GTA 6 60fps is set to test UK broadband at scale, with Grand Theft Auto VI expected to land as a 210GB download on PlayStation 5 and up to 240GB on Xbox Series X. The first digital preorders begin preloading on 12th November, before the official release on 19th November.
Trevor Linney, Openreach’s Director for Network Technology, said: “GTA 6 has been on our radar for a long time. We know from games like Fortnite and Call of Duty that a major release or update can drive huge amounts of data across the network, so it’ll be fascinating to see just how much GTA moves the needle.” He added: “Our network and teams are ready, and GTA 6 is certainly one we’ll be watching for a new download record.”
Openreach and UK traffic
Linney also said: “But the bigger story is how quickly our broadband habits are changing. Data use on our Full Fibre network continues to grow significantly, and more people are making the switch every day. It’s another reminder of why Full Fibre is the way forward as it gives people the speed, reliability and capacity they need.” That puts the release into a wider network picture: a huge game download is not just a console event, but a traffic test for providers that have to keep demand moving.
210GB on PlayStation 5
The 210GB figure for PlayStation 5 is large enough to matter in practical terms. On an unloaded 100Mbps connection, that size would take nearly 5 hours to download; on a 1Gbps line, the same file would take 28 minutes in the best case. The gap between those numbers shows why preload timing matters, especially when a single release can concentrate demand into one window instead of spreading it across days.
240GB on Xbox Series X
Xbox Series X could need as much as 240GB, and the size gap is consistent with Sony’s Kraken compression being around 20-35% better than the Xbox on many recent releases. That difference does not change the basic problem for UK broadband providers: large downloads arriving at the same time can push traffic higher than a normal evening peak, even if the effect on some connection speeds is only small to modest.
ISPreview said it will keep a close eye on network traffic over the mid-November 2026 period. The next pressure point is the 12th November preload start, when the first wave of downloads can begin before the 19th November release, and the real test will be whether those early transfers flatten the load or simply front-load it.
