miami and the eponymous setting of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Upon its release in 2006, Vice City portrayed an admirable recreation of Miami. But graphical technology in video games has obviously improved immensely in the intervening 20 years. All trailers and screenshots released to date indicate that GTA 6s take on Miami will be stunningly close to the real thing — so close, in fact, that it appears to feature some IRL institutions.
A representative for Rockstar Games didnt respond to a request for comment in time for publication, so I cant claim with 100% certainty that this is meant to be the Clevelander, but also: This is clearly the Clevelander. Im sure of it. Probably.
For approximately 0.06 seconds in the second GTA 6 trailer, youll catch a shot of a neon-pink courtyard, flanked by Art Deco walls that look suspiciously like those of the Clevelander (one curved, one straight). People dance on literally all surfaces. You cant see anyone rocking a full-length fur coat in 85ºF weather, but you just know, somewhere off screen, hes there, watching, waiting, probably crushing a margarita, definitely sucking down an entire cigarette in a single drag.
I visited the place earlier this year, and came away with the takeaway that the Clevelander is Miami Beach. (Not a compliment so much as an observation.) I asked the person with whom I visited if the screenshot above bore a resemblance to the place we saw a bunch of off-duty banking interns dancing next to plastic flamingos.
Their response? “Abbbbbbbbsolutely.”