By now it’s no secret that the trailer for GTA 6 has been released, and has gamers everywhere excited for 2025. The trailer itself has now amassed over 130 million views, and we ourselves are probably responsible for a good chunk of them! The question is though, did you notice all of the references?
Real-Life Occurrences from the GTA 6 Trailer
For this list we’re not going to be talking about the physics and mechanics of the game that people have noticed, just references to real-life occurrences or locations that have been replicated in the game. If you’re interested in other goodies we’ve picked up on, be sure to check out our list of easter eggs or little details you might have missed!
Wynwood, Florida
Rockstar Games has painstakingly made a copy of Wynwood, Florida in the upcoming GTA. The place is full of vibrant graffiti and art work, and the game devs have paid close attention to give it a realistic feel. It was fun spotting real landmarks in GTA V, but it might be even more fun in the next game!
The Ocean View Hotel
If you have played the definitive edition’s version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, or if you were one of the OGs to play it on PS2, then you’ll recognize the iconic Ocean View Hotel. Of course, many places in Vice City were based off of real areas of Malibu — the Ocean View Hotel is modelled after South Beach’s famous Clevelander accomodation — but it’s nice to see the old save point landmark appearing in the trailer!
Club Space
Many Floridians have noticed how familiar this particular night club from the trailer looks. Despite not yet knowing its name, it looks to be based off of a club called Space that can be found in Miami. It will be cool to see how accurate to real-life it is when the game finally releases!
The Pool Gator
Is it Florida if there aren’t Gators in your pool? This is a reference to a news story from this year, where a Floridian woman found an 11-foot Alligator in her pool. Rockstar have always been good at riffing off of real events, but this still somehow seems overly comical even though it actually happened!
Woman Twerking on a Car
This is yet another reference to something that really happened. Back in 2017, a woman was filmed twerking on top of a car on a highway. There have since been other similar videos, but the original is what has influenced this crazy clip from the GTA 6 trailer.
The Gator Entering a Store
Once again, here we are with the Gators! This time, this is harking back to when an Alligator was found outside of a Walmart back in 2013 (which is when GTA V came out!) Dare we say, maybe it was looking for some Gatorade? Maybe not…
Florida, Man
This clip has seemingly taken inspiration from multiple instances of the same thing happening. It would appear that police in Florida have to chase down naked guys regularly. There are so many stories where this has happened, it seems like that’s just the everyday life of a Florida cop!
Naked Gardening Man
You didn’t think we were done with the revealing members of public, did you? In 2022, a news story broke about a man who was doing his gardening in his birthday suit. This had his neighbors complaining to the local authorities about having to see his family jewels. At least Rockstar put a thong on their guy…
Hammer Lady
This one is from back in 2020, where a woman confronted her neighbor while duel-wielding hammers. She then proceeded to bash her neighbor’s car in with them. We can’t say we condone this behavior, but we sure do look forward to seeing it in GTA 6.
The Florida Joker
This particular reference is quite famous at this point. There is a Florida native that has been dubbed “the Florida Joker”, due to his tattoos and impersonations of the DC character online. Needless to say, he has since been outspoken about his appearance in the trailer and is not happy…
This may potentially hold a little easter egg as well, as the word “impentinent” tattooed on his forehead could potentially be a misspelling of impotent, after the fake cartoon character Impotent Rage in the GTA world. It could also be an incorrect spelling of impertinent, which is also quite funny.
Petty Forever
Last, but definitely not least, there are the references to Florida’s own Tom Petty. The song used in the trailer is “Love is a Long Road” by Tom Petty himself, but there is also a noticeable sticker on the door when Lucia and her beau are entering a liquor store to rob it.
Petty grew up in Gainesville, Florida and passed away back in 2017. So, it’s nice to see him being remembered in such a prominent way for the game’s trailer. There are also said to be murals of him about Leonida (the game’s version of Florida) as well. So, we look forward to searching for them!
Looking for more content? Check out the pre-order details for GTA 6!
Published: Dec 9, 2023 09:00 am