Grand Theft Auto Online has enjoyed a massive amount of success since its 2013 release, but one thing that has plagued it throughout its lifetime has been its hefty loading times. A new update has managed to curb that particular issue on PC, though the results haven't been quite so positive for console players.
The loading times in GTA Online have been a recurring complaint in its community. Most players have experienced something in the range of three to four minutes of loading time, while some claim delays of up to seven minutes stuck on a loading screen. This is all set to change with the new patch, based on a coding tweak from programmer and GTA fan tOst, who managed to identify the bottleneck in the code and clean it up. It's not all good news, however, as many console players have been subject to glitches and crashes ever since updating.
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In a thread over on Reddit, Grand Theft Auto Online players shared their experiences with the patch, and while it seems to work as planned for PC players, shortening load times considerably, Xbox players appear to have gotten the short end of the stick. Many users playing on Xbox One started experiencing crashes after updating the game, sending them back to their home screen whenever they try to join a game. Some similar issues were reported on PS4, and those playing the PS4 on their PS5 seem to be unable to download the patch at all, but Xbox appears to the platform most heavily affected.
Some community members have tried to offer solutions to the issue, suggesting a hard reset of the game, or even an entire fresh boot of the console, but the benefits of these quick fixes seems mixed at best, with most players reporting no change and leaving them unable to take on GTA Online's heists with their friends. Many seemed to zero in on it primarily being an issue affecting access to public online sessions, as some experienced a degree of success loading into private, invite-only sessions. Some couldn't even get that far, though, with the game crashing in earlier menu screens or failing to connect to the network altogether.
Ultimately, it appears to be a problem beyond any simple fix at the user end, so console players will just have to wait for Rockstar to push out another patch soon to fix the effects of this one. In the meantime, perhaps this could be a good time for any aggrieved players to check out the wilds of Red Dead Redemption Online. A fancy horse might not have quite the same appeal as a Bugatti, but at least the game's playable right now.
Grand Theft Auto Online is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, with versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X in development.
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Source: PapaXan/Reddit