Sony has announced via the PlayStation Blog that Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support will be included in a PS5 console update this week. The feature was confirmed to be in the pipeline earlier this year and is now being rolled out globally.
The feature “dynamically syncs the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console’s graphical output.” Essentially, in simple terms, VVR enables your screen to fluctuate how often it refreshes images in order to match the frame rate coming from your console. This allows games with an unlocked frame rate to run significantly smoother and makes graphical bugs like screen tearing much less common.
In order to use VVR, you will need a television that supports the feature, as well as HDMI 2.1. Thankfully, most modern televisions do include these as standard, but if you’re using a TV or monitor that’s a few years old you’ll want to check first. Almost all the picks in our best TVs roundup are VVR and HDMI 2.1 compatible; perfect if you’re in the market for a new one to get the most out of your PS5.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an upgrade that will be supported by every currently released PS5 game. Each individual game needs to be patched to make use of VRR by its developers. For now, Sony has confirmed the first batch of PS5 games that will receive VVR enabling patches in “the coming weeks,” they are:
- 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
Sony does note “these are just a few of the PS5 titles receiving VRR support” so it’s safe to assume that this list will grow over time. Nevertheless, don’t expect all of the best PS5 games to receive the feature. At the very least, we hope it becomes a standard inclusion for the majority of next-gen games in the future.
While VVR support is by no means a game-changing graphical upgrade, it does bring the PS5 more in line with its rivals. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have offered VVR since launch, and even the nine-year-old Xbox One received the feature in 2018. PC gamers have also been able to make use of VVR for years now thanks to technologies such as AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync.
A more recent software update has also added 1440p output support for the PS5.
