Rockstar Games has confirmed when you can start pre-loading Grand Theft Auto VI, and it has actually pulled the date forward, with digital pre-loading now beginning Tuesday, November 10, two days earlier than the November 12 date it previously gave and ahead of the game's November 19 launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
On PS5 the download unlocks at midnight local time in your own time zone, while on Xbox Series X|S it goes live globally at 12 a.m. GMT on the same day, with the code-in-box versions for both consoles arriving at retailers from November 12. Nobody gets to play early, but having the game sitting on your drive ready to go the moment it launches saves a lot of time.
The file size is the part to plan around, with Rockstar putting the pre-load at up to 212 GB depending on your device, almost exactly matching the 210 GB figure that leaked from the PlayStation Store backend last week. Either way it is enormous, more than double what Red Dead Redemption 2 needed, so if your console is anywhere near full it is worth clearing space now rather than scrambling on launch day, and Rockstar has posted platform-specific pre-load steps on its support site for anyone who wants the exact instructions.
There is a nice bonus tucked into the announcement too, as on November 19 Rockstar will add a free, printable Grand Theft Auto VI cover art poster and a map of Leonida to the official site as a digital download, so the second the game is out you can print your own map of Vice City and the wider state to keep beside you while you play.
If you would rather have the real thing, a double-sided physical version of that poster is coming to the Rockstar Store shortly after launch for $0.99 on its own, or free with any Rockstar Store purchase.
With the date locked in, the only real thing left to sort before the 10th is storage, since a download north of 200 GB leaves little room on a console that's already packed, and anyone who hasn't pre-ordered yet still has time to do that before pre-loading opens.
