Less than two weeks before GTA VI officially launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (November 19), Rockstar brought six cars from the game into the real world. The Los Angeles-based West Coast Customs shop built these drivable replicas and filmed them cruising around Miami with Leonida license plates.
The lineup includes the Grotti Cheetah, Pegassi Tempesta, Progen Emerus, Invetero Coquette, Albany Buccaneer, and Albany Manana. Official images released this week showcase each model alongside its in-game counterpart. The license plates read "Vice City," while the frames feature "VI," "West Coast Customs," and the Rockstar logo.
Each car features a traditional metal structure with composite body panels. The customization shop used CNC machines to customize wheels and structural components, finishing with custom paint jobs. Rockstar did not disclose the names of the prototype cars underneath. Eyewitnesses on the streets of Miami identified the prototypes as including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and Chevrolet Corvettes.
The Grotti Cheetah's low, wide wedge-shaped design is inspired by the 1980s Ferrari Testarossa, the car driven by Sonny Crockett in "Miami Vice." The Cheetah has appeared in the series since GTA III, and the original Vice City's Cheetah also borrowed from the Testarossa's design. In GTA VI, the Cheetah '95 is an ultimate vehicle that needs to be unlocked later in the game.
The Pegassi Tempesta is based on the Lamborghini Huracán, and its name echoes the original: "tempesta" means "storm" in Italian, while "huracán" means "hurricane" in Spanish. West Coast Customs created a police-liveried Tempesta, mirroring the Hurácan used by the Italian State Police. The Invetero Coquette is GTA's version of the Chevrolet Corvette, this time based on the mid-engine C8. The Progen Emerus is Rockstar Games' take on the McLaren Senna, a supercar limited to 500 units in 2018.
The two Albany-built custom cars draw inspiration from American custom culture rather than European supercars. The Manana is inspired by the late 1960s Cadillac Eldorado and features tall wheels, a style closely associated with South Florida's "donk" customization culture. The Buccaneer blends the styling of the 1970s Buick Riviera and Ford Fairlane, adopting a low-slung stance with small wheels and an aggressive front grille. Reportedly, one of the Albany customs featured green paint, gold wheels, and zebra-print interior upholstery.
These cars were photographed in front of two landmark buildings in Miami. One is the parking garage at 1111 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The other is the Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key, designed by Hilario Candela in 1963, which has been closed since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. This August, nearly 69% of Miami voters supported a referendum that cleared the way for the stadium's reconstruction.
The fleet made its debut in mid-October without any prior announcement, shortly after Rockstar released the GTA VI launch trailer on October 15. Videos from that week showed the vehicles parked at a Shell gas station. This reveal was part of Rockstar's large-scale promotional campaign in Miami, which also included a GTA VI-themed blimp, beach gear printed with the GTA VI logo, and airplane banners flying over South Beach.
West Coast Customs, famous for the MTV show "Pimp My Ride," has previously collaborated with Rockstar. In 2013, to promote Grand Theft Auto V, the customization shop built a Bravado Banshee sports car based on a Dodge Viper that was identical to the one in the game, which was later given away to players as a prize.
Rockstar does not hold licenses from real automobile manufacturers, so its in-game vehicles feature fictional badges, such as Grotti for Ferrari and Pegassi for Lamborghini. The vehicle customization system returns in GTA VI, allowing players to change vehicle liveries, decorations, and rims at in-game Leonida customization shops.
GTA VI will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19. Digital pre-loading begins on November 10, two days earlier than previously announced, and requires approximately 212GB of available space. Rockstar has not yet announced a PC version.