Grand Theft Auto VI has broken broadband records before it is even out. Pre-loading for the game opened on Tuesday 10 November, nine days ahead of its 19 November launch, and the rush to download it gave Virgin Media O2 its busiest broadband day on record.

Pre-loading lets players who have pre-ordered a game download its files early, so they can play the moment it launches instead of waiting for a huge download on the day. With GTA 6, that download is enormous — and millions of players started it at once.

What records did GTA 6 break?

Virgin Media O2 said in a press release on 11 November that Tuesday 10 November set new highs for both peak traffic and total daily data on its UK broadband network. Peak traffic beat the previous record, set during Arsenal's Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid, by 3.8%. Total data for the day was 4% higher than the previous best, set only on 1 November by the launch of Fortnite's Chapter 7 Mini Season.

The surge began immediately. Between midnight and 1am on 10 November, broadband traffic was 51.6% higher than the same hour a week earlier. By 9am, the total data downloaded was 73.3% higher than on the previous Tuesday. By 11.05pm, the day's total had already passed the previous record for an entire day. Virgin Media O2 chief technology officer Jeanie York said: "GTA VI is already proving to be a record-breaking moment for our network."

How big is the GTA 6 download?

Virgin Media puts the game at 190GB, and says customers on its fastest Gig2 broadband service can download it in under 15 minutes. Pre-load guides put the install at up to 212GB depending on platform and edition, so the exact size varies. Either way, it is one of the largest game downloads ever — more than 12 times the storage space of its predecessor — and on a 25Mbps connection it would take upwards of 19 hours.

How did other internet providers respond?

Virgin Media was not alone. In the UK, Gigaclear is automatically boosting eligible customers' broadband speeds at no extra charge until launch day, covering more than 175,000 customers. In the US, Comcast's Xfinity is offering eligible customers a free 15-day upgrade to speeds of up to 2Gbps. Other networks felt the strain: YouFibre emailed customers about a network capacity issue and congestion around Yorkshire, German provider 1&1 recorded traffic to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live at roughly ten times normal levels overnight, and GlobalConnect in Sweden reported a 50% traffic increase.

Frequently asked questions

When does GTA 6 come out? Grand Theft Auto VI launches on 19 November 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, according to Rockstar Games.

Did GTA 6 break the whole internet? No. These are Virgin Media O2's figures for its own UK network, not worldwide internet totals, and Rockstar has published no download figures of its own. But the pattern was repeated across providers in several countries.

Sources: TalkEsport; PowerUp Gaming.