Summary

• GTA 6 shows how Vice City has evolved over 40 years since Tommy Vercetti's influence.
• Expect riots, government interference, and wacky missions in GTA 6 to sur Vice City.
• From iconic betrayals to gang wars, GTA 6 may revisit classic missions with modern twists.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is bringing players back to the neon-infused city streets of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The days of retro mopeds and oversized Hawaiian shirts may be long past, but the influence of Tommy Vercetti’s escapades throughout the city will certainly still be felt. Rockstar Studios has an opportunity to show how much Vice City has changed over the past 40 years and how much weight the Vercetti name still carries in its streets.

From 1986, when Vice City is set, to 2025, when GTA 6 is set, there is ample time for a city to completely forget its past. Many of the old characters may have moved on or ed, and many of the businesses may have closed down, but that does not mean Rockstar Studios cannot either recreate some of the classic missions or show players just how much the city re of Tommy’s destructive behavior.

10 Tommy Vercetti Created Chaos In Riot

A Mission That The Spand Express Company Re

Avery Carrington was a standard big-money property developer who was always looking for the next prime real estate opportunity. The Spand Express was just another company in his way of land ownership, and they needed to go. Luckily, Tommy Vercetti was relatively happy to oblige in the mission, “Riot.” With a little bit of a disguise and a two-by-four to a couple of employee’s heads, the ball got rolling with ease.

Lucia and Jason should have the opportunity to start a riot of their own. This makes it the perfect mission to follow up decades later.

In GTA 6, it is likely that tensions within the city will be high to begin with. Lucia and Jason should have the opportunity to start a riot of their own. This makes it the perfect mission to follow up decades later. Not to mention, every GTA needs a solid riot to get the blood of the protagonists pumping. If starting a riot with the Spand Express employees in Vice City seemed simple enough, it'd be half as easy in 2025.

9 Loose Ends Mission Makes a Point

The Government Is The Biggest Gang

Nearly every GTA has the protagonists being forced to work alongside the law. The federal government and state police in the games are just as bloodthirsty and deceptive as the drug gangs themselves. So much so that Tommy took the opportunity to wipe out both the FBI agents and the Sharks, who were attempting to commit a shady deal on a rooftop. That kind of intelligence failure is something that sticks with the FBI. Vice City will remain a black mark on their record even to this day.

In a city where the FBI was so obscenely embarrassed by Tommy, they will be unlikely to be caught unawares by a possible loose end such as Lucia, as the Vice City mission title suggests.

The running theme of government interactions with GTA protagonists is likely to continue into GTA 6. Getting out of jail may be a prologue to Lucia’s storyline, or perhaps a caveat to her release is law involvement intervention and monitoring. In a city where the FBI was so obscenely embarrassed by Tommy, they will be unlikely to be caught unawares by a possible loose end such as Lucia, as the Vice City mission title suggests. It is not the improved police AI the player will need to worry about, but the almost certain federal agent character-enforcing missions.

8 Demolition Man Is A Wackier Mission To Followup On

Who Needs A Drone When An RC Is On Offer

Vice City was known for its whacky missions, and “Demolition Man” took bomb planting to a ridiculous level. Tommy needed to tap into his toy helicopter flying skills to place four explosives around a construction site. Once again, Avery is after property, and back in 1986, there were far fewer tools available for a property tycoon to enact his idea of destruction. The RC Goblin flying around a construction site would attract more attention in 2025 than during the years of Vice City.

GTA 6 could make use of new-aged technology to plant their explosives, perhaps from the safety of a bedroom with a remote-control drone, zipping in and out of buildings. But it should not. If a new Avery character is in the works for GTA 6, his budget should be far less. The return of an archaic RC is the only mobile device Lucia and Jason should have access to. A drone is too easy, while an RC older than they are, still sitting in a Top Fun Van, could be the comedic act of destruction the player needs.

7 Sir, Yes Sir Could Incorporate Tank Play

What’s Better Than Early Game Invincibility?

In the mission “Sir, Yes Sir,” Tommy is able to acquire a tank quite early in the game and wreak havoc throughout the city. All he needed was a brief distraction and a horde of bullets to bring down an entire convoy. Luckily for him, the army quickly forgets that a tank was stolen, and he is able to drop it off without much concern. GTA after GTA then offers a tank ride, and GTA Online makes the tank a common vehicle to speed around town in. Driving a tank is overdone and dull.

Drones may be the go-to due to their abilities, but nothing beats riding an untouchable, armored vehicle as a welcome to a new GTA city.

GTA 6 will need something bigger and better to top Vice City. With the abundance of missions likely available for the player in relation to the military, there is little doubt some sort of explosive vehicle joyride is in the future. With the new technology in 2025, there are so many more options for Grand Theft Auto than a tank. Drones may be the go-to due to their abilities, but nothing beats riding an untouchable, armored vehicle as a welcome to a new GTA city.

6 Keep Your Friends Close... Is An Iconic Mission To Replicate

I Sold YOU Out, Tommy

One of the most iconic characters in both Vice City history and GTA in general is Tommy’s best friend and biggest traitor, Lance Vance. Big Smoke in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas certainly hit hard, but no character landed the betrayal card quite like Lance. Lance wanted to be the big shot; he wanted to be the main character of the story, but unfortunately for him, he was an NPC. Tommy carried Lance to the pinnacle and tried to push Tommy over the edge.

