Approximate schematic, not Rockstar's map. Full map guide
On this page
The Keys are where GTA 6 begins: Jason’s house, Brian Heder’s boat yard, a dive bar called The Rusty Anchor and a lot of water. It is the region for boats, jet skis, reef diving and fishing, and for the small-time smuggling jobs that pull Jason into the story.
What you can do in the Keys
- Get on the water. Jet skis and speedboats (Rockstar’s Keys boat-party screenshot) and kayaks (the Ultimate Edition’s Crest Kayak at Jason’s safehouse). Official
- Dive. Rockstar’s scuba screenshot shows divers over a reef with coral, fish, an eel and a sea turtle. Official
- Fish. An official screenshot has Jason holding a rod while Cal Hampton scans the water with binoculars (Rockstar’s caption does not say where; it looks like the Keys). More on the fishing page. Official
- Shoot hoops. Jason’s stilt house has a basketball hoop underneath it, and basketball is playable in the Extended Look. Official
- Drink. The Rusty Anchor, a beach bar with its name on a big painted sign (“Sink Your Troubles at The Rusty Anchor”), is in Rockstar’s own Keys screenshots. Official Fans identify it as the Trailer 2 bar where Cal leans across the counter. Rumor
- Work for Brian. Brian Heder’s bio says Jason lives rent-free in one of Brian’s properties as long as he helps with local shakedowns. Expect the opening missions to come from this crew. Expected
Where it is and how to get there
The Keys trail south off the mainland below Vice City, one island after another. A single road on long bridges links them; Rockstar’s own seaplane screenshot shows cars on a bridge between two islands. Community wikis read the name Keys Causeway, with Hamlet listed on it, off a road sign in Trailer 2’s opening shot, and say the road starts at Hamlet on Vice City’s southern edge, the way the real road to the Keys leaves the mainland near Homestead.
Boats and planes matter here as much as the road. Brian’s line on Rockstar’s site, “I hauled so much grass in that plane, I could make the state of Leonida levitate,” and an official shot of him holding a package and pointing at a man in a plane suggest seaplanes are part of the Keys routine. Whether you can fly one yourself has not been shown. Community wikis put the Keys in Mariana County, a name read from a Trailer 2 highway sign (reported).
Rockstar’s description
“The dress code is casual, the bars are loaded,” says Rockstar’s headline for the region, under the tagline “Gateway to Paradise.” The blurb pitches an archipelago where life is not flashy but it is easy, then ends on a warning: you are on the doorstep of “some of the most beautiful and dangerous waters in all of America.”
Real-world inspiration
This is the Florida Keys, from the reef-lined upper keys near Key Largo to the tourist end at Key West. Stilt houses, canal-side compounds with boat lifts, dive shops and roadside bars are Keys staples, and so are iguanas: Rockstar’s screenshot of one crossing in front of a mobility scooter is a very South Florida joke. The smuggling is real history too. The Keys were a major entry point for marijuana and cocaine in the 1970s and 1980s, the “golden age of smuggling” that Brian Heder’s bio refers to.
What we have seen
Trailer 2 opened here, over stilt houses and a marina. Jason patches a leaking roof as Brian pulls up in a pickup, and later Jason and Lucia drink at a waterfront bar and Cal leans across a bar counter. Fans identify that bar as The Rusty Anchor.
The Extended Look came back to the Keys for Jason’s stilt house. An Ultimate Edition image shows Jason’s safehouse with a Vapid Ganado truck, a Dinka Enduro motorcycle and a Crest Kayak parked outside. Rockstar’s region screenshots add The Rusty Anchor’s porch (complete with a man passed out among empty bottles), an offshore boat party and the reef dive.
Named places
| Name | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Leonida Keys | Official region name | Official |
| Brian’s Boat Works & Marina | Brian’s boat yard and smuggling front, Trailer 2 | Official |
| The Rusty Anchor | Dive bar in Rockstar’s Keys screenshots | Official |
| Jason’s safehouse | Stilt house Brian lets Jason use | Official |
| Keys Causeway | The island-hopping highway; name read from a Trailer 2 road sign by community wikis | Reported |
| Mariana County | County name read from a Trailer 2 sign | Reported |
| Key Lento | Fan name for Jason’s key, from leaked map material | Rumor |
| Wonder Whale | Fan name for a roadside whale statue | Rumor |
Story ties
Jason’s official bio says he grew up around grifters and crooks, joined the Army to shake off his teens, and ended up in the Keys working for local drug runners. The runner is Brian Heder, an old-school smuggler who still moves product through his boat yard with his third wife, Lori, and lets others do his dirty work. Cal Hampton, Jason’s friend and another Brian associate, feels safest at home listening in on Coast Guard radio.
Rob Nelson told Famitsu the game begins here and that the pair’s hideouts change as the chapters move on (reported), so the Keys are home base for the opening stretch rather than the whole game. Read the Jason Duval, Brian Heder and Cal Hampton pages for the people behind the place.
What is rumored
Leaked map material from August 2026 shows the Keys as a long chain with an airfield on an outer key and names such as Key Lento. Fans also expect a Key West analog at the end of the chain and a Bahamas or Cuba destination beyond it. Rockstar has shown nothing outside Leonida. Treat all of it as rumor; the leaks page covers what leaked and when. For how the Keys fit the rest of the state, see the Leonida map.
Places in Leonida Keys
- Key Lento District rumor
- Keys Causeway Landmark reported
- Mariana County County reported
- Wonder Whale Landmark rumor
Leonida Keys in official art and screenshots
Official screenshots of Leonida Keys. Tap to enlarge. Image: Rockstar Games.
Frequently asked questions
Where does GTA 6 start?
In the Leonida Keys, according to Rockstar North's Rob Nelson in a Famitsu interview (reported). Jason lives here and works for local smugglers, and Nelson said the pair's hideouts change as the chapter-based story moves on.
What are the Leonida Keys based on?
The Florida Keys: an island chain tied together by one long road of bridges, with stilt houses, reefs, dive bars and a real history of drug smuggling. Rockstar does not use the real name.
Is Key West in GTA 6?
Not by name. Rockstar has not named any individual key. Key Lento, the fan name for Jason's area, comes from leaked map material, and a Key West stand-in at the end of the chain is fan expectation.
Can you go scuba diving in GTA 6?
Yes. Rockstar's Leonida Keys screenshots show two scuba divers on a reef with coral, fish, an eel and a sea turtle, and scuba also appears in the Extended Look.
Is Jason's house in the Keys?
Yes. His stilt house over the water, with a basketball hoop underneath, appears in Trailer 2 and the Extended Look. Brian Heder's official bio says Jason lives rent-free at one of his properties.
What changed on this page
- Dropped Catalan Key from the leaked Keys names: fan maps file it under Vice City, not the Keys.
- Added what you can do and how to reach the Keys, the wildlife in Rockstar's screenshots and Jason's safehouse vehicles, and removed an unsupported claim linking the region to a leaked clip. Also removed an Extended Look dinner at Brian and Lori Heder's home that no recap of the video mentions, and an unsourced line about Cal ranting in The Rusty Anchor. Credited Jason's rent-free house to Brian Heder's bio, not Jason's, and noted that Rockstar's fishing caption names no place.
