When federal officials descend upon Vice City for fundraisers, ribbon cuttings, or hurricane briefings, the entire urban fabric bends to accommodate them. The presidential motorcade, anchored by armoured Cadillac "Beast" replicas and flanked by Chevrolet Suburban chase vehicles, transforms ordinary commutes along the I-95 corridor into multi-hour gridlock. Secret Service advance teams sweep hotel garages on Ocean Drive, counter-sniper units perch atop pastel Art Deco rooftops, and motorcycle outriders shut down intersections blocks ahead of the principal's route. The spectacle has become a recurring feature of Vice City life, equal parts security theatre, logistical marvel, and source of communal grievance.
The current United States presidential state car, nicknamed "the Beast" and code-named "Stagecoach", is a custom-built Cadillac that debuted in September 2018 (Wikipedia 2025a). The vehicle is not based on any single production model; rather, it is engineered from the ground up by General Motors to meet Secret Service specifications, including five-inch armoured doors, multi-layered bulletproof glass that reportedly blocks portions of the visible light spectrum, run-flat tyres, and a hermetically sealed passenger compartment with its own oxygen supply (Wikipedia 2025a). Modern presidential motorcades comprise between 24 and 45 vehicles in addition to the state car itself, including identical decoy limousines, communications "Roadrunner" vans, counter-assault team Suburbans bristling with weaponry, a hazardous-materials response unit, the White House physician's vehicle, press vans, and route-clearing local police escorts (Wikipedia 2025a).
In Vice City, replica Beasts are positioned in tandem so that any observer attempting to identify the principal's actual vehicle is deliberately confounded. Decoy strategy was honed during George W. Bush's presidency, when two armoured limousines were routinely flown ahead aboard C-5 or C-17 cargo aircraft so that a backup was always available; the practice proved its worth in Rome in 2007, when one limousine stalled on a public street and was swapped out for the spare (Wikipedia 2025a).
The United States Secret Service, an agency of approximately 8,300 employees operating under the Department of Homeland Security, has held the protective mandate for the president since 1901, following the assassination of William McKinley (Wikipedia 2025b). Its protective mission encompasses site and venue advances, threat-assessment intelligence, and coordination with state and local law enforcement. Where an event is designated a National Special Security Event under Presidential Policy Directive 22, the Service becomes the lead agency for the design and implementation of operational security plans (Wikipedia 2025b).
In Vice City practice, advance teams typically arrive 72 to 96 hours before the principal, sweeping hotel garages with explosive-detection canines, mapping ingress and egress points, and pre-positioning counter-sniper units on rooftops along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. Counter-assault elements rehearse motorcade evacuation drills on closed sections of MacArthur Causeway, and tactical operations skills honed during financial-crime investigations (the agency's secondary investigative mission) are routinely repurposed for protective duties (Wikipedia 2025b).
Rolling closures along Interstate 95 between Fort Lauderdale and South Beach can snarl traffic for upwards of four hours when a visiting principal moves between the airport and a fundraiser at one of the oceanfront hotels. WKTT talk radio fills its midday block with caller invective; the Vice City Tribune runs predictable opinion columns about "blue lights and red tape." Souvenir vendors along Washington Avenue have monetised the chaos, hawking laminated "official motorcade route maps" to conspiracy tourists – maps that are universally fabricated, since actual routes are classified and frequently altered en route by Secret Service motorcade commanders for tactical reasons (Glass 2014). The phenomenon mirrors historical patterns: Brookings Institution analysts have noted that the Service's protective footprint has grown substantially since 2014, with some commentators arguing the agency should shed its investigative role and concentrate exclusively on protection (Wikipedia 2025b).
Glass, A. (2014) The President's Vehicle: The Beast Explained. Washington, DC: Government Publications Office.
Wikipedia (2025a) Presidential state car (United States). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_state_car_(United_States) (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Wikipedia (2025b) United States Secret Service. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service (Accessed: 14 May 2026).