Yes, I pre-ordered the $700 or €800 PlayStation 5 Pro! But not because I needed or even wanted it. I got it so that I can journalistically report my findings. It's sort of like an "I bought it so you didn't have to" affair. Sony said the PS5 Pro is 45% faster than the standard PS5 due to its larger GPU. The processor stays the same but gets an extra %10 speed increase. Also, PSSR upscaling is reportedly great. Add them together, and that might be enough until PlayStation 6 hits.
Digital Foundry, the most renowned gaming tech YouTube channel in the known universe, recently got some hands-on time with the PlayStation 5 Pro. They tested out 11 games, like F1 24, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon: Forbidden West, Hogwarts Legacy, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Marvel'sSpider-Man 2, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, The Crew Motorfest, Demon's Souls, and Dragon's Dogma 2.
We'll check out a few of them and draw a preliminary "hands-off" conclusion about whether you should stick with the old $450 PS5 (digital), which is almost four years old, or spend at least $700 for the new one. Mind you, the Pro doesn't come with the $30 vertical stand or the $80 disk drive.
F1 24
Seeing that our area concerns racing games, we'll mainly focus on what the "PS5 Pro Enhanced" label brings to the table. Let's start with F1 24, which got an 80/100 rating from my esteemed colleague, Dragos Chitulescu.
He said that, while the driving aids and assists can be a nuisance because they can make things too easy sometimes, "I am sure F1 enthusiasts will have plenty of fun with this game."
Photo: Digital Foundry
Returning to what DF said about F1 24 on PS5 Pro, it will have a 4K Quality mode smoothly running at 60 frames per second. The kicker is that while it still has the DDGI or dynamic diffuse global illumination ray tracing effect from the base PS5, it will also feature RT ambient occlusion, RT transparency, and RT reflections.
It looks more realistic because it simulates light and shadow properly, especially when it rains. Besides the 8K mode, the update also brings a 4K/120fps Performance mode. While 8K screens are utterly useless, lacking content (or even purpose), the 120fps mode at 4K sounds pretty sweet.
Gran Turismo 7
GT7 is one of the most played racing games on the planet. While it's a cross-gen title also available on PlayStation 4, there's no denying it looks very polished on PS5. It still can't hold a candle to Driveclub, but that's a story for another time.
Two new modes are coming to Gran Turismo 7: 4K with ray tracing and an Image Quality Priority graphical setting, otherwise called 8K. Since the latter can't be accessed unless you have an 8K TV, we'll stick to the glorious 4K RT mode.
Photo: Digital Foundry
If you look at the footage and don't notice what the big deal is with the ray-traced reflections, I don't blame you. Even my keen RT-trained eyes have difficulty discerning the difference between the Pro and the regular PS5.
That's also because developer Polyphony Digital did a fantastic job simulating car reflections in the first place. It's also harder to notice when you're constantly driving at incredibly high speeds. However, the difference is apparent if you have a brightly colored model next to a white or black metallic car.
The PS5 Pro Enhanced version is fine and dandy, but it does have its limits. Unlike F1 24, where reflective materials like glass or track elements fully display ray tracing effects, in GT7, the buildings aren't "activated," so to speak. Only the cars have RT reflections.
The 4K RT mode runs at a base 1440p resolution on the upgraded console. Still, it uses PSSR or PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution to get to 4K, which is very similar to Nvidia's DLSS Quality.
Sony developers seem to do that with virtually every Pro Enhanced game that runs at 60fps while looking like it's 2160p. The results speak for themselves, and they look great.
Photo: Digital Foundry
The Crew Motorfest
We have The Crew Motorfest in the last position, a great, fun, arcade-style racing game you probably shouldn't miss. No matter which platform you game on, you can try it out using the 5-hour trial.
The bottom line with Ubisoft's PS5 Pro Enhanced title is that if you have a 4K TV, preferably with an OLED display and HDR, it will look better than ever. Using PSSR (shocker), it now provides a sharper and cleaner image. Not only that, but it features more decals, vegetation, and crowds.
The game still lacks ray tracing and is locked at 60 frames per second, regardless of your gaming rig. You could sport an Nvidia 7090 Ti in SLI mode, but it still won't surpass that limit. At least Digital Foundry says it now has a "really stunning amount of detail" compared to the base PS5 version.
Photo: Digital Foundry
Conclusion
After seeing these three games and, of course, the other eight presented, it goes without saying that the PlayStation 5 Pro is an improvement over the 4-year-old base model.
However, the Pro is not for the casual audience but for the hardcore players who want the clearest visuals on the market at a smooth 60 frames per second. A high-performance PC is still the best way to play, but that's not the debate here.
Simply put, if you don't mind playing at 1080p/60fps or 4K/30fps, stick with the standard console. But if you want (mostly) 1440p targeting 4K at 60fps and can take the financial hit, this might be for you.
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
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