Saving your progress in Vice City is crucial to avoid losing hours of gameplay. You can save your game by entering any of your safe houses (marked as a green house icon on the mini-map) and walking into the pink save icon. Early in the game, your first safe house is the Ocean View Hotel. As you progress, you'll acquire more safe houses, offering convenient save points across the city. It's highly recommended to save frequently, especially after completing challenging missions or acquiring valuable assets.
The game also features an autosave function, but it's not always reliable or frequent enough to depend on solely. Manual saves give you control over your progress and allow you to revert to an earlier point if a mission goes wrong or you make a costly mistake. Don't underestimate the importance of a well-timed save!