GTA 5 Online has been struggling with long loading times for years. However, these are set to be significantly improved with an upcoming update. The patch comes from Rockstar, but the solution is from a player who has also been richly rewarded for it.
What happened? Rockstar has confirmed to PCGamer that a fan has found the solution to the annoying loading time issue. It could take 10 to 15 minutes during an online session.
The Github user tostercx, also known as t0st, claims to have developed a fix that can reduce wait times by up to 70%. You could already download and add this fix to the game (via Github), but parts of it are soon to be officially integrated into the game.
Rockstar said:
After a thorough investigation, we can confirm that the player t0st has indeed uncovered an aspect of the game code regarding loading times for the PC version of GTA Online that could be improved.
As a result of this investigation, we have made some changes that will be implemented in an upcoming title update. […] and we would like to thank him again for his efforts.
What is behind the fix? For those interested in the technical side of the solution, there is a detailed documentation on nee.lv.
Essentially, it was primarily about the slowdown being triggered by a “CPU bottleneck when starting GTA Online”.
Player receives $10,000 for the fix
What does t0st get for his fix? Besides the fact that he has influenced the game GTA 5 Online, the player additionally receives $10,000 from Rockstar.
This comes from the bug bounty pool, which is actually meant for users who find security and privacy issues. The payment to t0st was confirmed by Rockstar to PCGamer.
When is the update coming? Currently, there is no official statement from Rockstar on this. So far, the fix has not been implemented.
Recently, the developers changed how you receive the money gifts on PlayStation. All important information about this has been summarized here: GTA Online changes how you collect money gifts on PS4 and PS5.
