Grand Theft Auto VI pre-loading is now live on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, nine days before the game launches on Thursday 19 November. It unlocks in a rolling midnight launch, country by country, starting in New Zealand, so UK players can start at midnight on the 19th.

The PlayStation Blog says it's now the most pre-ordered game in PlayStation Store history, and that PlayStation and Rockstar Games opened pre-loading early because of that demand. Xbox Wire says the same for the Microsoft Store.

Both platforms are urging anyone who wants to play on launch day to pre-load as soon as possible. If you're planning to, clear some space: Simon Carless of the GameDiscoverCo newsletter estimates it needs up to 212GB of drive space, as quoted by GamesIndustry.biz. That's an estimate rather than an official figure.

Grand Theft Auto VI on PS5 and PS5 Pro

Rockstar marked the start of pre-loading with a new trailer, and later added a PlayStation 5 features trailer, according to Gematsu. Rockstar also posted a blog with the technical details. Here's what it confirms for PS5:

  • DualSense speaker, haptics and adaptive triggers used throughout, adjustable in the accessibility settings
  • Tempest 3D Audio for positional sound
  • Faster loading from the PS5's SSD
  • PS5 Pro only: enhanced visuals, sharper image quality with PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), and ray-traced shadows

Frame rate is the catch. Rockstar says the game targets 30 frames per second on current consoles, pushing them to "their absolute limits", as Eurogamer reported. The PS5 Pro enhancements don't change that.

Grand Theft Auto VI official artwork from Xbox Wire's announcement of day-one Xbox Cloud Gaming
Official Grand Theft Auto VI artwork. Image Credit: Rockstar Games, via Xbox Wire

How it works on Xbox

  • Xbox Series X and Series S: a full download you can pre-install now. Xbox Wire calls Series X the best Xbox way to play and Series S the most affordable.
  • Xbox Cloud Gaming: playable from day one on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, from 1am Eastern time (6am in the UK) on 19 November. Streamed play uses Series S graphics settings, and you still have to buy the game.
  • Xbox One: cloud streaming only.

Xbox Wire says it has set the Microsoft Store pre-order record too, and PC Gamer notes it now holds that record on both PlayStation and Xbox. Neither post mentions a PC version.

Will the stores cope with launch day?

GamesIndustry.biz calls this the first AAA release of its scale to launch digital-only, and cites Sensor Tower estimates of nearly 8 million pre-orders. The experts it spoke to think pre-loading will ease the strain, since the game downloads gradually and launch becomes a quick key exchange.

Joost van Dreunen of Aldora still warns of "tens of millions day-of buyers, not a few hundred thousand". He expects local congestion on the evening of 19 November in the US and Europe, rather than a global meltdown.

Are you pre-loading now to be ready for 19 November, or waiting to see how the PS5 Pro version holds up at 30fps?