Grand Theft Auto 5’s final mission has a similar concept from which GTA 6 could draw if the developers were feeling ambitious enough to try to top Vice City’s betrayal. Franklin Clinton has the option to betray either Michael De Santa or Trevor Philips, though most players likely picked "Deathwish," but the difference is the tri of GTA 5 were essentially business partners. Lucia and Jason are portrayed as very close. A betrayal between the pair may just be the performance that knocks Lance off the peak.

5 Two Bit Hit Is A Classic Gang Rivalry

Four Bullets And A Funeral

In 1986, Tommy jump-started a drug war between the Haitian and Cuban drug gangs for Avery in the mission, “Two Bit Hit.” Real estate was too pricey, and Avery cooked up another plan to secure the prices he wanted. After dres as a Cuban gang member and jumping a Haitian gang funeral, the bad blood between the rival gangs was cemented. Everyone loses in a drug war, apart from Avery. Avery always won. This ongoing conflict will certainly affect the affluence of the city even into 2025.

Even if the gang war has come to an end and there is relative peace, the ripple of gun violence and meaningless death sewn across the city due to Tommy’s intervention will likely still be felt. Turf wars between gangs are nothing new in GTA, but GTA 6 will hopefully show the ramifications of Tommy’s actions in a continual disdain between the two communities. To jump a funeral and slaughter the attendees is poor form, even for drug gangs. The effects of this mission could show the more unpleasant reality of the GTA world.

4 Cabmaggedon Could Revisit A Fun Callback

The War Of The Cabs

Drug gangs were not the only group in Vice City who wanted to control their turf. Cab companies have roads to man and a reputation to maintain. In the Vice City mission, “Cabmaggedon,” Tommy is forced to face off with a horde of crazed cab drivers displeased with him moving on with their business. It is a feud like no other in the game and has some of the most fun interactions in a mission. Avoiding ramming cabs was like a fatal version of bumper cars.

If there was any string of missions to recreate in GTA 6 to encapsulate the eccentric style of gameplay in Vice City, it is “Cabmaggedon.” The cab is a staple of any GTA game and is used for missions, traveling and even character side jobs. With VC cabs utterly destroyed by Tommy 40 years prior, there will be a new ruling cab faction for Lucia and Jason to challenge. Hopefully, Rockstar Studios make use of both the mission style of avoiding charging cabs and exploring the cab company hierarchy that Tommy helped establish.

3 Publicity Tour Could Revisit The Best Band

Can You Handle the Bus? It’s like a Big Limo

“Publicity Tour” is the Vice City mission paying homage to Keanu Reeves' film, Speed. An obsessive individual plants a bomb on a limo which Tommy is ferrying around the band, Love Fist. During a desperate bid to disarm the device, Tommy is forced to drive around and stay above a certain speed to avoid the bomb going off. A limo is more personal than a bus, yet when Speed upgraded from a bus to a boat, GTA has yet to go bigger than the limo.

During a desperate bid to disarm the device, Tommy is forced to drive around and stay above a certain speed to avoid the bomb going off.

GTA 6's city will have an abundance of people willing to go the extra mile to get the attention of the celebrity they love. If Love Fist have a well needed reunion tour in Vice City and need a driver to get them around, Lucia or Jason may run into the same problem as Tommy. It is unlikely the band will trust a limo again and be more inclined to take something safer, like a private jet. A fan willing to blow up the band they love is just as likely to try again, 40 years later, and a change of transport will not stop them.

2 Ken Rosenburg Missions Could Revisit The Classics

A Criminal Lawyer For Life

GTA 6 can do more than recreate missions for a new audience or observe how the city’s been affected by Tommy’s antics. Ken Rosenburg was a secondary protagonist in Vice City, ing Tommy through his life of crime and climbing to kingpin. Even though his drug addiction caused a rift between them and Ken later appears in San Andreas as a mission giver to Carl Johnson, there is still room for him in GTA 6.

​​​In the year 2025, Ken will be the ripe old age of 72. Many of the characters in Vice City may have ed between the games and even Ken surviving to that age would be quite an achievement considering his lifestyle. Nevertheless, if Lucia and Jason need a guiding hand through the city in the ways of a former drug boss and legend, Ken is the perfect mentor. If anything, Ken would want Tommy to be outshone.

1 The Legacy of Tommy Vercetti Is The Most Iconic Mission

Can The Most Famous Person In Vice City Ever Be Topped?

All the missions and the entirety of the Vice City game accumulated to the creation of one of the most memorable and recognizable protagonists, Tommy Vercetti. People who have never played Vice City most likely still know the name, and those who did look back on his characterization with pleasant nostalgia. Tommy was the Scarface who survived and succeeded and changed the direction of Vice City forever. If anything in the past affects the city of GTA 6, it is Tommy’s legacy.

It would be a disservice to the world of GTA 6 to have memories of Tommy’s achievements and crimes forgotten. If the direction of the game was to ignore nearly everything else throughout Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’s history and start fresh with characters, missions, and locations, the only thing they should endeavor to maintain is Tommy’s influence. Lucia and Jason will know the name Tommy Vercetti – it is a given.

Sources: GTA Series Videos / Youtube