Can GTA 6 delight - and offend - everyone?

On This Week’s GTA VI O’Clock | Inside Ambrosia: GTA 6’s sweet (and sour) cultural battleground | GTA’s Stunt Jumps Press Pause on Reality Created for ignoble.experiment@arconati.us | Web Version 27 June 2025 SIGN UP ⋅   SHARE Welcome Message On This Week’s GTA VI O’Clock Inside Ambrosia: GTA 6’s sweet (and sour) cultural battleground Can Rockstar delight - and offend - everyone? GTA Stunt Jumps press pause on reality [You can follow GTA VI O’Clock on X for breaking GTA 6 news, and subscribe to our weekly show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Acast and Podbay. Live every Wednesday at 6pm GMT] Hello, it’s been a slower week for Rockstar news, unless you’re excited by the (curiously-delayed) ability to wishlist GTA 6 on Xbox. Spammier reports tried to feign some excitement around the fact that this generates a 328.76 MB download… but this is just a placeholder file. Hackers: stand down. Today, we’ll deep dive into Ambrosia, one of GTA 6 ‘s most-interesting confirmed locations, join-the-dots on some lesser-reported details, and how they might tie into GTA 6’s overriding themes. Trust? Trust. Let’s go.   <GTA VI O’clock is the world's most in-depth and best-connected GTA VI show, hosted by veteran games journalist Dan Dawkins and executive producer James Jarvis. Join us every Thursday at 6pm for our freshly launched newsletter as we build the most-complete picture of GTA 6 anywhere in the world> This Week's Talking Points Inside Ambrosia: GTA 6’s sweet (and sour) cultural battleground What’s happening?   “The battle for the health and wealth of Leonida begins here”, says the official GTA 6 website description of Ambrosia, the state’s industrial heartland. Ambrosia is a less than subtle reference to the real-life city of Clewiston, most notable for its sugar plantations.   “In the heart of Leonida, American industry and old school values still reign supreme — whatever the cost.”, says the official website. “The Allied Crystal sugar refinery provides the jobs, while the local biker gang provides almost everything else.”   In real life, Clewiston is situated on the south west tip of Lake Okeechobee (pronounced ‘layk-ow-kee-cho-bee’), whose climate and soil conditions make it perfect for sugar production. Pop fact: Clewiston generates 23% of all the sugar in the United States.   Ambrosia is one of GTA 6’s more mysterious locations, with the excellent GTA mapping project team placing it on the southwest shores of what they're calling Lake Leonida - a large, oval shaped, lake in the centre north of the GTA 6 map.   The official website hosts five hi-res screens from Ambrosia. The first is of the Final Chapter Motorcycle club, formed in 1982. This biker gang - reminiscent of crews from GTA IV: The Lost and Damned - wear jackets with ‘John Samuels’ whiskey (an obvious parody of Jack Daniels).   Far more interesting are the road side signs suggesting an upcoming election, with clear Republicans vs Dems vibes. ‘Vote Erin Henshaw’ says a red sign with the Allied Crystal logo, ‘The sweet lifeblood of Ambrosia’.Another sign says ‘Erin Henshaw for Mayor’ and - although some text is cut off - ‘Finally a politician with balls’.   There are a few signs promoting another candidate, called ‘Something - ver’ with the name clipped off, with white backgrounds and colours redolent of the LGBTQ+ pride flag. The red Allied Crystal / Erin Henshaw signs outnumber the white signs by 11 to 3, in case there was any doubt about the power of corporate interests.   In the background, you can see a billboard for ‘Tiny Frank’ baked goods - likely a parody of Little Debbie treats sold by McKee Foods - and the message ‘Proud Allies of Diversity ‘n’ Treats!’   The second screenshot shows Ambrosia at night, with the Allied Crystal Sugar Plant clearly visible, and a tower painted with a US flag which - handily - has allowed the GTA 6 mapping project to better orient their predictions.    The remaining screens take a closer look at the astonishingly-detailed biker gang members (who is that woman with the eye shadow depicted in the tattoo?), a crop field on fire (dynamic weather systems? We debate this in depth on this week’s show) and a ‘patriotic’ car wash, with low cut bikinis and deeply realistic car interiors - all of which are dissected in detail in our show (which you can listen to below, or on YouTube, Apple Podcasts… you know the drill)   So what does it say about GTA 6’s central themes?   GTA VI O Clock Says?   Arguably the biggest story, or thematic, in contemporary US history - perhaps even globally - has been the breakdown of traditional debate, with politics becoming increasingly tribal and intolerant.   On the surface level, GTA 6 echoes this with its dual protagonist structure and the ‘Trust? Trust” sign off of GTA 6 Trailer 1. Ambrosia appears to be at the tectonic clashing point of the cultural and political war that has defined modern America; as a gang of grizzled bikers ride in formation underneath a garish corporate billboard lauding ‘Proud Allies of Diversity ‘n’ Treats!’   It can’t be accidental that the billboard promoting Erin Henshaw - primarily associated as a woman’s name - has the tagline ‘Finally a politician with balls’.   Quite how far Rockstar dares to engage with culture war issues of gender and political allegiance remains to be seen. Closer readers of this newsletter will remember the Jason Schreier report on the ‘cleaning up’ of Rockstar’s studio culture, which noted that Rockstar removed what were deemed to be ‘transphobic jokes’ from its most recent console release of GTA V.   Would Rockstar dare to ‘take sides’? History suggests that nobody is safe from the game’s biting satire of modern America, but it is an issue that many players will be watching very closely. From what we’ve seen so far in Trailer 1 and Trailer 2, it seems like Rockstar are navigating a pretty ‘safe’ line - a white male protagonist teamed with the series’ first female (and Latina) playable lead, for example.   The finished game will no doubt outrage many, but as was ever thus  - a GTA 6 game that can delight, and offend, all sides of the political spectrum might be the most difficult ‘next generation’ feature Rockstar has to tackle.   "I don't know, that thing. That magic" GTA’s Stunt Jumps Press Pause on Reality I’ve always been obsessed with that quote in GTA 5’s debut trailer from lead character Michael De Santa. “Why did I move here? I guess it was the weather, I don’t know, that thing. That magic.”   That thing, that magic, is what elevates Rockstar games above all others. The incredible over-and-above attention to detail, the wild easter eggs and hidden secrets.   So, we’re going to end every newsletter with a little reminder of why we’re so obsessed with Rockstar’s games, and this week’s entry is…   GTA’s Stunt Jumps Press Pause on Reality   We could write an entirely different newsletter about GTA’s amazing stunt jumps, but reminiscing about biker gangs reminded us of this sublime triple backflip from GTA IV, before losing ourselves in a rabbit hole of GTA V stunt jump speed runs (here’s all 50 in a little over 20 minutes), and a frankly physics-defying skyscraper leap that would shame The Matrix.   That’s it for this week. If you like the GTA VI O’Clock newsletter be sure to share the sign-up with your like-minded friends. See you next week at Thursday 6pm GMT. Podcast Sign Up  |    Update Profile  |    Unsubscribe Privacy Policy  |    Cookies Policy  |    Terms and Conditions CONTACT US: FEEDBACK  |    ADVERTISE © Future Publishing Limited. 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