If your internet connection is not up to snuff, be warned that the physical copy of Gears of War 4 will require a mandatory download of 11GB before you can start playing at all.
To clarify - if digital, no day one patch since all 54.6 gigs are downloaded. If physical disk then there will be 11 gig download.
— Rod Fergusson (@GearsViking) September 30, 2016
Interestingly enough, some reports claim that the game isn't playable without the day zero patch simply because the game's 55GB of data wouldn't fit on standard dual-layer Blu-ray discs are capable of storing up to 50GB of data only.
Either way, you can buy the digital copy of Gears of War 4 and start pre-loading its 54.6GB of data right now to be ready to play as soon as the game launches on October 11th. As an added bonus, pre-ordering the digital version of the game gets you a free copy of the Windows 10 version which can be pre-loaded right now as well.