GTA 6's pre-load broke broadband records: how long the 212 GB download takes at your speed

The rush to pre-load Grand Theft Auto VI has set traffic records on at least one big broadband network. Virgin Media O2 says Tuesday, Nov. 10, the day pre-loading opened, was the busiest day its UK network has ever had, beating both its peak-traffic record and its record for data downloaded in a day.

It's not the only provider that noticed. In the Netherlands, Ziggo saw traffic 57% above normal shortly after midnight, Telecompaper reported, and the UK provider YouFibre told customers it had a capacity problem from GTA 6 downloads. The download is big: up to 212 GB, Rockstar Games says. Here's what the networks saw, and how long the download takes at your speed.

What Virgin Media O2 recorded

Virgin Media O2 published its figures on Nov. 11, for its fixed broadband network on Nov. 10:

• Busiest evening peak ever, 3.8% above the record set during Arsenal's Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid.
• Most data in a day, 4% above the record set on Nov. 1, when Fortnite's Chapter 7 Mini Season came out. By 11:05 p.m., the day had already passed the old record for a whole day.
• The first hour: traffic from midnight to 1 a.m. was 51.6% higher than a week earlier, as downloads started.
• By 9 a.m., 73.3% more data had been downloaded than over the same hours on Nov. 3.

Jeanie York, the company's chief technology officer, said it had been preparing its network for a launch of this size, so that fans "can focus on exploring Vice City, not watching a download bar."

Ziggo and YouFibre

• Ziggo, the second-biggest home broadband provider in the Netherlands, said its traffic was 57% above normal around 12:15 a.m. Dutch time on Nov. 10, and 30% above usual over the night as a whole, Telecompaper reported.
• YouFibre, a UK fiber provider, told customers on Nov. 10 that heavy demand from GTA 6 downloads had caused a network capacity issue, which it eased with emergency traffic management, ISPreview reported.

None of the three described an outage. In the US, Spectrum is lifting eligible plans to 1 gig for free from Nov. 9 to Nov. 30, as our story on its offer explains.

How long the download takes

Rockstar says the pre-load needs up to 212 GB, depending on the console, and the PS5 pre-load has shown 209.8 GB. Here's what 212 GB takes at a steady top speed:

Those are best cases. Your Wi-Fi, your console's own connection and how busy PlayStation's and Xbox's servers are all slow things down. Virgin Media O2 says customers on its Gig2 plan can download the game in under 15 minutes; it puts the download at 190 GB, below Rockstar's figure.

Our file size guide covers how much space to clear on PS5 and Xbox.

Pre-load now, play at midnight

The big download doesn't have to happen on launch night. Digital pre-orders have been able to pre-load since Nov. 10: on Xbox Series X|S everywhere at once from midnight GMT, which was 7 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 9, and on PS5 from midnight local time. The boxed Code in Box version, which goes on sale today, Nov. 12, holds a download code rather than a disc, so it's the same download. Our pre-load guide has the steps.

Once the game is on your console, it unlocks at midnight on Nov. 19, country by country, Sony says. US store listings unlock it at midnight Eastern, which is 9 p.m. Pacific on Nov. 18; our release time guide has your time zone. Leave some free space for any update Rockstar puts out at launch.

Many players plan to get the download done early. In a survey for Virgin Media O2 of 520 UK adults who plan to play, carried out on Oct. 30, 46% said they expect to download GTA 6 before release day, and 18% had checked or planned to check their broadband speed. Sony and Microsoft both say GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game ever on their stores, as our story on the records reports.