Those who have pre-ordered Grand Theft Auto 5 on the PlayStation 3 digitally via the PlayStation Network will be able to pre-load the game to their consoles this upcoming weekend, several days before the game launches in stores or digitally.

According to a tweet from Rockstar's official Twitter account:

"Those who've pre-ordered #GTAV on PSN will be able to preload the game as follows: Sunday 3pm BST in Europe; Monday 3am EST in the US."

That's great news for those who have had the game pre-ordered digitally for some time now.

If you're more of a brick and mortar kind of gamer, head over to our retailers guide to find out which pre-order incentives are in effect and which stores, and stay tuned to find out where you can find GTA 5 at midnight on the day of its release.

For console gamers out there who aren't used to shopping digitally, pre-loading a game won't actually give you access to the game earlier than usual. Instead, you'll merely have the majority of the files stored on your console, allowing you to "unlock" the content when it releases via another, much smaller download.