A short clip of a Miami street has fooled a large part of the internet, because it is not Miami at all. The footage, posted on 11 November by the Miami-Dade content account ONLY in DADE with the hashtag #OnlyinViceCity, turned out to be Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay. Rockstar Games then shared the clip as a story on its official Instagram account and liked the original post, according to Kotaku. That was enough for most fans to accept it as real in-game footage, eight days before the game launches on 19 November.
The confusion came from where it was posted. ONLY in DADE mostly shares real street videos sent in by locals, so many viewers assumed the clip was another everyday Miami moment. One fan account’s version of the clip, posted at 19:23 UTC on 11 November, described it as possible new gameplay captured with an in-game phone camera. ONLY in DADE later posted it on X itself at 22:04 UTC, with the caption “Miami is officially a simulation”.
Why the GTA 6 clip looks so much like real Miami
The clip appears to recreate a real promotional moment from last month, when Rockstar and West Coast Customs showed off custom cars on Miami’s streets. Side-by-side comparisons spread quickly, and one from the account NikTek, posted at 19:51 UTC, set the clip beside real Miami street footage. Its caption said the game was reaching “uncanny valley levels of realism”. Joel Franco, who covers internet culture, wrote that ONLY in DADE had told him it was actual gameplay, on top of Rockstar sharing it.
The detail is what sells it, from the palm trees and parked cars to the pedestrians moving along the pavement. The camera angle helps too, because it looks like a phone recording rather than a polished trailer shot. Some fan accounts claimed the footage was captured with an in-game phone camera, but Rockstar has not said how it was recorded. Some viewers also thought they could see Jason and Lucia on the pavement, although that has not been confirmed either.
What the realistic footage means for the GTA 6 30fps debate
The clip arrives in the middle of an argument about performance. Rockstar’s pre-load announcement on 10 November confirmed that GTA 6 targets 30 frames per second on PS5, PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S. We covered the details in our story on the 30fps target and PS5 Pro ray-traced shadows. Rockstar said it is pushing both platforms to their “absolute limits” to deliver its dense, detailed world. Footage like this is the strongest case for that trade-off, even for players who are still unhappy about the 30fps decision.
Hype for the launch is building in other ways too. Physical copies have already reached some stores, with the PS5 box showing no disc and a 230GB storage requirement. Pre-loading opened on 10 November, and Rockstar’s pre-load post on X urged anyone who had not yet pre-ordered to get ready for 19 November. The demand was big enough to set new records on Virgin Media’s UK broadband network, as we covered in our pre-load records story.
Rockstar has released very little gameplay since its trailers, which is why a short street clip can travel this far. Fans are now studying every frame for clues about Leonida, the fictional state based on Florida where the game is set. Grand Theft Auto VI launches on 19 November on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, according to Rockstar Games.
