Cyberpunk 2077 has to be one of the most covered games across Digital Foundry history, from pre-release media through to the ill-fated console launch, through to the various current-gen upgrades and - of course - PC's RT Overdrive path-traced upgrade. And CD Projekt RED isn't done with the game either, with the arrival of a new upgrade specifically for PlayStation 5 Pro. We've had around a week of time with this new iteration of the classic and it's definitely the best way to play on consoles.

There are three new ways to play, and we'll kick off with the most feature-rich: the Ray Tracing Pro mode, what you might call Cyberpunk 2077's "all in" visual showcase mode, the closest you'll get on consoles to the fully featured RT suite seen on PC, albeit with some key compromises.

Put simply, think of this as a fully loaded quality mode, if you will, targeting 30fps on 60Hz displays while aiming for 40fps if your console is set to 120Hz output. Performance is solid at 30fps, but you may see some drops in the 40fps alternative. Compared to the base PS5's quality mode, this is a big, big upgrade. Sun shadows gain proper contact detail and stability over distance, eliminating shadow maps. RT local shadows from point lights add physically plausible penumbra and coverage, so interior and street scenes gain an extra level of plausibility.

Sky lighting and emissive lighting are key upgrades for the dense cityscape, so underpasses, walkways and overhangs no longer look over-lit, with indirect light from the sky and appropriate light sources shading these areas convincingly. Particularly nice is how the game's signature neon signs, lights and billboards now cast light into the scene, no longer reliant on screen-space fakery. RT ambient occlusion is also a welcome addition, further grounding objects into the scene with improved contact shadows vs SSAO.

RT reflections are - in our opinion - a key part of the Cyberpunk 2077 PC experience, but here, compromise is required. Reflections are primarily visible on car windows and select, highly glossy car bodywork, with most other surfaces still reliant on screen-space reflections. It's clearly done with performance in mind, but it is a bit of a shame to lose Cyberpunk 2077's iconic RT reflected puddles! All told though, side by side, with the PC version running at RT ultra, it does hold up and it does look good. Internal resolution sits typically around 1440p, with PSSR upscaling to full 4K, but resolution is a touch compromised if you're targeting 40fps at 120Hz.

Visually then, the RT Pro mode offers as many of the bells and whistles from PC as you can reasonably expect, but the game doesn't target the main problem with image quality seen on other consoles - pop-in - which remains much the same. Still, while this is the best visual presentation, it's not actually the one that CD Projekt RED recommends. That's the 60fps RT mode, which usually counts at or around 1440p, but dials back the RT feature set to boost the frame-rate. The good news is that while not perfect, the 60fps target is achieved more often than not, and where it's not, that may well be down to CPU limitations. VRR support unlocks the frame-rate here, but with dynamic resolution scaling also in play, there's no real point using it here (though removing v-sync may improve input lag).

In terms of RT features, the RT shadows from the RT Pro mode are retained, covering off both sun and local lights. This is pretty good news as it means that the shadow cascades are gone, replaced by consistency at distance and higher levels of detail. The same compromised RT reflections implementation also makes its way across to this mode, largely limited to car windows and very glossy clear-coat body work.

Image quality remains a strong point thanks to the upgraded PSSR, working from that generous internal resolution. Interestingly, a toggle to drop back to FSR2 remains in the game (perhaps harkening back to a time where the older PSSR was likely to appear) but it looks rather like an anomaly now: there's no reason whatsoever to choose FSR2 over "PSSR2". Similar to RT Pro mode, the only real blemish on the presentation remains the pop-in effect. Overall - this is a great way to play the game and an obvious upgrade over the standard PS5 which has no RT in its equivalent mode and obviously, no PSSR upscaling.

Finally, Cyberpunk 2077 features a non-RT alternative performance mode - one where you can push the frame-rate significantly beyond 60 frames per second with VRR active. At standard 60Hz, this mode presents in a similar manner to the standard PS5 version, albeit with a twist - a much higher internal resolution that delivers a clean, crisp 4K in combination with a high quality temporal upscaler.

General frame-rates are also improved with fewer dips under 60fps. With VRR in place, you can't bypass Cyberpunk 2077's more CPU or GPU-limited areas, but CD Projekt RED seems to be targeting 90 frames per second with this mode, an 11.1ms frame-time against the "standard" 60fps at 16.7ms. Dynamic resolution scaling plays its part in helping to hit that target. Obviously, the lack of RT does impact the overall quality of the presentation, but for those who value smoother frame-rates and lower input lag, this is an interesting addition to the game.

In summary, this is another example of where a recent PS5 Pro release delivers a clearly superior experience to the standard console - but it does perhaps feel a little conservative in some respects. We'd have loved to have seen a mode targeting 1080p that layers a less compromised RT feature set, for example, but it looks like CDPR aims for high image quality first - perhaps highlighting that much of the development may have been built around PSSR1 and FSR2, where extra resolution makes a big difference.

Even so, the ray tracing upgrades in both RT and RT Pro modes offer owners of the enhanced console a much better looking game, while the unlocked non-RT performance offering also has its charms. On top of all of this, PSSR is obviously a significant win in its new iteration, comfortably outclassing the older FSR2 upscaler. And of course, it's a free upgrade if you already own the game - and a great reason for Pro users to buy it if they don't. It's rare to see a publisher support an older title so comprehensively, but CDPR is the exception to the rule - and this upgrade can only bolster its reputation still further.