PSVR2 review: Plenty of improvements, but is it too little, too late?

Consumer-grade virtual reality was still in its infancy in 2016 when Sony decided it should be on the leading edge of the charge. The first PlayStation VR headset sold relatively well compared to its early PC VR competition and quite well compared to other console accessories. But over the last six years, Sony has largely let its first console VR experiment wither on the vine, allowing competitors to advance the state of the art with frequent hardware and software updates.

Now that we're firmly in the PS5 era, Sony is back to prove it hasn't completely forgotten about its virtual reality market. The PlayStation VR2 headset shows all the refinements you'd expect from years of technological advancement and throws in a few nice features that aren't standard among the competition, to boot. Despite those improvements, though, the PSVR2 still feels like a by-the-numbers, too-little-too-late attempt by Sony to keep its foot in a niche it might not be fully committed to.

Ready, get set…

Anyone else getting American Horror Story vibes from this front view?

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

The PSVR2 does away with the ludicrous mess of wires, junction boxes, power plugs, and cameras that came to define the original PSVR. As we discussed in our unboxing impressions, the newer headset features a single USB-C cable that plugs directly into the front of a PS5. That means you're not left with a clutter of equipment by your entertainment center if you leave the headset plugged in, and it's not a major hassle to get connected if you want to put the PSVR2 back in the box between sessions.

The USB-C cable is light enough that it doesn't tug on your head or become a major annoyance as you tilt your neck in VR. If you face away from your PS5, the cable tends to drape seamlessly over your left shoulder and down your back, where you don't have to think about it in many gameplay situations.

A view of the underside shows the accordion-style light guard that fills the variable gap between your eyes and the lenses.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

That said, whenever I found myself turning in place, walking around, or doing large swings with my left arm in VR, I would usually have to worry about jostling or getting tangled in that wire. That was just enough of an annoyance to temporarily take me out of the VR experience—the kind of annoyance I haven't missed during years of regular time with completely wireless headsets like the Meta Quest line.

The PSVR2's plug-and-play simplicity extends to its relatively painless first-time setup. During that process, internal eye-tracking cameras determine the precise interpupillary distance of your eyes, helping you set the most comfortable distance between the lenses with a simple dial. This is important because if the lenses end up just a tad off-center, the edges of the VR image can look rather blurry—you may need to recalibrate if the headset sits slightly differently on your head in subsequent sessions.

A small slit above the lens housing hides the Sony logo and some vents.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

A quick eye-tracking calibration test helps the system figure out exactly where you're glancing and introduces you to the magical, almost-telepathic feeling of interacting with VR objects using just a glance. After that, the system asks you to look around your room from all angles to help it automatically map out a safe play space on your floor. The process was pretty accurate when I tested it with various furniture configurations, but you can also adjust the suggested play space at the margins with a point-and-shoot-style interface using the (surprisingly high-resolution) passthrough camera.

For VR games you play while sitting, it's relatively easy to switch from your "standing" play space with a few taps in the menu. Unfortunately, the default cylinder for that sitting area is relatively small, meaning the virtual barriers popped up constantly every time I leaned forward or swung my arms during seated VR sessions.

Fit and finish

A dial/button combo on the back of the head strap lets you tighten it to match your head shape or quickly release it to take the unit off.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

If you’ve seen the PSVR, you’ll be familiar with how the PSVR2 fits on your head. You affix the head strap as if it were an oversized sweatband, then tighten the dial until the rubbery cushions dig into your forehead and the back of your skull just enough so the headset doesn’t move as you shake your head (but not so much that the device digs into your skin). While the PSVR2 reportedly weighs a few grams less than the original, I can’t say I noticed a difference in the “headfeel," which wasn’t onerous even during hour-long play sessions.

With the head strap attached, the lens housing still hovers in front of your eyes and can easily slide forward or backward for optimal focus and comfort (and to account for corrective lenses). Ideally, this means the lenses won't put any pressure on your sinus area, avoiding one of the major comfort problems with other “ski goggle" style VR headsets.

