Launch field guide / November 19, 2026
Leonidabefore you land.
A guide to Grand Theft Auto VI that starts where the marketing stops. What Rockstar has confirmed, what the trailers actually show, and what to do before the servers open.
Until local midnight
The short version
A state, a couple, and a very large download.
If you only need the facts before launch day, this is the page. The rest of the site goes deeper into the map, the money, and the parts Rockstar has not explained.
Grand Theft Auto VI is the eighth main entry in the series and the first built for the current console generation. Rockstar has set it in Leonida, a fictional state based on Florida, and built the story around a criminal couple. Jason is a former soldier running errands for drug smugglers in the Keys. Lucia is out of Leonida Penitentiary and done waiting for a better life to arrive on its own. A failed score puts them in the middle of a conspiracy that crosses the state.
The game costs $79.99, the first mainline GTA to move above the $70 line. The Ultimate Edition costs $20 more and adds vehicles, weapons, customization, shops, and two side missions. There is no early access, no boxed Ultimate Edition, and Rockstar says neither version has microtransactions at launch. The retail box holds a download code instead of a disc.
The download is 212 GB. That is the number to plan around, not the number on the box. If your console is already full, the storage planner on the launch page will tell you how much to free and how long the transfer will take on your connection. Preload starts November 10, which gives you nine days to fix a problem you did not know you had.
The map is the part people ask about most. Rockstar has not released an official interactive map, and the in-game map arrives with the game on November 19. The map on this site is a schematic of Florida with the six regions and the places Rockstar has named or shown. It is useful for understanding where things are relative to each other. It is not a substitute for the map in the box.
Start here
Three tools for launch week.
01 / MapLeonida, plotted
Search 940+ places across six regions, track what you find, and read the source behind every featured pin. The basemap is a credited community reconstruction.
Open the interactive map
02 / LaunchMake launch night boring
Preload times, the 212 GB check, download math, unlock rules, and a checklist that covers the things that actually go wrong.
Plan the launch
03 / EditionsThe $20 question
What the Ultimate Edition adds, what it does not, and a short preference check that recommends one without pretending to know your budget.
Compare the editionsLeonida
Six regions. One very long bridge.
Rockstar has named six places in the state and described each one in its own words. The rest of the map is inference, which is why the map page marks every pin.
The record
How we got to November 19.
A short history of the announcement, the delays, and the marketing that filled the gap.
Before launch
A short list for the next two weeks.
Nothing here needs a preorder. It is the work that makes launch night quieter.
Free the space first. 212 GB is larger than most consoles hold after a few years of games, captures, and updates. Move a title you are not playing to an external drive or add an M.2 SSD now, not on November 10 when the download is already running. The storage planner on the launch page does the arithmetic for your console.
Decide the edition before you are standing in a checkout screen. The Standard Edition has the full story. The Ultimate Edition adds vehicles, weapons, shops, customization, and two side missions for $20 more. If you want a boxed copy, the choice is already made, because the only box is the Standard Edition and it contains a code.
Read the map with the labels, not the outline. A pin marked confirmed means Rockstar named the place, not that this schematic has the coordinates right. The positions are estimates built on Florida. They are useful for understanding the shape of the state and useless for navigation in the game.
Plan the first night around the download, not the story. Preload finishes before launch if your line is stable, but a day-one patch can still appear. Keep the console in rest mode, leave automatic updates on, and give yourself an hour of slack before you invite friends to watch the opening.
Finally, decide what you will ignore. The game has more activities than any guide can cover in a week. Pick two regions to explore properly instead of racing through all six. The rest will still be there after the credits.
The evidence
Confirmed, reported, and still unknown.
The internet treats all three as the same thing. This site does not.
Rockstar has said it
- Release on November 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
- Six named regions: Vice City, Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park.
- Jason and Lucia are both playable, and Lucia is the first non-optional female lead in the main series.
- The Standard Edition costs $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition costs $99.99.
- The download needs 212 GB, and preload starts November 10.
- Both consoles run at 30 fps at launch.
- There are no microtransactions in either edition at launch.
Reported, or not announced
- The review embargo is reported for November 18. Rockstar has not confirmed it.
- Industry sources reported a PC version in the first quarter of 2027. No Rockstar date exists.
- The map is reported to be about three times the playable area of Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar has published no size.
- No global unlock hour has been announced. Store listings point to local midnight.
- No GTA Online mode for VI has been announced. GTA Online for V is a separate game.
- Story length, mission count, and the number of enterable interiors are unknown.