Mystery Film Project Fuels GTA 6 Speculation in Florida

It looks like Take-Two Interactive is putting that massive marketing budget to good use already ahead of the next fiscal year, or at least, that's what many would like to believe after footage and images of a mysterious project that resembles Grand Theft Auto 6 went viral ahead of the weekend.

According to multiple sources, the project has transformed the streets of downtown Tampa, Florida, the real-life inspiration for the state of Leonida, into a cinematic playground, with scenes of simulated violence and high-octane action unfolding before the eyes of curious onlookers. Local residents have reported street closures and an increased presence of film crews, adding to the intrigue surrounding this enigmatic production by Florida-based production studio, ITZ Studios.

One of the most compelling pieces of evidence linking the project to GTA 6 is the appearance of an actor bearing an uncanny resemblance to the unnamed male protagonist of the game. Eyewitnesses have described seeing the actor, dressed in an outfit strikingly similar to leaked images of the GTA 6 character, wielding an assault rifle as he marched down a cordoned-off street. This visual parallel has become hard to ignore and many are using it as one of the biggest pieces of evidence that this has something to do with Rockstar Games.

The scale and apparent budget of the production have raised eyebrows, with many observers noting that it seems too elaborate for a typical fan film or YouTube project, especially as multiple local businesses are involved, with Tesla Bay Mod Shop CEO confirming on Instagram that he lent the production crew a couple of Tesla Cybertrucks. Set photos revealing police cars, staged crime scenes, and even simulated dead bodies paint a picture of a large-scale, professional undertaking.

One particularly intriguing element is the presence of police vehicles labeled "Magic City Police." While this doesn't directly correspond to any known location in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Rockstar could always edit the name in post-production if this is indeed an official trailer.

Further adding to the production's mystique, the Film Tampa Bay Instagram account recently shared a teaser featuring an explosive car chase and police shootout. Despite the mounting evidence, there remains no official confirmation of any association with Rockstar nor Take-Two. They remain characteristically tight-lipped, neither confirming nor denying any involvement in the Tampa production.

As the cameras roll, or to so speak, locals over at the r/tampa subreddit continue to speculate about the exact nature of this project. One user, in particular, suggested asking the catering crew for more details as they're usually the ones, in his words, "not busy while cameras are rolling and they know who is paying them."

So far, no one has yet braved asking the catering services to find out what's going on and if it's related to GTA 6. There's a possibility that the similarities are actually an attempt by an unnamed third party to gain traction by association. On the other hand, the GTA franchise has a past record of life-action advertisements; GTA 2 had one such 'film' made for it, for example.

Speaking of GTA 6, CEOs of other companies have begun confirming how much of a factor the game is in their future plans by either mentioning the game outright or hinting at its importance. Corsair CEO Andy Paul, in particular, speculated that GTA 6 is getting a PC port as early as next year. On the other hand, Sony's Chief Financial Officer, Hiroki Totoki, confirmed that the company is expecting to post banner year this holiday season, presumably because of the release of GTA 6 later this year.