PS5 Pro Unleashes Mouth-Watering 4K Ray Tracing, 120 FPS, and Stunning 8K in F1 24

In this "episode," we're taking a deep dive through Digital Foundry's lens at how F1 24 performs on Sony's mid-gen console. The PS5 Pro Enhanced label shines with superb ray tracing effects at upscaled 4K in Quality mode. It also offers a 120 fps performance mode and a (pointless) 8K mode.

Pro Quality Mode

First, the PS5 Pro Quality mode adds real-time ray tracing during gameplay, whereas previously, it was limited to menus, pre-race sections, and replays. There are ray-traced reflections, ambient occlusion, and dynamic diffuse global illumination (DDGI), all while running F1 24 at a smooth 60 frames per second.

In less technical terms, ray tracing simulates light behavior to make the scene more photorealistic for immersion. What it lacks, though, are real-time ray-traced shadows, but this isn't such a big deal when you factor in the gameplay.

Because you're in an F1 vehicle, you don't have time to stop and smell the roses or shadows as you would in a first-person or third-person title. You're too busy trying not to crash at 200 miles per hour. Shadow quality aside, it would have been useful for a more accurate representation.

Luckily, the RT reflections are enough to make us believe we're actually in an F1 car, especially while playing on a modern 4K OLED TV with HDR features. RT ambient occlusion removes artificially bright details and correctly shades objects like trees and track elements (panels, fences) while adding visual realism to the scene.

The resolution is where things get interesting. In Quality mode, the base PS5 runs the game at a dynamic 4K/1800p with no RT. The PS5 Pro Quality mode resolution has been lowered due to the RT effects to keep a locked 60 fps framerate.

The resolution now jumps between 1080p and 1440p, but that's only half the story. Luckily, PSSR kicks in and saves the day, creating a 4K-like image, says Digital Foundry. It's not perfect, but the level of visual clarity is comparable to the base PS5 version without RT.

Pro Performance Mode

Performance mode is meant to display 120 frames per second at 2160p or native 4K. However, it uses some upscaling trickery to achieve that ultra-smooth framerate. The internal resolution is basically locked at 2560x1440p with rare very drops to 1080p.

It doesn't use PSSR here but hits its 4K target with Temporal Anti-Aliasing Upsampling or TAAU. It goes without saying that Pro Performance mode doesn't use any ray tracing elements.

The great news is that it stays at a locked 120 fps, which is exactly what you want to hear, considering the visual compromises. It only dips to 115 fps during pit stops when your crew is working on the car. Perhaps some overall technical optimization from the developer would improve stability.

It goes without saying that you need a 120hz capable screen, preferably with low-input lag features, to take advantage of the 120 fps Pro Performance mode. To determine if your TV or monitor supports the high refresh rate, check if the connectivity panel has HDMI 2.1.

Pro 8K Mode

Digital Foundry also had the chance to experiment with the 8K mode. However, you can't try even this option without an 8K display. You must first set the PS5 Pro to output 8K to enable the feature. Otherwise, you won't even see the mode in the graphics menu.

Again, the developers chose not to use PSSR to hit the incredibly high-resolution target but went with the TAAU or Temporal Anti-Aliasing Upsampling. Internally or natively, F1 24 renders the image at 4K, which is then turned into 8K through upscaling. It works, but it isn't perfect.

DF says the starting areas hold up well, but the image detail degrades as soon as the speed ramps up. We don't know why the developers didn't use PSSR, but they said they plan to replace TAAU with Sony's upscaling solution.

While hearing about the spectacular 7680×4320p resolution is fun, it's more for show and marketing purposes. First, almost no one has an 8K TV because they're practically pointless for now. Media formats are mostly 4K, let alone four times the resolution. Even on PC, achieving that performance using Nvidia RTX 4090 cards and DLSS is difficult.

Conclusion

The PS5 Pro Enhanced F1 24 version looks like a great start. More importantly, it's an indirect promise for the future of PlayStation. If the nascent version of PSSR can manage this kind of performance with no dedicated hardware, imagine what PS6 can handle.

The good news is that console enthusiasts can look forward to gaming on the PS5 Pro like never before. And this doesn't end with F1 24 because there are a ton more titles with the Enhanced label like Gran Turismo 7, The Crew Motorfest, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, The Last of Us Part, Lies of P, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and more.

Xbox won't have a mid-gen refresh, but we will get a next-gen upgrade. Although that's likely at least three years away. However, Microsoft could jump-start the future console generation earlier than PlayStation, making the gaming world extremely interesting.