- Sony consoles have a VRR problem
- Tests have revealed it’s not an issue with a specifc game or monitor
- There’s no fix yet, but hopefully Sony will release one soon
If you’ve been experiencing stuttering while playing games on your PS5 or PS5 Pro then you aren’t alone. And finally we might know what’s causing it, but on that front there’s good and bad news.
Many players have noticed that when playing games that support 120Hz VRR (variable refersh rate) there’s an occasional stutter. It usually takes about 20 minutes to begin stuttering, but once it does happen, the stutter recurs about every 8 seconds – and naturally, this regular cadence adds to the distraction it causes.
Digital Foundry decided to investigate and has found that the issues appear to be with the console itself rather than any specific game or other hardware.
As detailed in its very in-depth YouTube explanation (and shared in written form via Eurogamer) Digital Foundry discovered this visual hiccup occurs on several different titles – including The Last of Us Part 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Elden Ring, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.
It also found the stuttering occurred across different displays including LG OLED TVs, a Samsung mini-LED display, and an Eve Spectrum monitor. Digital Foundry even tested the same games across both Xbox and Sony consoles and found only the Sony hardware had issues.
However, while Sony’s tech has been pinned as the source of the issue, what hasn’t yet been discovered is why the games are stuttering.
We do know that the stutter itself is because games will be running within a smooth frame rate window (say 60 to 70 fps) then every 8 seconds or so, spike momentarily to 120Hz. It’s why this spike happens which we don’t know.
With all signs pointing Sony’s tech being the issue it should hopefully be fixable with a simple software update in the near future. For now, your best immediate solution would be to disable VRR in your system’s settings and play with a fixed refresh rate.
It’s not ideal, but it should tide you over until Sony can put out a patch.
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