The lens housing leaves plenty of room for glasses wearers or for comfort and focus adjustments.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

Unfortunately, I had trouble getting an optimal focus unless I moved the lenses as close as possible to my eyes (my eyesight is otherwise fine outside of VR). In this configuration, the edges of the lens housing ended up partially resting on the bridge of my nose, with just a thin band of rubber in between. Other users may have an easier time of it, but I found myself constantly fiddling with the lenses to get the best mix of focus and comfort.

Included stereo earbuds clip on securely to the back of the head strap and can be tucked in these little divots when not in use.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

Unlike many other VR headsets, the PSVR2 has no built-in speaker or over-ear headphone cups to produce sound. Instead, the device comes packaged with a specially designed set of earbuds. These have a rigid piece that clips to the back of the head strap, letting the short, flexible earbud wires dangle to the sides for easy insertion into your ears (or concealment into two divots in the strap itself).

This is a great design as far as space, weight, and ease of use are concerned. But I found the standard, rubberized buds got pretty uncomfortable in my ears even during short play sessions (the different-sized rubber tips that came in the package did not help). Thankfully, you can plug any set of wired earphones into the jack on the head strap to suit your preference, exchanging style and ease of use for comfort.

VR on display

When I reviewed the PS5 in 2020, I noted that the visual improvements over the aging PS4 were nice but maybe more marginal than expected. The same isn't true for the PSVR2, which provides a notable step up in visual clarity and quality over Sony's years-old VR headset.

By more than quadrupling the number of pixels going to each eye compared to the original PSVR, the PSVR2 loses the subtle "stair step" aliasing that used to be easy to make out on the edges of in-game models. You also no longer have to squint to make out tiny text or move closer to resolve small details in far-off objects.

The PSVR2’s level of resolution is pretty standard in tethered VR products these days, of course. What's not so standard is its support for HDR color, which can add a real pop, especially in psychedelic titles like Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect: Connected. And the hardware power of the PS5 is enough to push detailed scenes across all those pixels smoothly at up to 120 frames per second, leading to some truly breathtaking vistas in games like Kayak VR and Horizon: Call of the Mountain.

A flat image like this can't do justice to just how good this looks on the PSVR2 display.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

The displays are good enough that the PSVR2 can even serve as a passable secondary display for games designed to be played on a traditional flat screen. The version you get on the headset—which resembles a 100-inch display floating a few feet in front of you—won't rival your physical 4K screen for clarity, but it will do if, for example, your kid is using that screen to watch the entirety of Bluey yet again.

As nice as it is, the PSVR2 display has its limitations. The field of view, which Sony rates at about 110 degrees, can still give a tunnel-vision feeling that requires you to crane your neck to see content on your periphery. And while the panel’s refresh rate is quite smooth overall, you can see some distinct blurriness when moving your head laterally in some situations. All told, though, there’s little to complain about regarding the crisp, beautiful 3D scenes you get on this headset.

Moving on from PlayStation Move

The PSVR2 controller (right) next to the PlayStation Move wand that Sony previously used for hand-tracking.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

The release of PSVR2 means Sony is finally retiring its PlayStation Move controllers, which debuted well before Sony was even thinking about consumer virtual reality and which were never all that well-suited to their second life as PSVR hand-trackers.

The specially crafted PSVR2 controllers are pretty voluminous, thanks mostly to the huge white tracking rings that encircle your wrists when you hold the controllers. The tracking rings also tend to get in the way when you try to grasp the controllers. Getting the grip in the right orientation and putting your hand through the appropriate slot to grasp it can be exceedingly awkward—I had to resort to the passthrough camera to help with the process more than a few times.

A set of PSVR2 controllers sits in the optional charging dock. Without the dock, you'll need two USB cables/outlets to charge the controllers.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

Once you’ve found the correct grip, though, the controllers are very comfortable, with a molded grip that rests easily and lightly in the crook between your thumb and pointer finger. The control sticks and buttons are small but manageable in a way that will be familiar to anyone who has used a Switch Joy-Con. And while it took me a few hours to get an intuitive feel for which buttons were where (triangle and square are under my left thumb?!), operating them quickly became second nature.

