Gyro controls, the act of controlling your game by tilting the controller. It is something that most modern gamepads are capable of doing, and the DualShock 4 is no exception. However, if you try to find a game on the ps4 that lets you use its gyro, you´ll probably be disappointed.
The gyro is a small device inside your controller that tells the game in which direction and with what speed you are moving the gamepad. We explained in more detail what they are and what they do over here, but the short version is that they can and are used to implement motion controls and aiming.
However, there are precious few games on the PS4 that offer motion controls and gyro aiming, even though Sony has been using them since the Playstation 3. So, which titles can you use the gyro with?
Games on the Playstation 4 that use gyro controls
Games that use Gyro Aiming
The following titles let you tilt your controller to move a reticle around and control the camera.
Paladins
Paladins is a free-to-play team-based shooter in the same vein as Overwatch and Team Fortress 2. It is also the only online shooter for the PS4 that lets you use the gyro to aim and fire your gun, probably because it has cross-play with the Switch and PC versions. Without the gyro, the PS4 players would probably be at a disadvantage towards their Mouse and Joy-Con competition.
Gravity Rush Remastered and Gravity Rush 2
While not technically a shooter, the Gravity Rush series does use the gyro to great effect for controlling the camera. The gameplay in this series involves flying around by messing with gravity, so it stands to reason that the developer found motion controls to be a more natural way of correcting your viewpoint as you do acrobatics across the floating city.
Days Gone
Sony´s zombie survival game is one of the other few titles that let you control your reticle with gyro aiming. You use it pretty much how you expect to use it, aim your gun, and fire at the zombies.
Blue State
Blue State is a rail shooter based on the comic book with the same name. Its gameplay is reminiscent of those arcade cabinets with light guns, so it comes to no surprise that you can use motion controls to aim your gun.
Journey
While not a shooter by any means, this indie game lets you use the gyro to control the camera as you traverse the terrain.
Rogue Company
Rogue Company is a Free to Play team-based shooter that´s available for pretty much every console on the market released after 2013. Just like the Switch and PC, the PS4 version lets you use the gyro to aim in the game.
The Last of Us 2
While it didn't support the motion controls at launch, The Last of Us 2 patched in gyro controls. You can toggle them from the options menu so that you´ll be able to use the Dualsense to aim and shoot.
Games that let you use the Gyro to drive
These are titles in which your gamepad becomes a wheel as you tilt it left and right to steer your vehicles.
Gran Turismo Sport
Not exactly aiming, but you can use the gyro in Sony´s premier racing game to make your gamepad into a wheel. By tilting the controller left and right, you can turn the cars in the same direction.
Driveclub
In the same vein as Gran Turismo, Driveclub is another racing game that lets you use the gyro as a makeshift wheel.
Wipeout Omega
If you like the idea of using your Dualshock 4 as a wheel but aren´t a fan of realistic driving games, then Wipeout Omega is for you. You can use motion controls to blast past your competition in your futuristic racing car.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Yep, GTA V does have limited use of gyro controls, but they are not for aiming your gun, funnily enough. You use them to control vehicles like cars and planes by tilting the gamepad around.
Games that use the gyro in some other way
These are games that use the gyro extensively, but not in a conventional way.
Flow
In Flow you use gyro controls to guide and move your little creature across an aquatic abyss while you avoid predators and devour some other creatures yourself. Unlike other games on the list where the motion controls are complementary or optional, in Flow they take the center stage and are the mandatory input to move around.
Flower
Another indie game by the same studio that made Flow, Flower has you using your motion controls to control the wind as it grabs and scatters petals all over a valley.
Elite Dangerous
Skirting to the edge of what you consider gyro control, this sandbox space game allows you to control your head with the gyro. This means that you can use it to look around your cockpit and not much else.
And that´s it...
Those are the games that use the internal gyro of the Dualshock controllers to meaningfully control the game.
There are a few other titles that incorporate motion controls into their gameplay, like Infamous Second Son with a paint spraying minigame, Until Dawn for its QTE, or Tearway Unfolded to perform certain actions. These games are not on the list because they don´t use the gyro to play or control the game itself, and instead have it relegated to minigames or small tasks.
But what about PS VR?
If you look at the same list that we made for the Switch, you might have noticed that there are fewer games that use the gyro for Sony´s console. Not only that, but some multiplatform titles have motion controls on the Switch but not so on the Playstation, like Overwatch. This is not a mistake or omission, gyro aiming is much more popular on Nintendo´s console than it is in Sony´s.
To make the list even more damming, more than a third of the aforementioned games are PS3 ports, which means that there are even fewer PS4 native games with gyro support.
This might make you think that Sony doesn´t offer any support for motion controls, but that´s not quite true. There are quite a lot of titles that do use the Dualshock 4 gyro more extensively, but they are VR games.
As a requirement, almost every PS VR game has to be compatible with the Dualshock, and since Virtual Reality is all about immersion, most of these games use motion controls. So, if you don´t have a PS Move handy, the DualShock gyro can almost always act as a replacement for the game you want to play.
A little note. The Dualsense also comes with a gyroscope, but as the controller is not compatible with the PS4 you can´t use it to play with PSVR either on the Playstation 4 or 5. (On the PS5 you might be able to play VR games on the console, but not with motion controls).
As a result, the gyro controls on the PS4 are quite smooth, because nothing can make you sick in VR more than bad controls and a choppy framerate. So, if you are looking for a gyro aiming at your Playstation, your best bet is to also buy a PS VR headset, otherwise, you will not find many games that support it.
If you want to check out the list of games that use the mouse and keyboard on the PS5, check out our article over here!
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