GTA 6 is a 210GB download on PS5: will it fit, and how long will it take?

Let's do the maths before November 12, because that's the day you'll want your PS5 ready, not the day you start deleting things.

According to PlayStation Game Size, a tracker that reads release data from the PS Store backend, Grand Theft Auto 6 is a 210GB download on PS5. Insider Gaming has reportedly corroborated the figure. Eurogamer, which reported the number, points out that the space it ends up occupying on the SSD may be somewhat smaller - but the download itself is over 200GB for everyone. Rockstar hasn't published an official figure yet, so treat it as a strong indicator rather than gospel. Launch is November 19, with digital pre-orders able to pre-load a week earlier.

Will it fit?

The original PS5 has an 825GB drive, but only around 667GB of that is actually usable. 210GB is close to a third of it. The Slim's 1TB model gives you roughly 848GB to work with, which is better, but if you've got Call of Duty, a sports game and one or two other big titles installed, you're already in trouble. The 2TB PS5 Pro is the only model where most people can shrug this off.

Two things worth knowing. First, a USB external drive can *store* PS5 games but can't *run* them - you can park your other games there and move them back later, which is much faster than redownloading. Second, if your console is permanently full, an M.2 NVMe SSD in the expansion slot is the real fix. It's a one-off cost, and with big releases now routinely well past 100GB (Phantom Blade Zero alone is about 135GB on PS5), it's not going to get better.

And how long will it take?

This is the part people underestimate. 210GB is about 1,680 gigabits. On a 100 Mbit/s connection, that's roughly four and a half to five hours in ideal conditions. On 50 Mbit/s, you're looking at nine-plus hours. Even on a fast fibre line it's around an hour - and that's assuming the PlayStation Network isn't buckling under millions of other people doing exactly the same thing.

That's why the pre-load week matters. If you're buying digitally, pre-order early, let it download overnight on the 12th or 13th, and launch day becomes a non-event. If you're on a mobile or capped data plan, check your limit first - 210GB will eat a monthly package in one go.

One more thing for people who like buying boxed copies to resell later: the physical edition is widely reported to contain a download code rather than the full game on disc, which came out alongside the November 12 pre-load and physical shipping news. Check Rockstar's final details before you count on lending the box to a mate or selling it on afterwards - but don't expect the disc to save you the download. By the source's own numbers, nobody escapes the 200GB-plus download.

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