How do you reduce controller input lag?
Use a cable when the milliseconds matter, remove remappers you are not using, and keep the game on a display that is not adding frames of processing. The latency test only shows the browser’s slice. The display work happens outside that number, and you should still do it.
Order of operations
- Measure USB against Bluetooth. A large gap on the latency page is the radio. Play wired if you care about that gap.
- Remove unused layers. Steam Input, overlays, and capture software can all sit on the path. Turn them off one at a time and retest.
- Keep the test and the game focused. Background browser tabs are a bad place to judge a rate or an age.
- Fix the display separately. Game mode on the TV, a higher refresh rate, and the game’s low-latency option change what you see. They do not change sample age.
What a smaller number cannot promise
A 8 ms sample age and a television in a heavy processing mode can still feel late. A 15 ms Bluetooth age on a 240 Hz monitor can feel fine. Read the polling guide if someone is selling you a hertz figure from a browser tab.
Frequently asked questions
Does a higher polling rate on the box reduce lag?
It can, in a native game that actually receives those reports. A browser test will not prove the last millisecond of it. USB versus Bluetooth on your machine is the comparison that pays off.