GTA 6 preloads are here. Your Wi-Fi might be the real final boss

A head start beats a launch-night surprise

We have waited years for GTA 6. Nobody wants the final obstacle between them and Vice City to be a progress bar moving like it has stopped for lunch.

With the game due on 19 November and preloads underway, Australian households have a useful head start. The sensible move is to use it, rather than discover on launch night that the console has spent the week downloading absolutely nothing.

NBN Co expects a major traffic event. That does not mean Australia’s internet is about to collapse, or that everyone suddenly needs the most expensive plan.

First, what has Rockstar actually confirmed?

Rockstar’s preload FAQ says digital preloads began on 10 November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

It also says the preload requires up to 212 GB of available space, depending on the device. That is a storage requirement, not a confirmed identical download size for every player. Treating those as interchangeable makes for a dramatic headline, but not necessarily an accurate one.

The scale of interest is real. PlayStation says GTA VI is its most-preordered PlayStation Store game, while Xbox reports the same record for the Microsoft Store.

Neither announcement supplies a numerical preorder total. There is no verified worldwide preload count here, so we are not multiplying a guessed player count by 212 GB and presenting the result as measured traffic.

NBN has seen big gaming nights before

In comments supplied to TechManPat on 11 November, NBN Co’s Catherine Campbell, General Manager of Networks Innovation, Partnerships and Roadmaps, said the network had been planned and prepared for increased demand.

She pointed to a 32.91 Tbps peak last year, coinciding with a game download release. That was approximately 30% above baseline, adding almost 8 Tbps to the busy-hour load.

Important distinction: those are historical figures, not results from the current GTA 6 preload.

NBN says it works with the content-distribution industry on modelling and pre-seeding approaches that spread downloads over a longer period. Giving players days to download is rather more sensible than asking everyone to squeeze through the same digital doorway at midnight.

How long could a big download take?

For a separate, illustrative 200 GB file, NBN provided these estimates: approximately 19 hours at 25 Mbps, 4.8 hours at 100 Mbps, and 58 minutes at 500 Mbps.

These are NBN’s examples, not measured GTA VI download times or promises about your connection.

Actual results depend on the speed reaching the console, the download servers, other household traffic and your equipment. A fast internet plan cannot make an overloaded server send data faster. Nor can it magically improve a weak Wi-Fi connection behind the television.

Before upgrading, try the boring stuff

First, free up storage and check that the preload is actually running. Rockstar says automatic downloads or updates need to be enabled, with the console in an appropriate powered-on, rest or sleep state.

Second, try Ethernet if practical. NBN’s home-network optimisation guidance recommends a wired connection to the router for the most accurate speed test. That helps separate an internet-service problem from a Wi-Fi problem.

Third, check the router’s position and capabilities before replacing it. A cupboard full of cables is not a premium wireless environment. Older equipment may also limit what reaches your devices.

Our take

A faster plan can make enormous downloads less painful, particularly in a busy household. But choose it around your ongoing needs and budget, not one launch-night panic.

Start early, check the console, and fix obvious home-network bottlenecks first.

Watching someone download GTA 6 might technically count as streaming content. It probably is not the entertainment you bought it for.