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The PS5 controller is widely being regarded already as one of the best controllers ever made. It also looks a bit like something Batman would use. With haptic motors and adaptive triggers, this is a great little piece of machinery.
The caveat? You can’t get full functionality on your PC – none of those nice bits will work because there aren’t any Sony drivers for it, and quite possibly, there never will be. Boo… However, you can still use its, er controllerness to move your little things about on your screen, so it’s not all bad news.
There are a couple of ways to solve this question so let’s have a look at how to connect the PS5 controller to PC and help you with those daily keyboard and mouse struggles.
How to connect PS5 controller to PC
When connecting your PS5 controller to the PC, remember that the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback will not work. Some games may also struggle to display the correct button prompts. Still, the DualSense 5 is a viable option, so let’s look at how to use the PS5 controller on PC.
1
Connecting your DualSense with a wired connection
You really shouldn’t need tips on this because it is just a case of plugging a cable into two ports, but it’s worth knowing that the DualSense takes a USB-C connector so you need a cable that at least has that on one end. If you have a USB-C port on your PC then a cable like that will do you just fine. If not you will need a USB A on one end. If you bought a PS5 there’s one in the box, if you just got the controller you will find out easy enough on Amazon or eBay.
Wired controllers aren’t really a big team for PCs as you tend to be sat right in front of them anyway, they make more sense for couch-based console gaming so fret not if this is your only option.
2
Connecting your DualSense with a Bluetooth connection
In much the same way as linking up an Xbox Series X controller to your PC via Bluetooth, it’s going to demand that your PC has a Bluetooth adapter or has it built into the mobo.
In much the same way as with the Xbox, you need to get to your Bluetooth control panel either by clicking on the icon in the right of the taskbar or pressing Windows start and typing Bluetooth.
Select Add Bluetooth Device and your PC will begin hunting around your vicinity for potential connections.
Pick up your DualSense and hold down the PlayStation logo button and the Share button (small button on the left of the touchpad) and the LEDs should start flashing.
On your PC you should see Wireless Controller pop up. Select it and both units should pair with each other.
This will give you limited use in some games that allow the DirectInput protocol, but most games these days use Microsoft’s newer XInput driver that is onboard the Xbox controllers so now we need to do a bit more work.
3
Setting up your DualSense on Steam
Steam has support for PlayStation controllers which is handy. Once you have connected using one of the methods above, launch Steam and select Big Picture mode.
Head for Settings and then Controller Settings you should see your Wireless controller listed there. From here you can Define Layout which will let you select actions for each button.
Save the config and from here it should be just like using a standard Xbox controller on Steam, As we said, there is no driver yet so you won’t be able to get it exactly as you might like, but you should get pretty close with the basics on offer.
Final word
While not being designed with use on a PC in mind, the DualSense 5 controller for the PlayStation 5 is a truly brilliant controller. It’s a shame that, at the moment, you can’t get anywhere close to full functionality from it, but hopefully that will come in time. You do have to jump through a few extra hoops in order to get a satisfactory experience, especially if you aren’t playing Steam games, but overall, if you have a PS5 in the house, it makes sense to use this controller for your PC gaming too.
