VRR - how "smooth" should it be when fps fluctuates?

[buffeh]

Hi,

Tried and failed to find a solid answer to this. Posted on reddit but nobody replied. Would appreciate if someone could either tell me if something about my setup isn't right, or if I'm expecting perfection when maybe it just isn't possible.

So I recently got my first VRR capable display, a Sony A95L, and was excited to be able to get over 60fps without having to worry about screen tearing. I was coming from an older LCD Sony with no VRR and a 60hz panel. I game with a gaming PC connected to a TV. My PC is fast and currently has a 5090.

VRR is definitely enabled. I have GSync enabled in NVCP in both sections where it needs to be enabled. In Windows display settings it says I have a VRR capable display. I have tried with an FPS cap of 116 set in NVCP with Vsync forced on, and Vsync off in game, and I've tried setting an FPS cap of 116 in RTSS, seems the same to me. If I play a game and bring up the Sony Gaming bar I can see the hz on the TV changing as the FPS changes and the Sony TV seems to think VRR is working. As an extra check I tried with Special K and it said VRR was enabled as well. So I'm positive it's working. (Also I see no screen tearing).

My question is how "smooth" should something like panning a camera in a game be when FPS is fluctuating, between, lets say 90 and 116, and VRR is being used. An example for a recent UE5 game would be Silent Hill F. In the starting area, adjust the graphics settings and find a spot where simply rotating the camera in place (so all assets should be loaded) causes the FPS to fluctuate a bit between the max (116) and lower (ie 90 / 100). Standing somewhere with foliage on one side and a wall on the other can achieve this. If I do this I would say the movement isn't 100% smooth. I can see what I would describe as slight judder on the scenery when I pan the camera. Not so much like it's skipping frames, but more like the frames aren't all arriving at exactly the same time, ie the pan will sort of go fast slow fast slow as the FPS fluctuates.

I might be imagining it but this seems worse in UE5 games. I think it can still be observed in non VRR games as well, I think I can see it in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 as well but it's less noticeable. But I'm pretty sure when I played Silent Hill F on my old TV at a locked 60fps, I didn't experience this slight lack of smoothness. So I know that this game CAN be 100% smooth on my PC. But this was obviously before I had any VRR display.

If something isn't working right I have no idea what I could do differently and honestly I might give up on VRR and play at locked multiples of 120 if I have to as I find the slight variance in speed / the slight lack of perceived smoothness quite distracting. It would be nice to know if what I experience is the same for everyone, but I have no idea what could possibly be wrong if it's perfect for others but not for me. If anyone else has Silent Hill F would be interested to know if they experience the same thing as me. Is it just not possible for something like a camera pan to be 100% consistent in speed when the FPS is fluctuating?

Thanks!