How Long Does GTA VI Take to Download? Engadget Tests a 1Gbps Fiber Line
An Engadget writer found the 212GB GTA VI downloads in a little over an hour on a PS5 Pro over a wired connection, but takes almost six hours over Wi-Fi.
Dave Meikleham of the technology site Engadget tested how long it takes to download GTA VI (Grand Theft Auto VI, Rockstar's open-world crime game) on a PlayStation 5 Pro console. Rockstar lets players pre-download the game a week before release, and the official file size is 212GB. On the writer's console it came to 209.921GB.
Measurements in Edinburgh
The author lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has the fastest fiber broadband available in the city, at 1Gbps. Over a wired Ethernet connection, the console's speed was around 568Mbps before the download began, and the game downloaded in exactly 63 minutes and 30 seconds. The highest speed he has seen on this console is 816Mbps, reached late at night when network demand is low.
When he downloaded the game again over Wi-Fi, the speed was 76.8Mbps, with an estimated wait of five hours and 44 minutes.
Average US speeds
According to Allconnect, average broadband speeds in the United States range from 143Mbps to 314Mbps. At the lower figure, the download would take about three hours and 56 minutes; at the higher one, roughly 90 minutes.
Why speeds fall short
The author notes that consoles rarely use the full bandwidth of an internet connection. One reason is servers: many people are pre-installing the game at the same time, which puts extra strain on PlayStation and Xbox servers. Another is that Wi-Fi is affected by other devices on the network, neighbors' signals, distance from the router and walls.
To get better speeds, he recommends a wired connection and not playing other games during the download. On PS5, the connection can be tested under Settings > Network > Connection Status, and on Xbox under Settings > General > Network settings.
