Various technical tests, including Digital Foundry and TechRadar, have carried out the first tests on the PS5 VRR, the new functionality of the Sony console that was finally introduced after a long wait and which results in a series of improvements applied to the performance of the games. Even if its implementation is generally not at the level of Xbox Series X | S.
As also reported in the special on the subject, the variable refresh rate, on compatible displays, helps to eliminate frame-rate problems by eliminating screen tearing and judder, even if we have to see how the technology intervenes and the situation. where the various games are located.
As we have seen, the PS5 VRR does not work on all displays and someone has already thought about drawing up a list of compatible and non-compatible TVs and monitors, in particular, the functionality in question is characterized by a significant limitation, even compared to what we saw on Xbox Series X | S: only works with displays that adopt the HDMI 2.1 standard, thus cutting out part of the TV and most of the monitors, unlike Xbox which instead corresponds rather precisely to the requests of AMD’s FreeSync, which also works through HDMI 2.0, working on a wide range of displays.
The range in which the PS5’s VRR intervenes is also limited to the range between 48 and 60 Hz for displays at 60 Hz or 48 and 120 Hz on screens reaching 120 Hz.
Normally, a feature called Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) kicks in when the frame-rate drops below the 48Hz threshold, doubling the frame rate and thus triggering VRR, but on PS5 this feature must be implemented. Via patch, therefore it is only available on a part of the games, while on the others judder phenomena (inconsistencies in the fluidity or speed of the images) and other problems may occur on those not specifically updated.
Digital Foundry tests have generally shown positive results for PS5 games, with a few exceptions: Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West, for example, don’t seem to support VRR at all or this isn’t working at the moment. Also, with some TVs, it appears that the feature may conflict with local dimming, which can cause a loss of picture quality. In general, Digital Foundry recommends using VRR on PS5 only for those games that are supposed to go 60fps but tend to miss the mark most of the time.
TechRadar’s assessment is clearer, according to which the feature works rather well but not as well as on the Xbox Series X | S. The reasons are similar to those found by Digital Foundry: a strong limitation in the effective use given by the support for the HDMI 2.1 standard only and the need for patches to make it work properly (although the activation of VRR can still bring positive effects also to games that don’t officially support it), the fact that it doesn’t work on PS4 games, the limited range of action between 48 and 120 Hz, and the lowering of the chroma to 4: 2: 2 using 4K at 120 fps.