How to enable VRR on PS5 and get better graphics

If you're one of the many gamers waiting for VRR to make your PS5 graphics even better in games such as Horizon: Forbidden West, which is already jaw-droppingly beautiful, we've got good news: variable refresh rate tech is now available for your console.

It was back in late March 2022, on the PlayStation Blog, where senior VP Hideaki Nishino was "glad to share new details on Variable Refresh Rate". The tech, which requires HDMI 2.1 – technology you'll find in the best gaming TVs and best gaming monitors – was slated to be released "in the months ahead". It's arrived even sooner, which is a good look. 

So here's what VRR is and how you'll be able to use it with one of the best TVs for PS5 to make the graphics in PS5 games even better.

What is PS5 VRR and how do you turn it on?

Variable Refresh Rate ensures that your TV or monitor and your PS5 stay in sync, and that ensures a much smoother image without any weirdness. It's already in the Xbox Series X, but until now it hadn't made its way to the PS5 despite quite a lot of "it's coming, honest!" promises from Sony. 

The new feature will only support one of three different VRR options: the other two, AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, are not available to PS5 gamers. That's a shame, because it limits VRR on the PS5 to HDMI 2.1 TVs only.

To enable the feature, it's just a matter of going into Settings > Screen and Video > Video Output > VRR and toggling it to either On or Automatic. 

You'll be able to try it on unsupported games too, which may or may not be better with the feature turned on. There'll no doubt be plenty of guides detailing which unsupported games work best, but until they appear we'd recommend trying every game; what have you got to lose other than a few minutes of messing around?

Better late than never, eh? We're certainly glad to see VRR on PS5 finally. It'll see PlayStation's strength grow to even greater heights.