PS5: 10 CONFIRMED Console Details You Need To Know

7. SSD Is The "Key To The Next-Generation"

Spider Man PS4 Selfie
Insomniac

While these previous features are no doubt going to massively improve graphics and performance across the board, the "key to the next-generation", as Cerny put it, will be the console's internal SSD, or solid-state drive. Currently, the PS4 offers external SSD support, but the switch to this new tech will open up a whole world for developers to explore, as it radically changes what they can and can't squeeze into a game world.

In general, this feature effectively allows the information from the hard drive to be read and displayed faster, which actually improves performance massively. As an example, Cerny had Insomniac's Spider-Man running on a regular PS4 and a PS5 dev-kit, and showed that with the new drive, what was once a 15-second fast-travel load became be a mere 0.8-second one.

Using the same game again, he pointed out that Spidey's swing speed - and the speed of the camera - was entirely dependent on how quickly the hard-drive could read the information. With this limitation lifted, the speed in which Spidey could move around the world was increased massively - and it didn't damage graphical fidelity either, with the surrounding areas still being rendered at a high quality.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked full time as a content producer at WhatCulture for nine years. In that time he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple channels, specialising in subjects such as gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 most listened to gaming podcast in the UK that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, covered breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.