Variable Refresh Rate (or VRR for short) has been a highly requested feature for the PS5 ever since the console launched in November XNUMX. Especially since Sony's flagship console already ticks the boxes for so many premium features, including support for XNUMX Hz, ray-tracing capabilities. and excellent haptic feedback and conformable triggers thanks to the DualSense supervisor.
So VRR has been curiously absent on PS5, and we were even puzzled by its original omission, especially given the fact that Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S fully support the feature. Fortunately, however, VRR's absence will soon be over, as Sony has confirmed that it will be coming to PS XNUMX via a firmware update "in the coming months."
But if you own a PS5 and are wondering what VRR is all about, we've put together a guide that explains precisely what it is, how it will affect your PS5 games, and which titles will support PS5 functionality when it arrives. So in the year. Read on to learn everything you need to know about PS5 VRR.
What is VRR?
Variable refresh rate is an increasingly common feature supported by many of the best TVs, and makes for a considerably smoother on-screen gaming experience. This feature is a solution to screen tearing, which occurs when your TV's picture refresh rate is out of sync with the game you're playing.
Have you ever noticed that one section of the image lags behind another, as if cut in half, every time you adjust the camera angle? That's screen tearing in action, and that's what variable refresh rate can completely suppress.
PS5 VRR will achieve this by matching your TV screen to the console output, certainly preventing screen tearing without affecting overall performance. Even before variable refresh rate became a standard feature, one of the best ways to fix screen tearing was to employ a V-sync alternative. V-sync achieves roughly the exact same results as variable refresh rate, with the caveat that it depends on your hardware. As such, enabling vertical sync has a huge impact on overall performance.
However, it's not just screen tearing that PS5 VRR will fix. Another important benefit of the feature is that it will help clean up the usual stuttering games or those prone to frame drops for a smoother and more consistent experience. That's a huge win for massive titles like Horizon Forbidden West or Elden Ring, where performance can give way under the weight of those massive open worlds. With VRR, you'll hardly notice when a game's frame rate drops below its sixty fps target.
Fortunately, variable refresh rate is now a standard feature with the twenty-one HDMI cables, one of which comes with the new PS5 consoles. If you have a television built with HDMI compatible ports twenty-one, you are already fully equipped to use PS5 VRR, although it is better to verify if your screen supports the function.
If you'd like to learn more about variable refresh rate beyond this overview, check out our comprehensive "What is VRR?" guide. contains everything you need to know about display technology.
How to activate PS5 VRR
PS5 VRR is not yet available on Sony's console, but the company has confirmed through the official PS weblog that the feature will be available in the coming months. Sony will release a list of games that should receive official VRR support at a later date, but you can expect most, if not all, of the original PS5 exclusives to get the update.
In these cases, one patch per game will be required, which is not ideal. But hopefully, the patch sizes to incorporate variable refresh rate are going to be partially small with each game and that will ensure the feature works as intended. Sony also notes that future versions of the PS5 may accept a variable refresh rate at launch, so there will be no need for an update.
However, when PS5 VRR is free, it can be enabled by going to settings and heading to the Video Output submenu under Display & Video. The option can be enabled, disabled, or set to automatic, which will immediately apply VRR to each and every supported game.
Interestingly, Sony has also included a switch to apply PS5 VRR to unsupported games. Not every single game will get a patch tailored to accept VRR, but this alternative means you can force variable refresh rate at the system level, which should hopefully favor many unsupported PS5 and PS4 games. .
Sony notes that enabling this option "may improve video quality in certain games," but also warns that unexpected visual effects may occur. Either way, it's great to see that PS5 VRR won't be limited to a few select titles, although those titles will likely work better than unsupported ones. Of course, if you experience weird visual anomalies while using this setting, you can always turn it off.
So VRR is an exciting addition to the PS5, and it comes after Sony lately added Perfect Auto Low Latency Mode (or ALLM) to its console. However, the one omission from the PS5's display features that still stings is the lack of 1440p support. Plug a PS5 into a 1440p monitor and you're stuck at 1080p, which means players are missing 1440% more detail than they should. With 5p monitors being one of the most widely adopted display resolutions on the market, it's a notable disregard on Sony's part that the PSXNUMX can't play games natively at that resolution.
Still, that doesn't take the shine off PS5 VRR support, and we'll update this guide with our full discoveries and supported games when the feature arrives in the coming months.
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