Miami International Airport

MIA is the third-busiest airport in the United States by passenger traffic and the busiest in the state of Florida. It is not in the city of Miami proper but in Miami-Dade County, northwest of the core, which is why the game places its airport on the flat western edge of Vice City rather than downtown.

What to actually look at

The most recognisable view is the approach: aircraft stacked over the western suburbs on finals. The best public vantage is on the east side of the airport at the runway 9 approach, and the best photographed spot in the game-matching sense is the terminal frontage with the taxiway bridges and the giant overhead sign, which is why Trailer 2 uses a plane on approach over a motorway.

Real game, real visit

If you are flying in for the launch, MIA is where you land, and the airport's own art collection, the Dolphin and Flamingo ponds in the flamingo park outside the terminal, and the tropical gardens between concourses are all worth an hour of your layover.

Why it matters for the map

The airport anchors the west side of the city, and the game's district map puts it on the flat, grid-like land west of the bay. If you are trying to line up the in-game map with the real one, the airport, the port and the causeway are the three fixed points that make the rest of the geography legible.

Why the game made it big

Airports are a difficult thing to compress, and GTA VI does not try: the game keeps the airport on the flat western edge with the same sprawl and the same runway grid. It is one of the few locations where the map is more faithful to the real thing than to the game's own dramatic instincts, which is why it reads so easily.