One UK city’s broadband can’t handle GTA VI
UK gamers eagerly counting down to the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI are being warned that official pre-load windows will not be enough to get thousands of players ready for launch day.
New data from UK broadband comparison site Broadband Genie shows that 870,000 households are stuck on connections slower than 2.8Mb. At these speeds, downloading the hefty 212 GB game file will take over a week (approximately168 hours) of non-stop downloading.
Newport in Wales ranks as the worst-hit city, where over a third (35%) of speed tests dropped below 2.8Mb. This means a wait of more than a week. Almost half (41%) of Newport tests recorded below the 9.8Mb download speed threshold, required to download the game in under two days.
In Bangor and Torquay, nearly one in ten tests (9%) fell below a download speed of 2.8Mb, trapping players in multi-day download queues.
Significant delays also plague cities like Ely (24%), Hereford (17%), and Bath (16%), where large numbers of users will need more than two full days (48+ hours) to complete the installation.
“Nobody should have to put up with sluggish broadband, and this bottleneck couldn’t come at a worse time. After years of anticipation following the first GTA VI reveal, no one wants to find themselves stranded a full week behind other players,” said Alex Tofts (Strategist at Broadband Genie).
“Slow download speeds can come from various factors, many outside your provider’s control. There are practical steps players can take right now to avoid being locked out on launch day.”
Tofts advised players to start the pre-load as soon as possible and to turn on automatic downloads on their consoles.
He also recommended connecting the console directly to the router with an Ethernet cable or switching the router to its faster 5GHz frequency.
Players can log into their router to check which devices are connected and remove any they don’t recognise.
Switching off idle phones, smart TVs, laptops and tablets during the download sends more of the available bandwidth to the console, Tofts said.
