The PlayStation 5 has been a colossal success for Sony, the cutting edge console so relentlessly in demand that millions of worldwide gamers are still patiently waiting their turn to get their hands on the console's sleek white form. Having shipped nearly 17.5 million units thus far and with demand showing few signs of abating, Sony is expected to continue pushing sales of the PS5 into the stratosphere in the coming months and years.
While reception to the console and its capabilities have been pretty much exclusively positive, there is always room for improvement. One area that fans have pushed for is the support of a Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). Following an announcement on April 25 from PlayStation's Senior Vice President, such support is no longer just hypothetical.
VRR is essentially a dynamic hardware feature that continuously syncs the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console’s graphical output on "HDMI 2.1 VRR-compatible TVs and PC monitors." What this translates to in practice is an enhanced visual performance by smoothing out so-called "visual artifacts," which are essentially small kinks and rendering issues like screen tearing or problems with frame rates and pacing. As such, PS5 games with VRR capability will run much smoother and look even sharper due to a reduction in input lag, allowing the console to present games more authentically and crisply than was previously possible.
Not every game is set to receive the feature immediately. According to the announcement, the following games will be receiving VRR support patches in the coming weeks:
- Astro’s Playroom
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Deathloop
- Destiny 2
- Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition
- DIRT 5
- Godfall
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Resident Evil Village
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
- Tribes of Midgard
Fans can be assured that this is just the tip of the iceberg, with many other titles set to receive VRR support as Sony finds the time and resources to do so. While already released PS5 games will be fully optimized simply via updates and patches, it's likely that newer PS5 releases will come with VRR support straight at launch. Either way, expect VRR to become a de rigueur feature of the console moving forward as Sony looks to catch up with a feature already present on many performance PCs and the Xbox Series X.
Once a game receives the necessary update, VRR will be enabled automatically for supported games if the PS5 is connected to a compatible screen or monitor. The feature can be manually turned on or off by accessing the "Screen and Video" menu in system settings. Sony also claims that VRR can be applied to PS5 games that don't support it, though it does hint that this may render "unexpected visual effects." As such, players should bear in mind that results vary depending on the television, the game itself and the visual mode and settings used.
The console wars may one day end, but in the present market they continue to rage at a relentless pace. With reports claiming that Xbox has had its best performing quarter in 11 years, not to mention the insanely popular Nintendo Switch recently passing 100 million unit sales, it's little surprise that Sony is looking to implement VRR as soon as possible in order to avoid losing ground to their main rivals. With a revamped subscription model and some quality PS exclusives, the gaming giants are hoping they can swing the competition for console supremacy firmly back in their favor.