RPCS3 PS3 emulator test on Linux-hacked PS5 shows why Sony ports so few games

The RPCS3 PS3 emulator has made great strides with compatibility and performance. Yet, while it’s ideally experienced on capable PCs, many gamers would prefer using a modern console. That’s now possible thanks to the recent Linux on PS5 exploit. Testing at Digital Foundry revealed which PS3 games struggle on the system.

Gamers need a PS5 with firmware 6.02 or earlier for the Linux hack, which is straightforward to install. Once set up, fans gain full access to the popular PS3 emulator. The developers have now marked over 73% of titles as playable, with most candidates at least booting.

The site focused on selections that Sony hasn’t made available on its current-gen console. As Digital Foundry learned, games that relied less on the PlayStation 3’s unorthodox cell processor fared the best. Many of these were launch titles for the system, like Ridge Racer 7. RPCS3 ran the arcade favorite at 4K/60 fps with minimal stuttering.

PS3 emulators still face hurdles

Resistance: Fall of Man produced frame-pacing issues, but generally impressed. However, the results were very different with GTA 4, a PS3 game that arrived slightly later in 2008. The visuals resembled a slideshow, regardless of the resolution setting in RPCS3. Rockstar’s title confirmed that, even with an upgraded GPU, the PS5 stumbles when imitating the older hardware’s SPUs (Synergistic Processing Units).

God of War: Ascension and Killzone also failed to impress on the Linux-exploited PS5. When it’s possible to disable MLAA in the emulator, frame rates in other targets improved. The option smoothed out rough edges, but it heavily stressed the original machine’s 8 SPUs.

Digital Foundry anticipates that official emulation could benefit from the PS6’s more powerful Zen 6-based CPU. Until then, PS5 owners who are unable to experiment with the hack will have limited options. Many PS3 games remain inaccessible. Meanwhile, cloud streaming a small catalog via PlayStation Plus Premium comes with latency drawbacks.