I played the PS5 Pro, and it’s clearly better

Probably the best way to play Sony’s games — here’s why, plus some caveats.

Sean Hollister is a senior editor and c o-founder of The Verge, which specializes in gadgets, games, and toys. For 15 years, he has been editors such as CNET, Gizmodo, and ENGADGET.

25 September 2024, 15:00 UTC

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PS5 Pro and original. PS5 Pro and original.

Eight years ago, PlayStation Chief Architect Mark Sanny showed the PS4 Pro's power in the room. Today, I was introduced to the new PS5 Pro and felt a sense of sight.

As before, Sony arranged screens in the full room of the US PlayStation headquarters near San Francisco, playing 11 games on both the first hardware and the 70 0-dollar PRO. As before, graphic upgrades are higher than new games. As before, in order to get most of these improvements, it is necessary to patch the game, and not all patches are the same.

And as last time, if the distance between the TV and the sofa is short, these improvements are impressive. In this game, the details of each grass were highlighted, the particle density on the screen was improved, and the additional mode of the 8K and late racing was unlocked, and the first game console was often troubled. The flicker that you care about is also reduced.

Horizon's technical director, Michiel Van Der Leeuw, shows how ugly clouds have become rendered on how smooth the "Horizon forbidden West" in PS5 Pro and how clear textures have been rendered. He told me if it was no longer needed.

In 2016, I wrote about the PS4 Pro, "It looks like you've removed dirty glasses from your eyes." Horizon] and most of the other PS5 PRO enhanced games you are trying now have the same feeling. "

Michiel Van Der Leeuw, a technical director of Horizon forbidden West, showed another scene where PS5 Pro loaded Dinoskin at higher quality than the following PS5.

As will be described later, I want you to know that my conclusion is not exactly the same as eight years ago. PS5 is obviously better, but I haven't bought PS5 yet. The main reason is that Sony was several hundred hundred euros than last time, but we had to stand near the 4K screen to get this impressive result.

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In the demo video, Sony puts us close to the TV, and indeed, it's impossible not to notice the improvement, and the wired, fixed-length controller encourages us to be closer. Going back to the point, the PS5 Pro's graphical improvements are hard to pin down. In this IRGE behind the game, most of it is 10 feet away. That's a bit further away than we decided on the PS4 Pro to compare with the PS4 from 8 years ago.

But if you're one of those people who already set the "Quality", "Accuracy" and "Graphics" modes on PS5 games instead of "Performance", I can argue that you'll notice a big improvement in smoothness on the PS5 Pro, like a distance you'd never sit at. Some games I played on the PS5 Pro went from abrupt to oily, with image quality almost the same (if not better) than the PS5's own Accuracy mode.

But the biggest surprise for me was the emergence of a console capable of presenting many of the advantages of ray tracing without significant lag. It is unlikely that almost any game will intentionally add ray tracing for the PS5 Pro, but in this racing Formula 1 F1 24, they are already there and now you can drive with an increased solution of 4K and 60 workers per second.

In fact, producer Simon Lam connects and turns off ray tracing, and you can see that the whole image comes to life. You can see reflections in puddles on the highway or in the luminous bonnets of cars, or the windows seem to refract with light.

In the smoke-filled obstacles of Demon's Soul s-cooks-, the notorious personality of Sony's PSSR is now more particle.

Both F1 24 and Gran Turismo 7 can choose other modes in exchange for the tracing rays. It is quite possible that they will take advantage of the PS5 Pro's auxiliary power and non-mind to increase the resolution and provide illustrations in 8K format (for the proud few with 8K TVs) or a smoother 120Hz at 4K resolution. But checking this out now, I would choose ray tracing any day.

A little caveat: if the creators are talking about a game running at "4K" resolution, know that this is not mandatory for comparison with other "4K" games. In any case, the PS5 Pro displays illustrations on a 4K resolution TV thanks to the magic of artificial origins in mind, providing this clarity of image. However, the internal permit of the game's display may be slightly lower, which has the ability to change during the game and actually affect the final quality.

Factors to transparency:

• Sony didn't agree to an interview about the PS5 Pro, so recent questions about the console itself were not answered.
• Sony didn't let us touch the console's brand new hardware.
• The tech-level demo was done on a PS5 dev kit, which represents the PS5 and PS5 Pro, not the console in my photo. Scott Stein actually told me that his premature preview, posted on CNET, is not yet running on the console in his photo. This is not at all unusual for new hardware. I once made an instructional program for Xbox 360 games on a Microsoft dev kit.
• Just to be clear, I wasn't able to take any photos or videos near the screen.

The developer says that Sony's PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) upscaling technology processes all the data and converts the 720p image directly to 4K at 59, 94 frames per second - but upscaling 720p to 2160p clearly tells me this might not be the case. If Sony allows it, some manufacturers will sacrifice frame rate for that reason. (Leaked documents imply that this will actually happen, but Sony has not confirmed this.)

