GTA Online fans have always had a problem with the long load times in the game.
GTA Online players are used to long waiting periods between matches or when starting a new session. Even improved hardware didn't seem to make much difference.
This is why a member of the GTA Online community, who goes by the name of "t0st," took it upon themselves to try and reduce load times. The result was an ingenious fix that cut down the load times by a staggering 70%.
T0st also released a very well-detailed breakdown of the methods they used and exactly how they were able to isolate the issue and tackle it.
In one of the most wholesome moves in all of gaming, Rockstar Games not only gave a shoutout to t0st for solving the problem but also handed out a significant sum of cash.
Rockstar Games hands t0st $10,000 as a token of their appreciation for solving load time issue in GTA Online
T0st's fix to the load time problem quickly gained traction within the GTA community, and word was bound to get to Rockstar.
Rather than letting it fall on deaf ears, Rockstar took the constructive feedback and implemented the fix on the latest version of the game (1.37) and specifically thanked t0st for their contribution.
Rockstar also awarded t0st $10,000 as a token of their appreciation for solving one of the biggest problems plaguing GTA Online.
GTA Online has been a massively successful project for Rockstar. It is indeed very positive to see that a studio as monumentally big as Rockstar is still in tune with its fanbase and is maintaining a healthy line of communication.
What will be interesting to see is whether Rockstar is also able to improve load times on console, with the next-gen version of GTA Online as a standalone title.