PS4 or PS5?

[VideoGameCritic]

My friend Brent asks:

"Should I just get a PS4 so I can play gt7? Apparently it's hardly different from the PS5 aside from track load time, I'll save a ton, I'll be able to get one, and have a big catalog of games."

It's actually a pretty tough question, one that I do not have a good answer to. What do you think?

[Retro STrife]

It’s a good question.. and I’ve gone both ways myself this generation. Wanting to play Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I opted for a Wii U over the Switch. The Wii U was a lot cheaper and I wanted to collect for it. Then, wanting to play Halo Infinite, I just bought an Xbox Series X- completely skipping over the Xbox One. Why? The Xbox One had a boring library of exclusives, the Series X is almost fully backward compatible anyway, and I figured it was time I own a next-gen system.

For someone in Brent’s shoes, I guess problem #1 is whether he can find a PS5 right now. But assuming he can, and the price tag isn’t cost-prohibitive, and he’ll play games enough to justify it over the next 5+ years, then I think a PS5 is the right call. After all, it’s backwards compatible with PS4 so you’re not missing any games.

We’ve debated before if PS4 owners should upgrade to PS5, and I think the answer is still no. But for someone with neither system, I’d go with a new system rather than one that is going to lose developer support over the next year or two. Same reason I choose the Series X.

[Buttermancan]

At first I mistakingly thought Brent wanted a PS4 or PS5 for GTA 7. Then I realised it was for the latest Gran Turismo. If it was for an upcoming GTA game then he'd definitely want a PS5. I doubt GTA 6 would launch on PS4 (god knows when that'll come out) but if it did the performance would surely be atrocious in comparison to the PS5 what with the anaemic CPU.
I have GT7 for the PS5 and and loading is quick.
Doing a quick comparison check in Google I found this....

"Taking a quick diversion to talk about loading times, they feel practically instant on PS5, coming in at just 6 or 7 seconds, while loading up a large track filled with cars can take over half a minute on PS4 Pro and around 40 seconds on PS4."

I also did a quick search for current prices of each system brand new (here in England). PS4 £249.99 vs PS5 £449.99. For the extra two hundred quid I would definitely go for the PS5. The only trouble is the work that's needed to get hold of one.
With regards to PS4's, there is the second hand market where you might get one for £150 or so. I personally wouldn't go down that route due to older PS4's being notorious for sounding like jet engines etc.

[brent]

My problem is 100% that I can't find a PS5. I wasn't on the lookout until GT7 was released, but I've been unsuccessfully looking since then. My main dilemma is that I don't want to wait a year or more to play GT7. I'm not sure at what point I'll cave and just buy a PS4, but the longer I wait the less sense that makes too!

[Matchstick]

There's a game out that you can play right now.

There's a readily-available console that you can play it on right now.

You can buy them both right now and be playing the game you want to play right now.



...what's the dilemma, here??

[Buttermancan]

There's a game out that you can play right now.

There's a readily-available console that you can play it on right now.

You can buy them both right now and be playing the game you want to play right now.



...what's the dilemma, here??

From my perspective/ if it were me, I'd wait to get a PS5 as it opens up more opportunities for new games and all PS4 games. If however Brent is only interested in GT7 then the PS4 is more appealing at this point. If he bought one brand new and was so keen on a PS5 then he could sell his PS4 to put towards the PS5 when they're more readily available. It also depends on how much spare income one has. If I was rich I'd be like "screw it, I'll just get the PS4 for now and upgrade when the new console becomes available".

[noah98]

This is a tough one, but I will say that I don't think the PS4 was a very good console. My XBOX One S and PS4 Pro barely get played. Of course, I have a gaming PC. It's hard to go back to 30 fps gaming, even for good games. I tried to play Spiderman on the PS4 Pro, and the framerate, while stable, made me not want to play it. I'd choose 60 fps over graphic fidelity any day. On PS4 Pro, you are buying a mostly dead console that is still expensive. Newer games just don't play all that well on it compared to the new machines. I think the last gen consoles were just mediocre (Wii U, PS4, XBOX One). The Switch was the only last gen console that had special exclusives like Mario Odyssey and better versions of Wii U games like Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart.

I say wait for a PS5 or get an XBOX Series X. Games perform well on those consoles, they are backwards compatible, and they are not much more than the last gen consoles.

[Stalvern]

I'll stick with my PS3.

[VideoGameCritic]

Thanks guys. Now Brent is far more confused than he was in the first place! LOL

[Herschie]

As a PS5 owner I can safely say that if all I had was a PS4 I'd survive. Sure the PS5 does run a bit more smoothly but often I can't tell much difference and a lot of the games like Madden and The Show look identical.

The difference is there but not by much.