A new update for the PS5 is released this week, which will bring a variable refresh rate (VRR, for short) to the Sony console – a feature that will improve the performance of various PS5 games.
The news comes as a surprise, as Sony has previously said that VRR support will arrive in the “months ahead”. However, it seems that the company has managed to speed up the process by revealing in the PlayStation blog that VRR support comes to every PS5 this week.
VRR is a long-awaited feature that tops the wish lists of PS5 owners who have compatible displays, especially since the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have long embraced display technology.
As stated by Sony, VRR requires a compatible TV and computer monitor with HDMI 2.1. VRR is a common feature of the best TVs and mainly helps to eliminate screen tearing, which occurs when the refresh rate of your TV’s image is not in sync with the game you are playing. With the PS5 VRR update, your TV’s display will sync with the console output to stop any screen tearing without affecting game performance.
(Image credit: Sony)
However, that’s not all VRR can do: it also helps combat other common display problems, especially in stuttering games or declining frame rates. It can also help reduce input latency by making games more responsive.
Some PS5 games will receive specific VRR optimization patches. Fortunately, Sony has already announced quite a selection:
Insomniac Games also announced that VRR support is coming this week for a number of its games, meaning Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be among the first to receive patches.
According to Insomniac, those who use a VRR on a 120Hz display will get a variable, unlimited frame rate that can exceed the target of 30 or 60 frames per second for your chosen graphics mode by 50% or more (depending on the game) .
Arkane Studio, the developers of Deathloop, also announced that VRR support comes in a time-cycle shooter that should provide smoother performance and deal with any screen breakage.
We are pleased to announce that DEATHLOOP supports PS5’s Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)! When VRR arrives on your PS5 console, see this support page for full details on how to enable this new feature. 🔗 25, 2022
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Of course, not every game will get a VRR-specific patch, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the technology. Users will be able to apply VRR to “unsupported games” at the system level, which in theory should be useful for any title. However, if unexpected visual effects occur, you can always turn this off.
It is worth noting that games that have a frame rate below 40 frames per second do not usually take advantage of VRR. Titles at 30 frames per second, for example, will fall below the usual VRR window, where technology is turned on to help smooth out the game. This means that a game like Bloodborne, which has a notorious stuttering frame rate of 30 frames per second, will not work.
However, something like Ghostwire Tokyo, which has multiple high-frequency modes, most of which are either unstable or show screen tearing, will benefit greatly from VRR.
Fantastic feature, but one more remains
We’re glad that the PS5 is finally getting VRR support, especially since we thought we’d have to wait a few months before it arrived. However, there is still one big feature that the PS5 lacks, and that is 1440p support.
When connected to a 1440p display, the PS5 will only output 1080p, albeit at a reduced scale. While this helps provide a clear 1080p image, users who have a 1440p display and have a PS5 connected miss 78% of the pixels when locked in 1080p.
Then this is a huge omission, especially since many PS5 owners can use a 1440p monitor. Hopefully, this issue will be resolved sooner or later, as this is a feature that has been available on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S for several years.
If you want to learn more about the variable refresh rate, see our “What is VRR?” Guide, which breaks down all the things you need to know about display technology.
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