Variable refresh rate is coming to the PlayStation 5 soon, other features roll out today

Sony announced that it is working on Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support for the PlayStation 5 (it has been since late 2020, actually). This feature will be released “in the coming months”, other features are rolling out now with today’s update.

VRR matches the display’s frame rate to the output of the console, which may vary from moment to moment as the player moves through more or less complex scenes. This feature reduces or eliminates problems like screen tearing and frame pacing issues, it also reduces input lag.

Note that you will need a compatible TV or PC monitor with HDMI 2.1 for this to work (e.g. Sony Bravia TVs). As for game support, future games may include a VRR option at launch, current games can get it with a patch. Sony has even added a toggle to force VRR mode on games that don’t support it (though there is a chance this will cause issues in some titles).

Moving on to today’s update, it enables some user-requested features. One of them is the ability to create and join Open and Closed Parties on PS5 and PS4. Open Parties are visible to your friends and they can join freely, Closed Parties are hidden and require an invitation.

Viewing open parties and creating a new party

Sony is gradually rolling out this feature to to the PS App as well, allowing you to create parties from your phone rather than the console. The apps’ Game Base UI has been updated to make accessing Friends, Parties and messaging features easier.

The PS App is getting an updated Game Base UI, also support for creating open and closed parties

The PS Remote Play app gains a dark mode as well as new Screen Reader languages (Portuguese for Portugal and Brazil, Finnish, Swedish, Turkish, Greek, Thai and Chinese).

Back on the console, the Game Base and Trophy cards have been updated. Sony is also testing a new Voice Command feature, that lets you start a game and control media playback with your voice. This is available only in the US and UK and only in English for now.

Finally, there are accessibility enhancements like mono audio for headphones.

Source | Via