And one more thing: while developers tell us one after another that the PS5 Pro guarantees the "best of the best" in terms of accuracy and performance, the PS5 Pro does not absolutely guarantee twice the performance of the native console -- as a result, small sacrifices may have to be made.

For example, in this Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac, the rendering resolution in the new PS5 Pro's "Performance Pro" mode is lower than the PS5's own "Fidelity" mode. But I prefer the PS5 Pro mode, because it creates fascinating situations where small details of some objects (such as windows on distant buildings) are not easily discernible.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart technical director Mike Fitzgerald told us how the image quality has improved. If you look closely, the PS5 Pro's "Performance Pro" mode has fewer audience members than the standard PS5's "Fidelity" mode. Last but not least, thanks to the PS5 Pro's changes, games look softer and more detailed. Some rooms have even more detail!

When creators had to choose, some said they prioritized "stability" and decided to make minor sacrifices with a unique console. However, some games have unique performance and fidelity modes.

There were no casualties as long as we worked in Final Fantasy VII Reverse. PS5 Pro's hair and fine details also surpass the "graphic" mode unique to PS5.

I can't wait to achieve an absolute explosive speed with PS5 Pro. For the time being, let's leave an estimated article about Shadberry I saw!

Demon's Soul: PS5 Pro Single Mode is a 4K resolution of PSSR, probably not hitting 60fps every time, but it is quite smooth as a Flom software game. An old system remains. Thanks to PSSR, many Soul s-style particle effects have been added! On the Boletaria Bridge, you can see the flagpole of the castle that is not visible on PS5 unless you leave the TV or more than 1. 5 meters.

• Dragon's Dogma II: In the rea l-time mode of PS5 Pro, VRR in Tokyo is displayed 55 to 60 per second per second, and in the suburbs, 60 people per second are displayed at PSSR 4K resolution. Internal permission is fine.
• F1 24: The render resolution accelerates to 4K with a 60fps lock for the render resolution. Late racing mode remains 4K and records 60 workers/ seconds. There are also 4K120 and 8K60 mode. The unique PS5 had to work at half the resolution to achieve 4K60, but certainly 1440p has been improved.
• Final Fantasy VII Reverse: PS5 Pro's only internal resolution 4K60 PSSR mode. The perfect game for presenting a PS5 Pro, for example, the original PS5 mode can be discolored by comparing. Looking at the 1, 5 meters, the cloud of the cloud is clearly visible, but this is not visible in PS5's unique mode, and it is hardly possible to determine from 2, 5 meters.
• Gran Turismo 7: 4 PS5 Pro mode: Late racing value, worker frequency value, 8K mode, 4K 120Hz mode, all of these use PSSR for upscaling and aim for 60 workers/ sec. In Late Racing Mode, cars can be displayed side by side.
• Hogwarts Legacy: PS5 PRO 3 modes: Precision, pr e-jeon + late racing, performance. The PS5 Pro performance mode is more detailed than the true performance mode of PS5. Light racing looks impressive (although it is for 30 employees per second), a lat e-racing shadow and a more detailed reflection. All modes have a dynamic internal resolution, but are limited to 80 % of 4K instead of 4K.
• Horizon Forbidden West: 4K60 PS5 Pro mode in PSSR mode, based on the variable internal resolution "Higher 1440p". The old PS5 mode is also provided. The unique PS5 provided a 1800 p-checke r-board based on a shorter internal resolution. Almost all of the external details, excessive textures (all textures per Mikap are clearly common), overestimated quality that filter the shadow of the face, and the blinking is greatly flashing. It is decreasing.
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2: PS5 Pro's only PSSR mode, with a lower resolution rendering than True Fidelity mode, has 4K60 enhanced resolution. The opportunity to create Fidelity Pro mode is being considered. Migration has been significantly improved.
• The only PS5 Pro mode in Ratchet & Amp; amp; amp; Clank: Rift Apart: 4k60 PSSR mode is based on "main TIK or 2 high", which is an internal resolution of rendering than on PS5 (mainly tik or 2 high "(source of rendering). The permission was various, but the small ones were about 1080p to 1280p according to the system). Small details, for example, fragments of paper blizzards do not disappear easily. Reduced the blinking details.
• The Crew Motor Fest: The only 4K60 scale PS5 Pro mode in PSSR. Although the road distance and the distance to the shadow are increasing, there is no difference in lace speed. Overall, internal permission increased: I can distinguish the texture of the carbon fiber of the spoiler at a distance of 5 feet from the TV, I did not need to see the unique PS5.
• The Last of US Part II Remastered: 4K60 for the only PS5 Pro, PSSR-APKEILING for 1440p. The unique PS5 provided only 4K30 or 1440p60. It is obviously sharper than 1440p60 (grass!) And swim much more than 4K30. Some detailed details of native 4K30 are probably more visible than any other.
• Photo Sean Hollister / The Verge