Given their size, the controllers are surprisingly light, to the point of feeling a bit insubstantial in your hand. That’s nice because it leads to a minimum of hand fatigue as you gently grip the controllers and move your arms about in VR. But it also means the controllers are lacking in heft, and they have a relatively weak rumble function.

Close-up of the PSVR2 handheld controllers, which feature buttons and joysticks that are quite a bit smaller than a standard DualSense.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

Speaking of rumble, the PSVR2 is unique among its competitors because it includes a rather strong rumble motor in the headset itself. Feeling the device shake your face in response to in-game actions is pretty unique—when a flying beast flew by my head in Horizon, it reminded me of the first time I felt the N64 Rumble Pak vibrate during a Star Fox 64 explosion.

The PSVR2’s limited finger-tracking features are a little too slow and jerky to really impress, and the system did fully lose track of my right controller a couple of times during my testing. That said, the controllers are a definite step up for Sony’s VR ecosystem, and they're at least on par with the hand-tracking competition.

Hope you like leftovers

As we've discussed recently, the launch lineup for the PSVR2 looks a bit like a "greatest hits" collection of the last few years of virtual reality games. The selection of a few dozen titles can’t match the sheer breadth of SteamVR or the Meta Quest library, but there are enough quality examples of multiple genres here to get any budding VR aficionado started.

That said, if you own a Quest 2 or a SteamVR-compatible PC headset, you already have access to almost every game that has been announced thus far for the PSVR2. And the ports we’ve played make very sparing use of PSVR2-exclusive features like headset rumbling, eye-tracking, or resistive triggers, which would theoretically make the PSVR2 versions more interesting or desirable.

Taking down a huge machine with VR arrows makes you feel like a total badass.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

If you're looking for a major PSVR2 exclusive to justify your purchase, Horizon: Call of the Mountain is definitely the marquee title right now. The game tells an engaging if somewhat insubstantial side story set in the existing Horizon universe, putting you in the shoes of a captured criminal who has been recruited to be a reluctant scout in a dangerous quest.

Call of the Mountain is primarily a game about climbing, which means you're constantly reaching hand-over-hand to navigate a maze of ropes and handholds across various amazing-looking cliff faces. I'm pretty immune to VR motion sickness at this point, but I found myself losing my balance a bit during some of the twistier parts of these climbs—especially in sections that require jumping over gaps and grabbing a hold on the other side.

The beautiful climbing segments are occasionally interrupted by thrilling bow-and-arrow battles. That means standing your ground and firing volley after volley while dodging the odd attack with a quick swipe of the controller. There are plenty of hidden easter eggs and miniature trials for completionists to find, but overall, the game still leans more toward the “tech demo" side of the scale than the “system seller" side.

We haven’t had a chance to try PSVR2-exclusive updates for Gran Turismo 7 or Resident Evil Village yet, but we presume they’ll be pretty similar to VR versions of those franchises that we’ve seen in the past on PSVR. But if you want to play those past entries on the PSVR2, you’re out of luck.

Sony announced months ago that the PSVR2 would not be compatible with your original PSVR library, presenting a major contrast with the PS5’s wide-ranging backward-compatibility for flat-screen games. A few individual publishers are offering free or reduced-price upgrades for older PSVR titles, but the vast majority of any existing library will just not work on the new hardware.

There may well be some genuine technical reasons why extending that backward-compatibility to VR would be difficult or unwieldy (the change in tracking systems and controllers could definitely complicate matters). Regardless, from a consumer perspective, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to the millions of people who have proven they’re willing to spend money on console virtual reality. We can't help but wonder where PSVR2 owners might find themselves in six more years—if Sony decides that a PSVR3 is even in the cards.

A decent starting point?

PSVR2 (left) next to the original PSVR.

Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

If you already have a PS5 and want to finally see what all the VR fuss is about (or you're looking to see how much better things have gotten since the original PSVR), the PSVR2 is a strong contender. The $550 asking price is still a bit more than you'd spend for a Meta Quest 2, but you get much more pixel-pushing fidelity for your money (at the cost of being tethered to your living room console). And even if you already have a PC gaming rig, similar high-end PC headsets tend to be significantly more expensive these days.