If you're picking up Red Dead Redemption 2 later tonight like potentially millions of others around the world are, you'll then have to engage in the act of installing the game on your platform of choice only to then sit around and scream at your download bar to fill up faster. It's a tradition we've grown used to in this new console generation but I still miss the days of just popping in a disc and playing a game immediately.

So the question on everyone's mind that is picking up Red Dead Redemption 2 tonight -- how long is this game going to take to install? As we already know, both versions of Red Dead Redemption 2 on PS4 and Xbox One come in at some rather hefty install sizes, so how long is it going to take to get all of that data onto your console?

Well, we got our hands on an early physical copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 for PS4 and have been trying to figure this exact estimate out for ourselves. As was rumored last week, Red Dead Redemption 2 does indeed come on two discs which means that you're required to pop in one disc to get the first wave of data going before then removing it and finishing the download on disc 2.

Initially when we inserted the disc, the estimated time read as three hours total. Thankfully that sped up over time. When installing the 89.195 GB required to play Red Dead Redemption 2, disc one contained 41.631 GB of the data and took us approximately 46 minutes to install in its entirety. After putting in the second disc, the rest downloaded in what ended up being 42 minutes. So in total, it took us 1 hour and 28 minutes to install Red Dead Redemption 2 in its entirety.

It's also worth pointing out that our install took place on a PS4 Pro. We also tested out the install on a standard PS4 as well and the download times ended up being a bit faster, although they roughly were the same. The standard PS4, however, had far more storage space than that of the PS4 Pro, so this could have been an attributing factor.

There's also a day one patch to download for Red Dead Redemption 2 as well on PS4 and it comes in just a bit above 3 GB. The speed with which you download this patch will, of course, depend upon your own Internet speed, though I imagine it'll take just a bit longer to download tonight since everyone will be trying to get it all at once. Still, by the time the base game has finished installing, you should hopefully have finished downloading this day one patch as well.

While none of our own times here are firm for how long your own download of Red Dead Redemption 2 will take, this should at least give you a ballpark estimate of what to expect once you pick the game up for yourself. For those getting the game on Xbox One, apologies that we couldn't test out those install times as well.

Best of luck in your installation pursuits this evening! Hopefully, once the game finishes downloading, you can spend a couple hours exploring the Wild West before bed.

Oh, and if you haven't read it already, be sure to check out our review for Red Dead Redemption 2 to hold you over until release.