GTA / Vice City

Vice City is a fictional city in the Grand Theft Auto series that is based on Miami, Florida. It is the setting of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (GTA:VC), and a level in the original Grand Theft Auto (GTA1). Vice City is also featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (GTA:VCS), a title for the PlayStation Portable, similar to Liberty City's appearance in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (GTA:LCS).

The name "Vice City" is a double entendre: on one hand, it is a direct reference to Michael Mann's 1980's police television series Miami Vice, but it also conveys the actual definition of the word, labeling Vice City a place of sin, greed and overindulgence; making it literally, a city of vice.

Vice City is geographically similar to Miami; located in the shorelines of Southeastern United States, Vice City enjoys a subtropical or near-tropical climate with year-long sunny weather, occasional strong winds and rainfall. It is also suggested in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City that the city is exposed to hurricanes, as is Miami; early in the game, bridges were closed to the public as Hurricane Hermione was believed to be approaching the city.

Vice City, as depicted in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is set in 1986, a reference to 1980s Miami, which was believed to have become a major trans-shipment point for cocaine from South America at the time. This is further reinforced with its theme of the drug business and crime, as well as the presence of new upper-class businesses and residents in the city, with some of them likely to be funded by the drug business. The city is also located on the same fictional earth as Liberty City, the state of San Andreas, and Carcer City - the locations of Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA) and Manhunt. Vice City is specifically indicated to be located within the state of Florida,[1] while Vice City was suggested to exist alongside Miami in Grand Theft Auto III.[2]

Vice City consists of two major islands and six smaller islands; both main islands are separated by a large body of water similar to that of Biscayne Bay, which separates Miami Beach with mainland Miami in real-life. Each major island is divided into several districts. The population of Vice City is given at around 1.8 million (Information found on page 5 of the game's manual).

The city has four hospitals (two in each major island) and four police stations (two in each major island) distributed evenly in the city; these facilities serve as respawn points after the player dies or is arrested, respectively. The city also has one fire station and a military base. Unlike Liberty City and the state of San Andreas, however, Vice City has no known railway or rapid transit systems, and all islands are connected by road or pedestrian bridges. While the city contains local taxicabs like other GTA cities, Vice City was the first city in the series to offer functional taxicab services that sends the player directly to a single location at a fee, available in one mission (to a club) or when the player failed a mission as a result of being killed or arrested (to the last mission trigger, excluding phone missions). This "Later that day..." taxi function has been used in subsequent GTA games, including Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

The Vice City to be featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is based on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City version of the city, but set in 1984, two years prior to events in Vice City. As is Liberty City depicted in Liberty City Stories, three years before events in Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City Stories contains several noticeable differences in its landscape from its "future" depiction.

Landmarks

* A populated trailer park exists just south of Little Havana close to where Vice City's Sunshine Autos, a car showroom, exists. The trailer park serves as the location where Victor Vance would receive missions from Marty Jay Williams, head of the Trailer Park Mafia. Sunshine Autos itself has also been known to be operating from an older establishment in a slightly different location (down the road towards the north), with its newer showroom under construction further south. Both the entire trailer park and the old Sunshine Autos yard is absent in 1986, replaced by an empty field. It is assumed that the disbandment of the Trailer Park Mafia (with Marty's death in the hand of Victor) and the relocation of Sunshine Autos led to the demolition of both locations.

* The Palm Springs Hotel, in the southern Downtown district, is under construction. The location is featured in one mission where Victor has to kill Biker members in order to save his brother Lance.

* In 1984, Phil Cassidy's residence is in Vice Port along with his own shooting range. "Phil's Place" in Little Haiti, which would serve as Phil's residence in 1986, is owned by Victor.

* A fairground is based on a patch of land in western Washington, which features a ferris wheel, dubbed the "Chunder Wheel." The area, circa 1986, features a construction site where in Vice City, Tommy Vercetti meets Avery Carrington in a limousine for missions. An empty patch of grassland in the immediate west of the fairground would be developed into another construction site by 1986; the site is later damaged in one Vice City mission, using explosives planted by a remote controlled helicopter.

