Unreal Engine 5 Hardware Ray Tracing on PlayStation 5 Pro Elevates Fortnite While PSSR Stumbles in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
The latest PlayStation 5 Pro patch for Fortnite showcases the system's power by integrating Unreal Engine 5's Hardware Ray Tracing. According to a detailed analysis by Digital Foundry, this update significantly enhances the game's visuals, providing a stark contrast to software ray tracing. The Hardware Ray Tracing feature delivers stable lighting and reflections, fixing many of the issues seen on the base PlayStation 5 model.
Notably, Fortnite continues to rely on TSR (Temporal Super Resolution) for upscaling instead of the newer PSSR (Pixel Streaming Super Resolution). TSR’s compatibility with Unreal Engine 5 and its lower GPU demands allow the game to maintain 60 FPS and higher with minimal visual compromises. This approach highlights how developers can balance fidelity and performance effectively, giving Fortnite a polished, next-gen sheen.
In contrast to Fortnite's success, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora struggles with its implementation of PSSR, as highlighted by GamingTech’s analysis. The AI-powered upscaler has failed to deliver the expected visual consistency, resulting in unstable image quality and diminishing the overall experience. Despite PSSR's promise as a cutting-edge tool, its integration in Avatar reveals that the technology still requires significant refinement.
The PlayStation 5 Pro, now available worldwide, is proving its capabilities in bringing Unreal Engine 5's features to life. Titles like Fortnite demonstrate the console's potential, setting a benchmark for future releases. However, as seen with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the road to mastering new technologies like PSSR is far from smooth. Developers will need to invest in fine-tuning these tools to fully utilize the power of the PlayStation 5 Pro.
What are your thoughts on the performance of these next-gen features? Does the PS5 Pro deliver the visual and gameplay upgrades you expected? Let us know in the comments below!
