GTA 6 Preloads Start on November 10 With a 212 GB Download Size

Rockstar has confirmed that GTA 6 preloading begins on Tuesday, November 10, giving you nine days to download the files before launch. The size you were hearing about, 210 GB, turned out to be close but a little short. Rockstar says the preload can take up to 212 GB depending on your device, so if you free up exactly 210 and stop there, something else on your drive will have to go.

Timing differs by console. On PS5, the download unlocks at midnight local time, so the moment November 9th turns into November 10 where you live, you can start. XBOX Series X and S use midnight Greenwich Mean Time everywhere, which puts US players at 7:00 P.M. Eastern or 4:00 P.M. Pacific on Monday, November 9th. Nobody gets to play early, though.

Everyone starts on November 19, and the head start only exists so your internet connection can do its work first.

This also explains the November 12th date mentioned earlier. That is when retailers are expected to start selling the boxed versions for both consoles. Those copies include a download code, so you still need the same storage space and the same download. If you pre-ordered digitally, November 10 is your day.

And if your connection is slow, nine days to pull down a file this big beats sitting through a progress bar on launch night. Rockstar also added something for people who miss the paper map that used to come in the box with older Grand Theft Auto games. On November 19, the official site will offer a free printable map of Leonida along with a cover art poster.

Soon after launch, the Rockstar store will sell a double-sided physical copy for 99 cents, or free with any purchase. You do not need a pricey collector's edition to get a map on your wall, and with 212 GB going onto your console, it is probably good that the map can live somewhere else.

There is also news for anyone who stayed on PS5 firmware 14.10, hoping to play GTA 6 and still keep a shot at a jailbreak. Sony released firmware 14.22 on November 2, and a store-tracking account says that is now the version GTA 6 needs. Earlier in October, the reported requirement was 14.10, so the number changed.

The update is 1.267 GB, and Sony's patch notes sum it up in one sentence about security fixes to the system software.

That stored data is what links the two. Sony pushed out a security patch, and the latest findings put GTA 6 on that same firmware ahead of November 19. It also shows why some people in the homebrew scene wanted the hacker who got paid $50,000 by Sony to hold that bug back until after launch.

The plan was to land on a version that could run a legitimately bought copy of GTA 6, stay there, and keep the option of booting Linux through a jailbreak. If firmware 14.22 is the requirement on launch day, anyone who stopped at 14.10 has to pick between staying put for homebrew or updating to play. Owning the game does not get you around that check.

This is also where the headlines claiming Sony lost control of the console start to fall apart. Getting a debug menu to open on 14.10 is real progress, but saying it means someone can pirate GTA 6 skips the step where the game has to actually run on the cracked version. A video of someone scrolling through settings does not show the game getting past the title screen.

Sony does not have to stop every hacker. It only has to keep the firmware GTA 6 requires ahead of the public jailbreaks. For most owners, firmware 14.22 will be a download they barely remember, while for hackers racing the November 19th date, it may have moved the finish line.

Sony has also published a guide to getting your console ready, and the most interesting line sits at the very end.

It says more information on the game will arrive as November 19 gets closer. One creator thinks that could point to PS5 Pro details, and the leaning here is the same. The guide was written by someone at Sony Interactive Entertainment, so this is PlayStation telling its own players to stay tuned, and a Pro feature trailer looks like a safe bet.

So far, all Sony has promised is more information. The guide repeats the preload details, saying digital pre-orders on PS5 start at midnight local time on November 10 and that you should clear at least 212 GB. The rest walks you through checking your account, choosing an edition, and maybe buying a headset.

What is still missing is a clear picture of what the slogan "plays best on PS5" looks like on the most expensive PlayStation Sony sells. That slogan has been put in front of millions of people, yet the trailers so far have shown the game on a base PS5. Meanwhile there has been a blimp over Miami, supercars on Ocean Drive and boats advertising fictional nightclubs.

Turning Miami into Vice City looks cool, but for people who want to know how the game runs, this fall's marketing has been weak. The rollout has been going on since summer, and now that it is November, you know more about what GTA 6 looks like on the side of a boat than about its performance modes.

Merch drops for GTA 6 are not getting much coverage either.

Another burger or beer with a Vice City logo tells you nothing new, and Rockstar can pay for that marketing itself. The reason 60 FPS keeps coming up is easy to see in a side-by-side of Aloy and Lucia. The Aloy shot was captured on a PS5 Pro, while Lucia comes from an official Rockstar portrait, so you see her face at the distance the studio intended.

Neither image was touched up, and nobody zoomed in on Lucia from three blocks away to hand Aloy the win. Look at the freckles on Aloy's cheek and the skin around her eye. Aloy shows more fine detail here. Lucia looks great under that pink light, but there is no generational leap between the two faces.

Horizon Forbidden West can put Aloy in a forest with a Thunderjaw and still hold 60 FPS on a base console, so asking whether GTA 6 can do 60 on the PS5 Pro is fair. The real test comes when Lucia steps into traffic. At 60 FPS the console has about 16.7 milliseconds per frame, and if the CPU needs longer to sort out drivers, pedestrians and a police chase, lowering the resolution will not fix it.

A magazine interview with the developers was worth covering, and a technical version, with Lucia driving the same busy stretch on both consoles and every mode labeled, would show what PSSR, ray tracing and a possible 60 FPS option really do.