Playstation 5 owners will soon receive a feature that has been frequently requested over the last year or so. Sony recently stated that Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support for the PS5 is “on the horizon.” Many are grateful that VRR will arrive soon as this feature has long been available on the Xbox Series X.
VRR will “dynamically [sync] the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console’s graphical output.” VRR is great for reducing visual artifacts such as screen tearing or frame pacing problems. It does this by dynamically syncing the refresh rate of the display to the GPU. Sony argues that gameplay will seem smoother as “as scenes render instantly, graphics look crisper, and input lag is reduced.”
A game patch will allow previous PS5 games to support VRR and Sony promises that future games may include it from the get-go. Sony will even allow users to apply VRR to PS5 games that do not currently support it and users will be able to enable it in the settings menu. Sony contends that players may see video quality improvement, but it also may negatively impact the games. Thankfully, VRR can be disabled should there be “unexpected visual effects.”
Horizon Forbidden West is a Playstation exclusive.
Sony states that VRR will be available sometime over the next few months, but has not yet provided an exact deadline. It is believed that beta testing will likely begin in the coming weeks. Sony just introduced several other features that are available as of today. Both PS5 and PS4 owners can now create Open and Closed Parties through the PS App. Sony has divided its Game Base menu into three tabs to make it easier to message others and has updated the visual design of trophy cards and the trophy list. All of the above features were originally tested out through the system software beta and are now available to the global community.
Playstation 5 owners in the United States and United Kingdom can test out Sony’s “Voice Command (Preview)" as well. The Preview permits them to “find and open games, apps, and settings, as well as control media playback with their voice.” This can only be tested through the English language setting.
