When the trailer for a game as massive as Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives, you can be sure fans will be gushing over every single frame. But one shot in particular has GTA stans going as far as to claim it the “single best shot in video game history.”
This overhead shot of Vice City at dusk as the sun sets in the background with the central business district gleaming in the distance topped the list for many observers who have been non-stop pouring over the 91 seconds of footage Rockstar Games graced the gaming world with on Dec. 4. “I knew it was [going to] look good but not this good, they weren’t lying when they said they were gonna exceed our expectations,” one fan said.
The moment in the trailer in question sees the camera slowly pans forward over the multi-laned road as the world gets its first look at the upgrades Vice City will receive when GTA 6 lands in 2025. Of particular note, the shot over the center of the bay shows off the upgraded engine’s depth of field and dynamic lighting—graphical features that were limited in tech and scope when GTA V dropped on older console generations nearly a decade ago.
Another fan speculated the location and the shot in the trailer are based heavily on Key Biscayne, a real-life location south of Miami, Florida. Given the location of the pool, the highrise building in the bottom left, the four-lane archway, and the overall geography of the area, it’s hard not to agree with the speculation too.
“I see those Red Dead Redemption 2 volumetric clouds in there,” another fan said, with the clouds dotting a brilliant evening skybox. GTA 6’s weather features are also on show both in this shot and in others throughout the trailer—from detailed drizzle to magnificent, crisp blue skies. The best part? GTA 6 is still over a year away, meaning it’ll only get that much better.
But the greatest video game shot in history? Surely it’s a bit early to make that call. What about the first look at Meridian in Horizon: Zero Dawn, or the Zeppelin explosion in Battlefield 1, or even Peter Parker swinging through the streets in Insomniac’s Spider-Man?
As cool as the Dec. 4 trailer’s shots look and just how diverse the GTA 6 world is already looking, let’s not jump the gun too early and balloon expectations until we get our hands on the title—even if it means waiting over a year (or more for PC fans).
