GTA Online: Rockstar say PS3 update is live, Xbox fix coming 'soon'

The popularity of Grand Theft Auto 5 has proved too much for the game's servers

Update: Rockstar's support page now says: "The latest title update for GTA Online is live for PlayStation 3. We're working to have this up for Xbox 360 as soon as possible today."

Whether this fix will be comprehensive is unclear. The PS3 fix was dealing with issues created by Sony's servers, but some users have still reported difficulty on the console. Still, if you've not yet logged on to Los Santos online then best best is to try this evening.

Connection errors and overloaded servers continue to dog the launch of Grand Theft Auto Online, with Rockstar forced to suspend the game’s micro-transactions.

The multiplayer portion of the phenomenally successful GTA 5 went live noon on Tuesday, though Rockstar had already pre-emptively apologised, stating that online play was likely to be “temperamental”.

The company’s blog said that “unanticipated additional pressure” on game servers had caused the problems but that they were actively looking into fixing a wide range of issues.

One of the feature’s disabled by the developers in their scramble to keep the online world ship-shape has been micro-transactions: the option for players to purchase in-game currency with real money.

“For the time being and until we have been able to get everybody access to GTA Online and things are running smoothly, we have disabled the option of purchasable GTA$ cash packs," said the company in a statement on their support site.

"Players can however keep on earning GTA$ by pulling off jobs and other profitable gameplay activities rather than purchasing cash packs."

Virtual currency could previously be bought starting at £1.99 for $100,000, though players have to rank up through a reputation system before getting full access to purchases. It’s not known when Rockstar will reinstate the system.

For frustrated players still locked out the game though there’s little help to be found online. Rockstar has put together a fairly comprehensive list of known issues and error messages, but most the fixes will have to be carried out behind the scenes. For two of the most common though they’ve offered some advice to players, see below for their tips:

Getting through the Tutorial Race:

This is first thing players should get through in the Online world, but many are reporting the game freezing in the race lobby, during the cut-scene, or whilst waiting for other players. Rockstar recommend re-downloading the update that enables online play (first delete it from Xbox Home or the PS3 XMB) or deleting their current character (accessible via ‘Swap character’ on the pause menu) and creating a new one.

PS3 users getting booted by the PlayStation Network:

This problem should now be fixed entirely without any input from the player. PSN servers had been limiting the number of users allowed to get online at once but Rockstar have evidently had words with someone at Sony, and the PlayStation users should not be stalled by that particular problem now.