PS5 PSVR Load Times Compared: Iron Man VR, Skyrim See Huge Improvements

Sony’s PlayStation 5 allows you to play nearly every PSVR game released in the past four years. But are there any added benefits? We have PS5 PSVR load times compared side-by-side with PS4 to show you.

As we’ve known for some time, PS5 is backwards compatible with PS4, and that extends to PSVR. If you have the headset, camera and a special adaptor you need to apply for online (or find in new PSVR bundles in selected regions), you can get your old PS4-era VR games up and running on the console pretty hassle-free.

But, whereas PS5 competitor Xbox One Series X has made a song and dance about how its backwards compatibility can upgrade older games, Sony has played its cards notably closer to the chest. Only today are we discovering that many PS4 games do indeed run better on the new console – but how does that extend to VR?

Well from a visual and performance perspective… it doesn’t, really. As we said in our PS5 VR review earlier today, VR games look identical and framerates appear exactly the same as PS4 Pro performance from what we’ve tried on PS5. But there is one area old VR games do seem to benefit more noticeably – load times.

PS5 PSVR Load Times Compared

Some PSVR load times are pretty infamous on the old console. This year’s Iron Man VR pushed the system to its limits with load times that could be over a minute long, for example. On PS5, advanced hardware combats some of these times. Not as much, perhaps, as native PS5 games that take advantage of the console’s lighting-fast SSD, but enough to shave a decent chunk of your waiting time away. In the video above, we go over a handful of games like Iron Man, Resident Evil 7, Skyrim and more to show you PS5 PSVR load times stacked up next to their PS4 Pro counterparts.

We also show you just a little gameplay from each title to demonstrate how similar that look and perform, but the focus of the video is mainly on PS5 PSVR load times. If you missed the list of times in our original review, check them out below!

PS5 PSVR Load Times Compared

So far I’ve personally tested and compared side-by-side on PS5 vs PS4 Pro the following PSVR games. I’ve included average load times on PS4 Pro versus PS5 using PSVR for each as well.

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission [Review]

Loading time was measured from the moment the level was selected until the blue wireframe outline appears.

PS5 Level 1-1 Load Time: 9:06 seconds

PS4 Pro Level 1-1 Load Time: 9:58 seconds

Blood & Truth [Review]

Loading time was measured from the moment you ‘Confirm’ your selections after picking ‘New Game’ until the interrogation room fades into view.

PS5 New Game Load Time: 4:30 seconds

PS4 Pro New Game Load Time: 8:17 seconds

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR [Review]

Loading time was measured from the moment you confirm ‘Yes’ to start a New Game until the words ‘Bethesda Game Studios’ appears on a black background.

PS5 New Game Load Time: 9:30 seconds

PS4 Pro New Game Load Time: 22:58 seconds

Iron Man VR [Review]

Loading time was measured from the moment you confirm ‘Start Game’ after selecting your difficulty for a new game until the floating cube has a triangle to click and begin the mission. We didn’t measure up until the game is visible since VO without visuals plays beforehand.

PS5 New Game Load Time: 20:13 seconds

PS4 Pro New Game Load Time: 54:30 seconds

Resident Evil 7 [Review]

Loading time was measured from the moment you confirm ‘Yes’ when asked to ‘Load most recent save data?’ at the main menu until the prompt to press ‘X’ to continue appears in the lower right corner.

PS5 Continue Game Load Time: 15:26 seconds

PS4 Pro Continue Game Load Time: 22:20 seconds

WipEout Omega Collection [Review]

Loading time was measured from the moment you confirm your vehicle selection to begin a race until the game fades into view.

PS5 Start Race Load Time: 13:25 seconds

PS4 Pro Start Race Load Time: 18:26 seconds

So there’s our list of PS5 PSVR load times compared. Happy with the results? Are there any games you want to check out? Let us know in the comments below and follow us on YouTube for more PSVR coverage.