The Leonida Keys, Port Gellhorn and Grassrivers: GTA 6's south, where the story starts
Three confirmed regions south and west of Vice City carry the opening of GTA 6: the island chain where Jason lives, the faded beach town where the story begins, and the sawgrass wetlands crossed by airboat. What Rockstar has said about each.
Vice City gets the attention, but the opening of Grand Theft Auto VI happens elsewhere. Three of the six confirmed regions sit south and west of the city, and between them they hold Jason's home, the start of the story and the strangest terrain in the game.
The Leonida Keys
A chain of islands connected by bridges, running south from the mainland and modelled on the Florida Keys. This is where Jason lives, rent-free in a property owned by Brian Heder, the veteran smuggler who runs product through his boatyard and was the first face shown in Trailer 2. The Keys are the game's smuggling country, with a history Rockstar describes as a heyday long past, and the apartment Jason and Lucia share early on is shown here. Expect boats to matter more than cars.
Port Gellhorn
Up the Gulf Coast, Port Gellhorn is a once-popular beach town gone to seed: cheap motels, shuttered attractions, and a population Rockstar describes as running on cheap liquor and truck-stop energy drinks, in a place where pills are easier to find than fun. Rockstar's own region page puts the start of Jason and Lucia's story here. The contrast with Ocean Beach, a drive down the coast, is the point.
Grassrivers
The Everglades, in all but name. Sawgrass marsh stretching to the horizon, alligators in it, and airboats as the only sensible way across, a vehicle class that exists because of this terrain. It appears in both trailers, first with the airboat in 2023 and then at length in 2025. Trailer 1's gator in a backyard pool and the one wandering into a store are the Grassrivers leaking into town.
Why the south comes first
Rockstar's premise is that an easy score goes wrong and pulls the two into a conspiracy across Leonida. The south is where the easy scores are: Brian's boatyard, the Keys' smuggling routes, Port Gellhorn's low-rent trouble. Vice City's money and the interior's refinery are where the conspiracy goes. The map page has the full region-by-region breakdown, including the neighbourhoods of Vice City itself.
Quick answers
Where does GTA 6 start?
Port Gellhorn, a faded Gulf Coast beach town, is where Rockstar says Jason and Lucia's story begins. Jason's home is in the Leonida Keys.
What is Grassrivers in GTA 6?
Sawgrass marshland modelled on the Everglades, thick with alligators and crossed by airboat, a vehicle class that exists because of it.
Sources: Rockstar Games: Port Gellhorn · SixStarsWanted map guide
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