The Grand Theft Auto VI cars that have been photographed around Miami since the middle of October finally have an owner. Rockstar Games has confirmed that it commissioned six drivable, real-world versions of GTA VI vehicles from West Coast Customs, the Los Angeles shop best known for the Pimp My Ride era. The news reached outlets on November 7 and 8, 2026, through a Rockstar press release and a set of official photographs.

Complex, which reported the press release on November 7, names the six cars: the Grotti Cheetah, Pegassi Tempesta, Progen Emerus, Invetero Coquette, Albany Buccaneer and Albany Manana. Wallpaper* published Rockstar-credited photos of the cars on November 8, posed in front of two Miami landmarks. We have read both reports; we have not seen the press release itself, so the quoted wording below is as relayed by Complex.

What Rockstar confirmed

  • Six vehicles from the game were built as fully drivable cars, commissioned by Rockstar from West Coast Customs.
  • Each build "combines traditional metal fabrication with modern composite construction", according to the press release as quoted by Complex, with custom paint finishes to match the in-game cars.
  • The cars wear Leonida licence plates with "Vice City" text, and plate frames carrying "VI", the West Coast Customs name and the Rockstar logo.
  • Rockstar supplied the photographs. Wallpaper* credits every image to Rockstar Games.

What Rockstar has not said is which real cars sit underneath. Wallpaper* makes the point that GTA's vehicles are satirical takes on real models rather than copies, and neither report names donor cars. Fan sightings in October identified a McLaren, a Corvette, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini among the convoy. Those identifications were reasonable at the time and may still be right, but they are not part of the official account.

Where the cars were photographed

The official photos were taken at two sites that say a lot about who Rockstar was talking to. One set is in front of 1111 Lincoln Road, the open parking structure in Miami Beach designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The other is at the Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key, Hilario Candela's 1963 concrete grandstand that Rockstar has recreated in the game. Wallpaper* runs the Marine Stadium photos alongside the same scene rendered in GTA VI.

That pairing is the point of the exercise. Rockstar has built a version of Miami in Leonida and then put physical copies of its fictional cars into the real city, in front of buildings that exist in both. It is the same idea as the Burger Shot stands inside the Kaseya Center and the Heat's Vice City uniforms, carried out in metal.

What this changes about the Miami story

Since October 15 we have reported the Miami car sightings as fan photos with no confirmed owner. On October 16 we listed the Emerus, Coquette, Cheetah, Tempesta and Manana lookalikes seen on the street and said plainly that Rockstar had not claimed them. On October 26 our feature on the Miami campaign made the same point about the whole operation.

The press release settles the car part of that. The six vehicles were Rockstar's, built to its order, and seeded in Miami on purpose. The Buccaneer is the one car in the official list that we had not seen reported in the October sightings. The rest of the Miami campaign, from the Wynwood Walls week to the beer labels, still has no statement from Rockstar, and the Heat uniforms are confirmed by the Heat rather than by Rockstar. Our Rumor Tracker and the Miami feature have been updated to reflect that split.

The precedent

Rockstar has done this once before, on a smaller scale. In 2013 West Coast Customs built a single real Bravado Banshee from a Dodge Viper to promote GTA V, and it was given away in a competition. Six cars in a working convoy, placed in the real city the game is based on, is a different order of ambition, and it fits a launch campaign that has otherwise avoided conventional advertising almost entirely.

What to watch next

Rockstar has not said what happens to the cars after launch. If the Banshee is the model, at least one could end up as a prize. GTA VI launches on November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with digital pre-loading from November 10. If Rockstar posts the cars to the Newswire, or the convoy turns up at the Heat's Vice City night on November 18, we will add it here.