GTA 6 is almost here: will your console cope?
Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series. The game was delayed twice, and Take-Two has confirmed this date. For your console the date matters less than the load: this will be the most demanding title of this generation.
Why this is not just another game
A huge open world with heavy traffic, changing weather and ray tracing keeps the processor and graphics chip at full load almost all the time. There are no loading screens to cool down, and people play games like this in long sessions. A console that runs a football game without trouble can give up here after forty minutes.
The test you can do tonight
- Start your heaviest game, with ray tracing on or in quality mode.
- Play for 45 minutes to an hour without a break.
- Watch for four things: the picture stuttering where it used to be smooth, the fan going to full speed and staying there, a case so hot you pull your hand away, and the console shutting down.
If any of those four happens, that console will not get through GTA 6 without some work.
What is usually going on
- Dust in the heatsink. By far the most common cause, and the only one you fix yourself: keep the can upright, use short bursts and hold the fan blades still.
- Worn thermal material. On older PS5s that is the liquid metal oxidising. It can be repaired and the difference is big.
- A fan with a tired bearing. It spins, it makes noise, and it moves less air than it should.
- A power stage that sags under full load. The console works perfectly in menus and only shuts down in game. People blame the game.
What you can still do now
- Give your console room: ten centimetres around every vent, out of a closed TV cabinet, not on a carpet.
- Free up storage and install the system update before launch day.
- Have a lingering fault checked now, not in December when everyone comes knocking at once.
And if it goes wrong on the day
If your console shuts down while playing, do not keep restarting it and playing on. Every overheating shutdown means it already ran above its design temperature for a while, and over time that breaks solder joints. Then you are looking at a logic board repair instead of a service. Switch it off, let it cool and have it checked. More about overheating.
Getting hot or shutting down? We will take a look
Describe what your console does. You get an answer within one working day with a guide price. Diagnosis costs 49 euros and is deducted if you go ahead with the repair.