All that GTA 6 hype made me play again GTA 4 (i didn’t remember but wow). And in an email send by Niko’s friend Hossan, he’s saying that is now living in Florida. Is there any other GTA games that talk about IRL US states ? I can’t remember.
Ray Machowski tells Claude that he'll "see him down in Miami" in GTA 3, clearly a hint at the next game. There's also a billboard that says "See You In Miami" advertising plane tickets. Interestingly enough, in the Definitive Edition, this was changed to "See You Soon!" with a picture of Chumash Beach, which itself was kinda hinting at GTA VI (Miami is famous for beaches).
Even in GTA Vice City, there's a secret billboard that says "Move Over Miami!", a cheeky reference to Vice City "replacing" Miami.
Finally, there's a promo website for Francis International Airport advertising flights to Miami. Interestingly enough, UT also advertises flights to "San Andreas", which makes me think GTA: SA existed as a concept as early as 2001.
Obviously, this stuff gets retconned. I think R* didn't have Vice City plans for a while so it was convenient to keep referencing Florida. They weren't even sure with San Andreas, as California is referenced by name in one radio advert in GTA IV but San Andreas is mentioned multiple times as a state in GTA IV. Once again it got retconned, and it's still not clear if California and Nevada are one state like in GTA SA or separate.
San Andreas was one of the cities aviable in GTA 1, based on San Francisco. In GTA SA they decided to make San Andreas a state.
Timmy Vercetti himself mentions Florida in one of the throw away lines while running around.
They just didn't feel like sticking with it I guess.
Dumb Florida morons
Everything in GTA Vice City mentions Florida by name. Radio talks about it, characters talk about it etc.. it's just now being retconned with a new name as they seem to have decided to replace all real life names.
In one of the radio shows in GTA Vice City's radio (VCPR) there is an entire segment dedicated to Florida separatists that want to dig a channel between the US and Florida and make it an island.
For some reason it always stuck in my mind the part where the guy goes something like: "Florida does not want you here! What's wrong with Nevada? Kansas? Texas? We want a river! We NEED a river! A freedom river!" (paraphrased).
John Florida Hickory, legend
He's 17 feet into digging the river and soon enough Florida will be an island floating out in the Caribbean sea, free!
So dumb especially Miami is dumb because vice city existed in GTA 1 already
Interesting ! I’ll keep my eyes opened in GTA 4
Niko jokes he’s from Florida, when asked where he’s from.
This got retconned by the latest take two press release, it's the state of Leonida now
I'm guessing they're taking this universe more seriously, and maybe in future entries, we'll receive more diverse fictional names for states, cities, cars and etc.
Yes, we know. It's being retconned now.
Retcon. Somewhere after GTA IV they decided they wanted to rename Florida to Leonida, and here we are.
They mention Florida in GTA V as well though
In a mission dialogue or on a radio station?
NO WAY?! YOU’VE REALLY DISCOVERED SOMETHING HERE! I’VE NEVER SEEN OR HEARD OF THIS 50 TIMES!
Just assume there are 100 US states. The official ones, and another bunch very similar to them.
That's dumb
But the most likely explanation, given that California ,Florida and New York exist alongside San Andreas, Leonida and Liberty City.
I have always assumed that true states still exist despite their similar counterparts. For example, we can see some old California license plates placed on a wall in GTA 5.
In my mind there is no doubt that in the GTA universe the United States are simply bigger and has some more states.
This only counts when it’s red dead redemption calling places by its real name
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In the original vice city they mention Florida by name. There are even instances where Miami is mentioned by name. I don't remember which GTA references Miami though.