Digital Foundry confirms PS5 and PS5 Pro lag issue

In recent months, PS5 and PS5 Pro owners have been reporting VRR stutters while playing games. Digital Foundry has conducted research and confirmed the issue.

VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) is a technology that changes the refresh rate of the screen. Its advantage over a fixed rate is that the game console creates a "window" in which the game remains smooth, and the change in FPS is imperceptible to the player. Typically, this "window" covers about 20 frames, which helps to avoid game "hangs".

After about 20 minutes of gameplay, noticeable stutters start to appear every 8 seconds. Immediately after that, the frame rate increases sharply to its maximum value. According to available data, the problem is not related to the display, but to the PlayStation 5 and Pro consoles. The jump to 120 Hz indicates that the console temporarily exits VRR mode and returns to a fixed frame rate, which is what causes the stutters.

It is also known that this issue only affects Sony consoles. VRR on Xbox works without stuttering in the same games that stutter on PlayStation, such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Diablo IV.

While developers are expected to actively support VRR, specifically 120Hz VRR, Sony offers a solution for games that don't support the technology. It's limited to 60Hz and only allows VRR to work between 48Hz and 60Hz. However, tests show that Elden Ring, which doesn't support VRR, initially runs smoothly for the first 20 minutes, before starting to freeze every 8 seconds. This suggests that the problem isn't with game developers, but rather with how the PS5 and PS5 Pro handle the VRR signal.