Rockstar: Don’t Install Grand Theft Auto V Play Disc

If you’re picking up the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto V, do yourself a solid and don’t install the “play” disc.

Open the package for the Xbox 360 edition of Grand Theft Auto V and you’ll notice two discs inside: an “install” disc and a “play” disc. You can install both, if you are so inclined, and inclined you just might be because data access is always faster off a hard drive than an optical disc, right?

Well, not necessarily. “For optimal performance, we recommend not installing the play disc,” Rockstar Support has tweeted to several users in response to installation questions.

According to the Digital Foundry, it appears that the problem lies with the way the game streams data. “Optimal streaming is achieved by making use of all the available bandwidth in the system. Why stream just from the hard drive when you can run in data simultaneously from both the disc and the HDD?” Digital Foundry boss Richard Leadbetter told Eurogamer.

“Based on what we’re seeing on the Xbox 360 version, perhaps running both DVD and HDD assets from just the one source slows down access times, impacting streaming performance,” he explained. “It’s not game-breaking stuff, but it does take you out of the moment when it does manifest and for that reason we can’t recommend installing the play disc.”

Digital Foundry, which posted a video on YouTube demonstrating the consequences of installing both discs to the hard drive, has found that the performance problem can be avoided by installing the “play” disc to a USB drive. Rockstar also tweeted that more information about the issue will be released tomorrow after Grand Theft Auto V launches.

Source: Eurogamer