GTA 6 pre-load, PS5 Pro and the GTA+ month that auto-renews: what is actually confirmed

We went back to the primary sources this morning, Rockstar’s own Newswire and the PlayStation store listing, rather than the fan pages that quote each other. Four things came out of it, including one correction to this site and one detail that will cost people money.

1. Digital pre-load opens 12 November. This is confirmed.

We had this wrong, and we are fixing it in the open.

Until today this site said the pre-load date for digital pre-orders had not been announced. That was incorrect. Rockstar announced it on 24 June 2026, in the post confirming pre-orders. The exact wording:

“Players who pre-order digital versions of Grand Theft Auto VI will be able to begin pre-loading on November 12 to ensure they are able to play at launch on November 19.”

We missed it, and then repeated the mistake on the launch-week page. It is corrected everywhere. The launch page carries a dated correction note.

What this changes for you: the boxed copy no longer buys you anything on timing. Both the retail box and a digital pre-order start downloading on the same day, 12 November. If you were planning to buy physical purely for the head start, that reason has gone. Our physical edition write-up is here.

2. There is a free month of GTA+, and it auto-renews

Digital pre-orders include one month of GTA+ at no extra cost. Rockstar’s announcement mentions it, and it appears on the PlayStation listing as a bullet in both editions.

Here is the part worth your attention. PlayStation’s own store page carries this line directly under it:

“1-month GTA+ subscription with pre-order. Auto-renews.”

So it is not a gift. It is a trial. Unless you cancel, it rolls into a paid GTA+ subscription at the end of the month.

There is an added oddity: GTA+ is the membership for GTA Online, and GTA 6 has no online mode at launch. So the free month attaches to a service the game you just pre-ordered does not yet use. GTA 6 ships single-player, Rockstar’s words.

What to do: claim it if you want it, then set a reminder on your phone for 25 days after you redeem it. That is the whole trick, and it is the sort of thing a buying guide should tell you rather than bury.

3. GTA 6 is PS5 Pro Enhanced

The PlayStation listing carries the PS5 Pro Enhanced badge.

What that badge does not do is tell you what the enhancement is. Neither Sony nor Rockstar has detailed the technical difference, no resolution figures, no frame-rate mode, nothing. Previews reported the base PS5 version running at 30fps, and a higher frame-rate mode on Pro has still not been confirmed by anyone official.

So: Pro owners get something. Nobody has said what. Treat any article claiming “60fps on PS5 Pro” as a guess until Rockstar or Sony publishes numbers.

4. The file size is still not announced, and the numbers going round are invented

You will see 150 GB, 200 GB, and in at least one case 320 GB, quoted with total confidence.

No storage requirement appears on the PlayStation or Xbox listings. Rockstar has not published a figure. Every number in circulation is a community estimate extrapolated from Red Dead Redemption 2, and the sites quoting them mostly do say so, several paragraphs below the headline that does not.

Our advice has not changed and does not depend on the number: clear 200 GB and you are comfortable whatever it turns out to be. Rockstar usually publishes install sizes in the few weeks before launch, so expect the real figure in October or early November.

Also worth knowing

Prices in pounds. The PlayStation UK listing has Standard at £69.99 and Ultimate at £89.99, useful, because most coverage quotes only the $79.99 and $99.99 US prices.

There is an Ultimate Edition Upgrade. PlayStation lists it as a separate product, which means you can buy Standard now and upgrade later rather than deciding today. That takes most of the pressure out of the edition question. Our honest edition comparison is here.

The pre-order bonus deadline is a purchase deadline, not a pre-order deadline. Rockstar’s wording is “all pre-orders and purchases before November 20” get the Vintage Vice City Pack. You do not have to pre-order to get it, buying on launch day is fine.

What is still genuinely unknown

• The install size.
• The unlock time on 19 November. Rockstar has not stated one. The countdown sites showing precise times are reading regional storefront placeholders.
• Anything at all about a PC version.
• How many items the Ultimate Edition contains. There is still no published list, though Rockstar’s own press bundle does name the vehicles, the weapon variants and the shops involved, which we went through the following day. What is actually in the Ultimate Edition.

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Corrections policy: when we get something wrong we fix it and say so, with the date. Item 1 above is us doing that. How we source things.