* The Midland Hotel, a single Streamline Moderne-styled building (which features a jetty, garage, and helipad) exists in the immediate north of the Washington Beach fairground, on what would be the site of low-rise apartments in 1986.

* The right wing of Ricardo Diaz's mansion (towards the west) in Starfish Island is either under construction or undergoing an expansion in 1984. The hedge mazes that adorn both sides of the Diaz compound in 1986 do not exist in 1984; instead, only a pond is featured in place on the west wing of the mansion.

* A VIP terminal with its own separate car park and jetty exists at the Escobar International Airport in 1984. The facility is absent in 1986.

* A small cafe in Little Haiti, dubbed Le Singe d'Arbre (French for "the monkey of [the] tree") exists in 1984. In 1986, a cafe dubbed "Cafe under the tree" exists in its place.

* The Fort Baxter military base has a significantly different layout to the one featured in 1986.

Gang control

The distribution of gangs in Vice City circa 1984 is significantly different due largely to activities surrounding the Vance crime family, which rose to prominence at that year. Their subsequent dominance has devastated a number of existing gangs which previously had a significant stake in the city. In the beginning of Vice City Stories, a number of previously unheard of gangs in Vice City are also present before they disbanded or were wiped out by Victor Vance and his criminal family:

* The Trailer Park Mafia, a redneck gang led by Marty Jay Williams, operates from the trailer park near Sunshine Autos and controls much of Vice City's poorer communities. The gang engages in a brief war with the Cholos, seizing businesses in Little Haiti. With the death of Marty at the hands of Victor Vance, the gang is disbanded as the Vance family takes control of his operations.

* The Cholos, a Hispanic gang, are known to be in control of Little Havana and Little Haiti in 1984. The Cubans (known in Vice City Stories as "Los Cabrones"), led by Umberto Robina, would wage a fierce and violent gang war on the Cholos. The war concluded with the destruction of the Cholo's drug factory in Little Haiti by Los Cabrones and Victor Vance, forcing surviving Cholo members to surrender and consolidate with Los Cabrones.

With the defeat of the Cholos, the Cubans/Los Cabrones control Little Havana by 1986, while the Haitians are also presumed to move into Little Haiti after the Cholos is gone.

* The Sharks control the Washington Beach and Ocean Beach areas of the city, dominating in smuggling, robbery, and drug trafficking. After their businesses are seized by the Vance crime family, the gang is suggested to have mutated into the Streetwannabes street gang by 1986.

* As Victor Vance is dishonorably discharged from the military, the Mendez cartel, headed by brothers Armando and Diego Mendez, set up shop in Vice City and become the most powerful criminal organization in the city, basing their operations at Prawn Island and becoming rivals of Ricardo Diaz's cartel. Originally allied with the Vance brothers, they betrayed Victor, leading to their deaths (with the help of Ricardo Diaz) and the collapse of their organization.

With the defeat of the Mendez cartel, the Streetwannabes control the northern half of Prawn Island, specifically, the former residences of the Mendez cartel.

In addition, the Biker gang, which is featured in Vice City, is stronger and more influential in 1984 than they are in 1986, controlling many businesses in Downtown and Vice Point. It is assumed that the rise of the Vance crime family has resulted in the Bikers losing control of their businesses, leaving them with only the Greasy Chopper bar by 1986. An offshoot of the Biker gang, the Stallionz, is featured in Vice City Stories, consisting of homosexual white supremacists. The Stallionz are wiped out in 1984 by Victor in a bar dubbed "Stallionz," named after the gang.

As a result of the shift of power in Vice City, it is assumed the Vance crime family controls a fair share of the city, and both Victor and Lance agree to leave Vice City for several years to lay low and live off of their drug money in the Dominican Republic after Victor kills the Mendez brothers. In 1986, the Vance brothers are active in Vice City, although their organization's current size and stake in the city is unknown. Victor is presumed to be killed at the beginning of Vice City, and with Lance being killed by Tommy in the final mission of the original Vice City the Vance crime family's activities are ended. Tommy Vercetti's gang would control a sizable amount of the city later on.