For years, GTA Online players have claimed that loading into the Story Mode first and then going to GTA Online, instead of loading straight into Online, is much faster. But there wasn't much proof for one or the other.
Now, one curious player decided to test it out. Believe it or not, the results are generating discussion online.
Based on the comparison video uploaded by u/MineVideo86, loading into the Story Mode first takes GTA Online a minute and 27 seconds to load. In comparison, loading Online direct takes a lot longer - at least a minute, based on the video. The latter is considered a hack since it lets players resume their criminal activities with their friends.
Unfortunately, as the video shows, the hack isn't much of a time-saver at all.
One explanation is that GTA Online doesn't have the option to let players load directly into solo and/or invite-only sessions. Loading Online directly consumes more time because the game has to look for a public lobby first.
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As it is, Rockstar doesn't let players pick the session type they want to load into by default by logging straight into Online.
Because of this, some GTA Online players have started a petition for Rockstar to add the much-needed feature of loading straight into solo and/or invite-only sessions. The petition currently has 58 signatures as of the time of writing. It's going to take a lot more than this to get Rockstar to listen.
Comparing loading times for GTA Online between loading directly and loading to Story Mode first from gtaonline
In the meantime, one solution is to play on a platform that uses an SSD instead of an HDD. Many users commented that the video took way longer to load. The uploader explained both videos were taken from a PC running GTA 5 or GTA Online on an HDD. Using an SSD would shave at least a full minute off of the loading times in both instances, if not more.
The Xbox Series S/X and the PlayStation 5 all come with SSDs out of the factory. However, the PS5 should hold an advantage because its SSD uses proprietary technology for faster loading times. Then again, the Xbox Series S/X has Quick Resume, which allows gamers to log back into their most recent games without loading, so the loading times on both consoles might even out.
In any case, you might want to log into GTA Online as soon as possible. Rockstar recently released The Last Dose update. You might also want to know how to get your hands on a free Ocelot Virtue in GTA Online.
