GTA 6 release time: exactly when you can play in every region

Rockstar has finally put a time on GTA 6, and the time is midnight. Your midnight, wherever you live, which sounds fair until you do the maths and find that midnight reaches New Zealand about 18 hours before it reaches New York.

That means no single moment where the whole world presses start together. The game rolls round the planet one time zone at a time, and Rockstar has said the same rule covers PS5 and Xbox, so neither console gets a head start on the other.

GTA 6 countdown

GTA 6 release times by region

Every row is midnight on the 19th by the local clock. The US is the one place that bends the rule, and it gets its own section after the table.

GTA 6 release time in the US

Sony’s and Microsoft’s US storefronts both run on Eastern time, and that settles it. The whole country unlocks at the same instant, midnight Eastern, which makes it 11 PM Central, 10 PM Mountain and 9 PM Pacific on Wednesday 18 November.

Pacific gets the nicest deal out of it. 9 PM on a Wednesday is an evening, and midnight is a commitment. The US as a whole sits at the back of the queue, about 18 hours behind New Zealand.

Can you play GTA 6 early?

Not through Rockstar. The Standard Edition at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99 both start at the same midnight as everyone else. A hundred dollars and not one hour early is a bit cheeky when so many big releases sell the head start. Buy either one before 20 November and the Vintage Vice City Pack comes with it.

What you can do is use the clock. Every region unlocks at its own midnight, so a console set to the earliest one gets the game first. That’s the New Zealand trick. New Zealand reaches midnight at 11:00 UTC on the 18th, which is 6 AM Eastern, 3 AM Pacific, 11 AM in the UK and noon in central Europe. From the US that’s an 18-hour head start, from the UK it’s 13 hours and from central Europe it’s 12.

New Zealand trick on Xbox

Xbox is the easy one and takes about a minute. It works on the copy you’ve already pre-ordered, so there’s no second purchase.

1. Open Settings and go to System, then Language and location.
2. Pick New Zealand as your location.
3. Restart the console.
4. Launch GTA 6 once New Zealand reaches midnight, which is 11:00 UTC on the 18th.
5. Put your location back when the game is live in your own region.

New Zealand trick on PS5

PlayStation makes you work for it. The unlock follows the region of the account that bought the game, which means a second account and a second copy if you’ve already pre-ordered on your own. I’d only bother with this on PS5 if I hadn’t pre-ordered yet.

1. Make a new PSN account and set the country to New Zealand.
2. Buy GTA 6 on that account from the PlayStation Store for New Zealand. A New Zealand store gift card is the cleanest way to pay.
3. Switch on Console Sharing and Offline Play with the New Zealand account signed in. It lives under Settings, Users and Accounts, Other.
4. Pre-load the game once pre-loading opens.
5. Jump back to your own profile and play when New Zealand hits midnight.

Everyone starting 12 to 18 hours earlier means clips and story chat will be all over your feed before you’ve touched the game. I’d mute GTA 6 everywhere until I’d played it.

GTA 6 pre-load date and file size

Pre-loading opens on Tuesday 10 November. On PS5 it starts at midnight local time. On Xbox it starts for everyone at midnight GMT, which works out as 7 PM Eastern on Monday the 9th for US players.

The download is up to 212 GB depending on your console, and a base Series S with its 512 GB drive is going to feel that (I’d clear the space before the 10th, because making room at 11:58 PM on launch night is a rubbish plan). Boxed copies are a download code in a box with no disc, so everyone is pulling down the same giant file. The game stays locked until your region’s midnight, and then it’s ready to go.

Rockstar is also putting a printable cover art poster and a map of Leonida on the official site on the 19th as a free download.