Report ID: 0026 Category: 01_core Topic: Kelly County (State of Leonida, Grand Theft Auto VI) Date compiled: May 2026 Status: Pre-release; pieced together from trailers, the GTA VI promotional website, and the September 2022 development build leaks. All material described here is provisional and subject to change at full release.
Kelly County is one of five known administrative subdivisions of the fictional State of Leonida, the setting of Rockstar Games' forthcoming Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar Games, 2026). Where Vice-Dale County houses the neon-lit metropolis of Vice City, Kelly County represents the opposite pole of Leonida's identity: a sun-bleached, economically depressed coastal region anchored by the city of Port Gellhorn, the Gellhorn International Raceway and a sprawling prison complex on its outskirts. The county was first hinted at through directional signage in the December 2023 reveal trailer, with subsequent material from the 2025 second trailer and the official GTA VI promotional website confirming its existence and rough position within the state (Fandom, 2026a). This report summarises what has been confirmed about Kelly County's geography and what can be reasonably inferred about its real-world inspiration, distinguishing carefully between observable trailer evidence and community speculation drawn from the unauthorised 2022 development leaks.
Three points about Kelly County can be treated as canon based on publicly released Rockstar material. First, Kelly County exists as a named administrative county within the State of Leonida; it appears explicitly on a westbound Interstate 404 exit sign visible at the 0:51 mark of Trailer 1, alongside a reference to neighbouring Vice-Dale County (Fandom, 2026a). Second, the county is the home of Port Gellhorn, the principal secondary urban centre of GTA VI. The promotional website describes Port Gellhorn as "Leonida's forgotten coast … cheap motels, shut-down attractions, and empty strip malls" fuelled by "malt liquor, painkillers, and truck stop energy drinks" (Rockstar Games, cited in Fandom, 2026c). Third, the Gellhorn International Raceway, Draper Island and a large prison complex sit within Kelly County's boundaries, as confirmed by trailer imagery and the official screenshots and postcards released on the GTA VI site (Fandom, 2026a; Fandom, 2026c).
Beyond these confirmed elements, much of what is currently written about Kelly County rests on inference. The county's south-westerly placement within Leonida is deduced from the direction of Interstate 404 signage in Vice City (westbound exits point to Kelly County) rather than from any released cartographic material (Fandom, 2026a). Community editors have argued that the name "Kelly" phonetically blends "Collier" and "Lee", the two contiguous counties of South-West Florida that anchor Naples, Fort Myers and Cape Coral (Fandom, 2026a). The prison complex visible on the county's outskirts is widely held to be modelled on Augusta State Medical Prison near Augusta, Georgia, based on overhead views surfaced in the September 2022 leak footage (Fandom, 2026b). All such identifications, while plausible, remain unconfirmed by Rockstar.
Kelly County functions narratively and geographically as the rural counterweight to Vice-Dale. Where Vice-Dale concentrates Vice City, Vice Beach, Leaf Links and the artificial islands of the south Leonida bay, Kelly County offers a "forgotten coast" of decaying tourism infrastructure, motorsport and incarceration (Fandom, 2026a; Fandom, 2026c). The two counties are directly linked by Interstate 404, which runs east–west along southern Leonida. This pairing mirrors the structural logic established in Grand Theft Auto V, where Los Santos (Los Santos County) was juxtaposed with the rural Blaine County to create thematic contrast and gameplay variety (Fandom, 2026d). Kelly County therefore appears positioned to supply the open-road, small-town, "Florida Man" register that the Vice City metropolis itself cannot accommodate.
Kelly County is referenced or depicted in three principal pieces of official media released to date. Trailer 1 (December 2023) provides the textual confirmation via the Interstate 404 exit-sign shot. Trailer 2 (2025) includes a return visit to Port Gellhorn, showing the Crossroad Park Minimall and the Bocamar Bridge, both situated inside the county (Fandom, 2026c). The promotional website hosts a dedicated Port Gellhorn postcard and descriptive text, together with a montage on the State of Leonida page that includes "Port Gellhorn at nighttime" as one of seven keynote images representing the state (Fandom, 2026d). Additional trailer-screenshot evidence includes views of Gellhorn International Raceway and the Draper Island area, although these have not yet been individually showcased in the marketing campaign at the level of Vice City landmarks.
Kelly County remains a partly defined region whose contours are sketched by signage, trailer cutaways and a handful of website assets, supplemented by the controversial but informative 2022 development leaks. What is firm is its existence, its location in south-western Leonida, and its containing Port Gellhorn, the Gellhorn International Raceway and a prison complex. What is reasoned rather than confirmed is its naming derived from Collier and Lee counties in South-West Florida and its prison's visual basis in Georgia's Augusta State Medical Prison. As a thematic counterpoint to Vice-Dale, Kelly County looks set to deliver the depressed-tourism, dirt-bike, truck-stop Florida that Rockstar has repeatedly signalled as central to GTA VI's tonal palette. Definitive descriptions will only be possible once the game releases in 2026.
Fandom (2026a) Kelly County. GTA Wiki. Available at: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Kelly_County (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Fandom (2026b) State of Leonida. GTA Wiki. Available at: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/State_of_Leonida (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Fandom (2026c) Port Gellhorn. GTA Wiki. Available at: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Port_Gellhorn (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Fandom (2026d) Grand Theft Auto VI. GTA Wiki. Available at: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_VI (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Rockstar Games (2026) Grand Theft Auto VI – Official Website. Available at: https://www.rockstargames.com/VI (Accessed: 14 May 2026).