GTA 6 storage: can you play it from an external drive? What PS5 and Xbox officially allow

With the preload starting November 12, many players are wondering whether they have enough space and whether an external drive will help. The answer is in Sony’s and Microsoft’s own support pages. We read them in the original on October 28, 2026, and summarize what applies to GTA VI.

PS5: what works and what doesn’t

• USB extended storage: According to Sony, PS5 games can’t be played directly from USB extended storage. You can keep other PS5 games there and play PS4 games directly from it. Sony’s requirements: SuperSpeed USB at 5 Gbps or faster, 250 GB to 8 TB, no USB hub, and only one such drive in use at a time.
• M.2 SSD: According to Sony, the PS5’s expansion slot takes a PCI-Express Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD of 250 GB to 8 TB; 5,500 MB/s read speed is recommended, a cooling structure is required and M.2 SATA SSDs are not supported. You can download PS5 games directly to such an SSD and play them from it. Sony notes that not all games will perform exactly the same as on the internal SSD.
• Checking and freeing space: Sony says you can see your free space under Settings > Storage (PlayStation Support). You can delete data under Console Storage > Games and Apps; purchased games can be downloaded again from your library later. Or move older games to USB extended storage.

Xbox Series X|S: what works and what doesn’t

• GTA VI is “Optimized for Xbox Series X|S”: That is how the Xbox Store listing describes it.
• Internal SSD or expansion card: According to Xbox Support, games optimized for Xbox Series X|S must be installed on the internal SSD or a Storage Expansion Card. The card plugs into the expansion port on the back and, according to Microsoft, matches the speed of the internal SSD; games run directly from it, as Microsoft explained on Xbox Wire when the consoles launched.
• USB drive: Microsoft says external USB 3.1 drives on Xbox Series X|S can store optimized games, which you transfer back to the internal SSD or the card before playing. Older Xbox One games run directly from a USB drive.

How much space does GTA VI need?

That is not officially known yet. Neither Rockstar nor Sony or Microsoft has published a download or install size. Figures circulating in reports do not come from official sources, so we don’t repeat them. As soon as the stores show a size – by the November 12 preload at the latest – we will add it here. Until then, it helps to delete or move games you are not playing to a USB drive in good time.

What is not confirmed

• The download and install size of GTA VI on either console.
• A possible launch patch and its size.
• Whether GTA VI loads noticeably differently from an M.2 SSD or expansion card than from internal storage; Sony and Microsoft only make general statements.

Everything else for launch – the preload date, editions, PS5 Pro – is in our launch prep checklist. Beware of supposed early downloads: the game only comes to your console through the PlayStation Store or the Microsoft Store, see fake downloads and scams.

Sources and status

Checked on October 28, 2026: PlayStation Support on USB extended storage, M.2 SSDs and managing storage, the Xbox Store listing for GTA VI, Xbox Support on storage (the statement on optimized games verified via search, as the page could not be read directly), Xbox Wire on Series X|S storage and the Storage Expansion Card page. We will update this page if anything changes or once the download size is known.