What to buy before GTA 6: PS5 setup guide for India

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on 19 November 2026, and it unlocks at midnight IST. Preloading starts on 12 November. If you're planning to play at home, now is the time to sort out your setup, before the launch rush and before you're stuck staring at a download bar.

This guide is for Indian gamers, and it's deliberately short. It covers what you actually need, what's nice to have and what you can skip. We don't quote prices because they change daily, so always check the latest price before you buy.

First, what GTA 6 needs

For the full rundown on editions and pre-order bonuses, read our GTA 6 launch explainer.

Before you spend anything: try it at a café

If you don't own a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S yet, the cheapest way to play GTA 6 on launch week is at a gaming café. A few hours at a PS5 café costs a tiny fraction of a console, and it tells you whether GTA 6 is worth a big purchase for you. Many cafés in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai already run PS5s on big TVs.

Our guide to where to play GTA 6 in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai lists PS5 cafés by area, with prices where the café publishes them. Every café installs new games on its own schedule, so call ahead and ask whether GTA 6 will be ready.

Still want your own setup? Here's what to look at.

1. The console: PS5 Slim, PS5 Digital or Xbox

GTA 6 won't run on a PS4, so this is the big one.

• PS5 Slim, Disc Edition (1TB): the official Sony India model with a disc drive and 1TB of storage. Pick this if you also buy or borrow disc games.
• PS5 Slim, Digital Edition (825GB): no disc drive and less storage. For GTA 6 specifically, the disc drive doesn't help, because even the boxed copy contains a download code rather than a disc. Sony has also said that from January 2028, new PlayStation games will be sold in digital format only. The trade-off is storage, which matters for a game this size (see section 3).
• PS5 Pro: Sony hasn't launched the PS5 Pro officially in India, and Sony India's buy page only sells the standard PS5 models. Pro consoles you see online are imports, which don't come with a Sony India warranty. GTA 6 is listed as PS5 Pro Enhanced, but for most people a regular PS5 with a Sony India warranty is the safer buy. We're not linking a Pro for that reason.
• Xbox Series X or Series S: GTA 6 is on Xbox too, at the same ₹5,999 Indian price. Xbox console listings on Amazon.in were patchy when we checked, so here's a search for Xbox Series consoles instead of a single product. Check the seller and warranty before you buy.

Tip: whatever you buy, check that the listing is sold with an official Indian warranty. The importer is shown under "Product details" on the Amazon page.

2. A second controller

GTA 6 is single-player at launch, so you don't need a second controller. It's still handy if friends will be taking turns on launch weekend, or if you just don't want the game to stop when your battery dies.

• Sony DualSense wireless controller (Grey Camo): the official PS5 controller. Several colours were out of stock when we checked, so here's a search for all DualSense colours.
• Buy official. Cheap "compatible" PS5 controllers usually miss DualSense features such as adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.

Nice to have: the official Sony DualSense Charging Station charges two controllers at once without hogging your console's USB ports. It isn't essential. A USB-C cable works fine.

3. Storage: the one most people forget

This is the most likely thing to catch you out on preload day. Rockstar hasn't confirmed GTA 6's download size. Game Rant reported a leaked figure of about 210 GB on PS5, but that isn't official, and day-one patches usually make games bigger, not smaller. Either way, plan for a very large install.

Free option first. Before you buy anything, open Settings > Storage on your PS5 and delete or move games you're not playing. You can park PS5 games on a cheap USB hard drive to free up space. You just have to copy them back to play them, per PlayStation's storage guide.

If you need more space, add an M.2 SSD. The PS5 has a slot for one. According to PlayStation's official requirements, the drive must be a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD, between 250 GB and 8 TB, with a sequential read speed of 5,500 MB/s or faster recommended. It must have a heatsink or other cooling, and it has to fit the slot's size limits. SATA M.2 drives don't work. Drives with a built-in, PS5-sized heatsink are the easiest choice:

• SanDisk Optimus GX PRO 850P 1TB for PS5: made specifically for PS5 and PS5 Pro.
• WD_Black SN850P 1TB for PS5: WD's PS5 version of its gaming SSD, with a heatsink.
• Crucial T500 2TB with heatsink: if you want more room for other games too. Stock was low when we checked.
• Or search for PS5 SSDs with a heatsink, and check every listing against the requirements above.

Honest note on price: SSD prices in India have climbed a lot in 2026 because of a global memory shortage, so a PS5 SSD can be a surprisingly big spend. If freeing up space covers GTA 6, you may not need one yet. After installing a drive, the PS5 asks you to format it, so install it before 12 November if you want to preload straight onto it.

On Xbox, the console uses its own storage expansion cards rather than a standard M.2 SSD. Check that anything you buy is made for Xbox Series X|S.

4. A headset

GTA games are known for their radio stations, voice acting and city noise, so good sound makes a real difference. The DualSense has a 3.5mm jack, so almost any wired headset works on PS5.

• Budget, wired: Razer BlackShark V2 X. It plugs into the controller's 3.5mm jack and also works on Xbox and PC.
• Mid-range, wireless: HyperX Cloud III Wireless. It uses its own 2.4GHz wireless dongle and works with PS5 and PC.
• Premium, PlayStation's own: PlayStation Pulse Elite. It's pricey, so only consider it if audio matters a lot to you.

Skip it if you play on a TV with a decent soundbar. GTA sounds great through speakers too.

5. Your TV or monitor: you probably don't need a new one

You don't need a new TV for GTA 6. A few free tweaks help more than people expect:

• Turn on your TV's Game Mode to reduce input lag.
• Use the HDMI cable that came with the console and plug it into your TV's best HDMI port. On many TVs that's the one marked 4K, 120Hz or eARC.
• If your TV supports HDR, run the PS5's HDR calibration in Settings.

Rockstar hasn't published GTA 6's resolution or frame-rate targets for each console, so be wary of anyone telling you that you need a 120Hz TV for it.

The short version

Not confirmed yet: GTA 6's download size, a PC version, GTA 6 Online, and the resolution and frame rate on each console. We'll update this guide when Rockstar announces them.

Not ready to buy? Find a PS5 café near you in our guide to where to play GTA 6 in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, or read GTA 6 vs GTA 5: what's actually different while you wait.