Rockstar and West Coast Customs build six real GTA VI cars ahead of launch

Rockstar Games has brought six cars from GTA 6 into the real world less than two weeks before the game reaches PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19. Los Angeles shop West Coast Customs built the driveable replicas, which were filmed cruising Miami on Leonida license plates.

The line-up covers the Grotti Cheetah, Pegassi Tempesta, Progen Emerus, Invetero Coquette, Albany Buccaneer, and Albany Manana. Studio images released this week place each build beside its in-game model. The plates carry Vice City lettering, and the frames read “VI”, “West Coast Customs," and the Rockstar logo.

Each car pairs conventional metalwork with composite body panels, and the shop used CNC machining for the custom wheels and structural parts before applying a bespoke paint finish. Rockstar has not named the donor cars under the bodywork. Street sightings in Miami point to a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a McLaren, and a Chevrolet Corvette among the bases.

The Grotti Cheetah takes its low, wide wedge shape from the 1980s Ferrari Testarossa, the car Sonny Crockett drove in Miami Vice. The Cheetah has featured in the series since GTA III, and the original Vice City version also drew on the Testarossa. In GTA 6, the Cheetah ’95 is an Ultimate Edition vehicle that unlocks later in the story.

The Pegassi Tempesta is modeled on the Lamborghini Huracán, and its name mirrors the original: "tempesta" is Italian for "storm," while "huracán" is Spanish for "hurricane." West Coast Customs finished its Tempesta in police livery, echoing the Huracáns used by Italy’s state police. The Invetero Coquette is GTA’s Chevrolet Corvette, based this time on the mid-engine C8. The Progen Emerus is Rockstar’s version of the McLaren Senna, a 2018 hypercar limited to 500 units.

The two Albany builds draw on American custom culture rather than European supercars. The Manana takes cues from the late-1960s Cadillac Eldorado and sits on tall hi-riser wheels, a look tied to South Florida’s donk scene. The Buccaneer blends 1970s Buick Riviera and Ford Fairlane styling and is built as a lowrider, with small wheels and an aggressive grille. One of the Albany cars was reportedly finished in green paint with gold wheels and a zebra-print interior.

The cars were photographed at two Miami landmarks. One is Herzog & de Meuron’s 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage in Miami Beach. The other is Hilario Candela’s 1963 Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key, which has been closed since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In August, nearly 69% of Miami voters backed a referendum that clears the way for its restoration.

The convoy first surfaced without any announcement in mid-October, shortly after Rockstar released the GTA 6 launch trailer on October 15. Footage from that week showed the cars parked together at a Shell station. The appearance formed part of a wider Miami campaign that has included a GTA 6 blimp, branded beach gear, and plane banners over South Beach.

West Coast Customs, best known for MTV’s Pimp My Ride, has worked with Rockstar before. In 2013, the shop built a single screen-accurate Bravado Banshee from a Dodge Viper to promote GTA 5, and the car was later handed over as a prize.

Rockstar does not license real manufacturers, so its vehicles carry invented badges such as Grotti for Ferrari and Pegassi for Lamborghini. Car customization returns in GTA 6, and Leonida’s in-game body shops will let players change paint, trim, and wheels on their own vehicles.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Digital preloading opens on November 10, two days earlier than first announced, and requires about 212GB of free space. Rockstar has not announced a PC version.