Rockstar didn't just send devs to Miami for GTA 6 research — they went full Florida Man and rolled with actual gang members and cops across the state, from Vice City stand-ins to the Keys, chasing that authentic Leonida chaos like it was the last tourist trap left.

Head of development Aaron Garbut spilled to Love Magazine that the trips started small — a car full of leads cruising Miami through surrounding towns and down to Key West — then ballooned into deeper embeds where the team hung with locals, recorded everything from helicopter flyovers over the Everglades and a Beyoncé concert, and dove headfirst into the extremes of wealth, poverty, hustle, and straight-up terrifying stories from both sides of the law.

Garbut straight-up said they travel with cops and gang members, some of whom were "equally scary," and that the details they pulled could make your skin crawl while still feeding the believable, varied world Rockstar craves. This isn't PR fluff; it's the same studio that set up a whole Miami research team years ago to meet ex-criminals, gun dealers, promoters, and anyone notorious enough to talk, all so the satire and characters land without recycling old clichés.

Local cops aren't thrilled either — Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz called out any promotional stunts, slamming the franchise for celebrating the exact crime they fight daily. Rockstar went full method acting and came back with the goods, or at least the receipts that make GTA 6 feel like a documentary shot in hell's waiting room.