10 Ways To Get Ready For GTA 6 Before Its November Launch

Published Sep 3, 2026, 9:37 AM EDT Allyson Cochran is an Editor at TheGamer who has worked as a journalist since 2020 and in games journalism since 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and focuses primarily on guides, previews, and developer interviews, with particular expertise in cozy indie games and live-service FPS titles. She has interviewed numerous game directors, including those of games like Overwatch and Dead by Daylight. Allyson has written and edited thousands of guides, and she genuinely loves every minute of it. Waiting for Grand Theft Auto 6 has recently felt like a long-term relationship. We have watched trailers frame-by-frame, survived delays, and collectively aged several years waiting to return to Vice City. Now, with November 19 finally approaching, it is time to get our lives together. The good news is that you still have plenty of time to prepare. From upgrading your setup to planning your launch night, here are ten things I would do before GTA 6 finally arrives. Preload It Before Launch Rockstar This is one of the easiest ways to make launch day less annoying. Rockstar has confirmed that players who digitally preorder GTA 6 can begin preloading on November 12, one week before the November 19 launch. That means you can get the enormous download out of the way ahead of time instead of staring at a progress bar while everyone else is already playing. So, once November 12 rolls around, make downloading the game a priority. Check your storage first, make sure your console has a reliable internet connection, and start the preload as soon as you're able. Because after waiting all these years, discovering you have six hours of downloading left at launch would be a uniquely painful form of self-inflicted torture. Decide If You're Preordering I don't usually recommend preordering games. The industry has spent years teaching players that waiting for reviews and patches is a perfectly sensible thing to do. You don't owe a publisher your money months before you know exactly what you're getting. GTA 6, however, is one of those rare cases where I can understand the temptation. Preorders are available, and Rockstar says purchases made before November 20 receive the Vintage Vice City Pack, while digital preorders also include a month of GTA+. So, if you're confident you're buying it anyway, the bonuses may make preordering worthwhile. If you're not sure, though? Wait. There is no prize for owning it three months early. Your money can remain safely in your bank account until you're ready. Book Time Off Work Rockstar I am not saying you need to call your boss tomorrow and announce that you have contracted a severe case of Grand Theft Auto. I am saying November 19 is a Thursday, and that is extremely convenient if you are hoping to turn the release of GTA 6 into a long weekend. If you have vacation days to spare, taking Thursday and Friday off could give you four glorious days with very few responsibilities besides eating something occasionally and remembering to blink. Rockstar has confirmed the game launches November 19, so the date isn't exactly a mystery anymore. Obviously, don't bankrupt yourself or create an HR incident for a video game. But if you've been saving PTO specifically for something fun, this is arguably the moment. I would also recommend doing your grocery shopping beforehand. Future You does not need to discover at 9:30 p.m. that the house contains one tortilla and half a jar of pickles. Buy A New Console If you're still gaming on an older console, GTA 6 is unfortunately not going to be your excuse to dust off the PS4 from the closet. Rockstar has confirmed the game is launching on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it won't be available on PS4 or Xbox One. If you're buying a new console specifically for GTA 6, I'd personally lean toward the PS5 Pro. Sony lists GTA 6 as PS5 Pro Enhanced, and the game is being positioned as a showcase for the PS5 hardware. That doesn't mean you need a PS5 Pro. The regular PS5 is still officially supported, and Xbox Series X|S owners are obviously invited to the party. But if you're already planning to spend the money and want the best PlayStation experience available, the Pro makes the most sense. Just don't tell your bank account I sent you. Make Your Gaming Space Cozy If I'm going to spend an unreasonable number of consecutive hours committing fictional crimes, I want to be comfortable while doing it. Now is a great time to turn your gaming setup into a little GTA 6 command center. Clean your desk. Sort out your cables. Wash your blankets. Get a decent pillow. Replace that gaming chair cushion that has somehow become flatter than a pancake. You know the one. You can also sort some ambient lighting and make sure your headset is charged. The important thing is creating a setup where you can settle in. GTA 6 looks like the kind of game that will reward wandering around and getting distracted by absolutely everything, so you might as well make your little gaming nest worthy of the occasion. Plan An All-Night Session With Friends There is something deeply nostalgic about staying up far too late playing Grand Theft Auto, and GTA 6 feels like the perfect excuse to resurrect that particular brand of poor decision-making. If you have friends who are equally excited, plan an all-night session for launch. Order pizza. Stock up on snacks. Coordinate your schedules. Set up a Discord call. Establish absolutely no expectations about productivity the following morning. One important caveat: GTA 6 is launching as a single-player experience, so you aren't going to be jumping into a multiplayer campaign together on day one. That doesn't mean your friends can't be involved. You can stream your gameplay, compare discoveries, watch each other explore Vice City, or simply sit in a call while everyone independently loses track of time. Play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City If you want to prepare for GTA 6, go back and play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Rockstar has confirmed that GTA 6 returns to modern-day Vice City, although the new game expands beyond the city into the wider state of Leonida. This isn't a homework assignment. You don't need to memorize every street and side character. But revisiting Vice City can be a fun way to appreciate how Rockstar's interpretation of the setting has evolved. The original game is also short enough that you can realistically finish a good chunk of it before November, and if you're anything like me, you'll spend approximately 20 percent of your playtime doing missions and 80 percent driving around while pretending you're conducting important research. It counts as preparation. I don't make the rules. Clear Some Storage Space Rockstar I am choosing to mentally prepare for GTA 6 to be enormous. Rockstar hasn't announced a final installation size that I can confidently point to yet, so I'm not going to pretend I know the exact number of gigabytes you'll need. But considering the scale of the game and the amount of content Rockstar has shown, clearing some storage now is an extremely sensible move. Go through your console and delete the games you haven't touched since approximately the Bronze Age. You know exactly which ones I mean. That multiplayer game you played twice in 2022? Gone. The 86GB title you keep telling yourself you'll return to? Babe, you are not returning to it. If your internal storage is already struggling, this is also a good time to consider expanding it with compatible storage. The goal is simple: when November 12 arrives and preloading begins, you don't want your console informing you that GTA 6 cannot download because you need to delete three generations of Call of Duty first. Upgrade Your TV If you're still playing on the television you bought when GTA 5 came out, I have some potentially exciting news: you have gotten your money's worth. A modern 4K TV can be a worthwhile upgrade for GTA 6, particularly if your current display is older or doesn't support HDR. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on a television specifically for one game. Please do not take this article as financial advice from a woman who would absolutely justify a new TV because the pixels deserve it. Instead, look for a good 4K display with strong HDR support and a low-latency gaming mode. If you already have a solid 4K TV, you're probably fine. Avoid Spoilers This might be the hardest one. GTA 6 has already suffered multiple waves of leaks, including unauthorized gameplay footage that appeared online in August. Rockstar acknowledged the leaked material and urged fans to wait for the official experience. That means you should probably start treating suspicious social media posts with the same caution you would give a man offering you a suspiciously cheap Rolex in a parking lot. Mute keywords. Be careful on Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, X, Discord, and anywhere else people enjoy posting enormous spoilers with titles like 'YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS'. The closer we get to November, the harder this will become. Personally, I want to experience GTA 6 as Rockstar intended: sitting comfortably on my couch, controller in hand, completely unaware of what ridiculous nonsense is about to happen. After waiting this long, I would very much like to keep at least a few surprises.