Online gaming is only as fun as the gameplay is smooth. If you’re constantly taking that fatal sliver of damage from around corners, or see your fellow players teleporting around the map, you’re probably not having a good time. And when you rubber band and fall into a pit you’re sure you managed to cross? That’s rough.
Fortunately, high ping and latency on the PlayStation 5 are known problems in the online gaming world, and there are plenty of things you can do to alleviate these problems. Read on to find out how to fix most of your ping issues with a few easy tips, and a little help from CyberGhost VPN.
Quick Guide: How to Get Lower Ping on PS5 with a VPN
CyberGhost VPN has you covered with servers in 100 countries so you’ll always get the fastest connection – here’s how to set it up:
- Get CyberGhost VPN.
- Configure your router to connect to the VPN server of your choice.
- Play your games with a lower ping rate!
Why Is My Ping on PS5 So High?
Ping is a fickle thing, and so rarely as stable as we’d like it to be. If yours is high, there could be several reasons for that. The biggest and most obvious reason is plain old distance. The further a signal has to travel, the longer it takes. But along the way, that signal could also be slowed down further by congested networks, bad routing, natural disasters, and plain old bad luck.
Maybe one of your internet service provider’s servers is misconfigured, or maybe you’ve got some hardware and software problems on your end. Well, the good news is that all of these problems have solutions… up to a point. There’s no getting around physical distance.
But the rest is actually easy enough!
What Is a Good Ping for PS5?
That depends a lot on what you want to play. Some games will let you get away with a very high ping indeed, especially if they’re turn-based. Others won’t.
In general, a 25-40 ms ping rate is the goal. The closer you can get to that range, the better and smoother your gameplay will be, especially in action-combat games and shooters. Mind you, action-oriented games are still plenty playable in the 40-60 ms range without too much trouble.
At 60-80 ms, fast-paced games will still feel alright to play, but you’ll be at a disadvantage against other players with lower ping. You’ll probably find yourself losing more gunfights in shooters, specifically. Beyond 80-100 ms, you’re better off sticking to those turn-based games.
6 Ways to Lower Your Ping on PS5
1. Use a VPN
One of the easiest ways to get better ping on the PS5 is to use a no-lag VPN to improve your connection to the game server. See, VPNs work by routing all of your internet traffic through a VPN server of your choice. If you choose a server that’s close to the game server, CyberGhost VPN will automatically choose the fastest route it can find between your home network and the server.
That means it’ll bypass most if not all of the networking issues mentioned above: the bad signal routing, congested networks, and other problems. From there, it’s only a short jump from the VPN server to the game server.
Incidentally, a VPN will also hide your IP address, and encrypt all traffic between your home network and the VPN server. These two features help to counter other sources of lag, such as DDoS attacks, and ISP throttling of game traffic.
Just note that to make this work, you’ll need a VPN-enabled router or modem. None of the major consoles support VPN apps on the consoles themselves, so you need one that works with routers.
2. Use a wired connection
To avoid lag and interference from other devices, you’ll want to use the ethernet port on your PS5. When it comes right down to it, it’s hard to beat physical cables for transferring information. Whether copper or fiber-optic, cables are just better at moving digital data than radio waves.
Wi-Fi is a wonderful thing, and getting better all the time, so we may see a day when Wi-Fi becomes… well not a “better” option, but a perfectly reliable way to do your online gaming. We’re just not there yet. It’s that pesky physics stuff all over again.
3. Try other game servers
That’s right, play around in the game’s settings and try a few other servers just in case. While most games will try very, very hard to connect you with the fastest server, or at least the nearest one, they sometimes get it wrong. They might misread your location, or maybe the closest server is only accessible through a very congested network. It happens.
Whatever the case, it really can’t hurt to try a few different options. It also can’t hurt to set up CyberGhost VPN with your router as it will optimize your connection while you test different servers to see which gives you the lowest possible ping.
4. Reboot your PlayStation and modem/router
Ah, the old “turn it off and turn it on again”. It never fails… except for those times when it does. But hey, it can’t hurt. See, the longer you leave any computing device running – and that includes your PS5 – the more little errors and temporary files will pile up, clogging up the works. A simple restart will clear most of that out, and could result in a lower ping rate.
Also, make sure to do this with your router or modem as well. It also counts as a computing device, so it may suffer from the same potential issues.
As a side note, take a moment to update everything as well. Update your PS5, the game files, and even the software on your router or modem. Bugs in old versions of your software can cause lag, and it’s generally a good idea to keep everything up to date.
5. Clear the PS5 cache
On your PS5, the “cache” is a collection of files that your PlayStation has purposely saved for later. This helps it start up games faster, or connect to certain servers faster, and things like that. But, if the cache files get corrupted or outdated, this can cause problems that can in turn cause lag.
The fix is easy, though. Turn off your PS5, and unplug it for two to three minutes. Then plug it in, turn it back on, and you should have a cleaner, more snappy-feeling system.
Side note: your PS5 has a cache, and each individual game has a cache – these are separate. Clearing the cache for an individual game is possible in the menus, but not usually recommended, as you can lose progress and other important stuff.
6. Consult with your ISP
Email your ISP for help. Or text them. If you really have to, call them. Look, I’m a millennial. I also prefer to avoid talking to people on the phone when I don’t have to. Well, you might have to, because sometimes there are bugs or issues in your ISP’s infrastructure that only they can fix.
And if the problem isn’t on their end, then they might at the very least be able to help you to identify the problem. You never know until you try.
Why CyberGhost Is the Best VPN for PS5
CyberGhost makes for the best PS5 VPN by combining speed, security, and console compatibility with a massive server network. That last point is paramount for online gamers, actually. To get the fastest possible speeds – and bypass the most networking issues – you’ll want to connect to a VPN server near the game server, wherever it may be.
CyberGhost VPN has server locations in 100 countries, so you’ll always find a VPN server where you need it. Moreover, the servers themselves are fast, designed for handling massive amounts of data quickly, to keep up with all the jumping, dodging, shooting, and general fast-paced action of online gaming.
Rather importantly, it supports VPN-enabled routers so you can actually use it with your PS5… and every other device on your network. Combine all that with powerful encryption, a great suite of security features, the ability to get past network blocks on your games – and more – and you have an amazing gaming VPN.
FAQ
There are several methods. First, try gaming with a VPN. Configure it on a VPN-enabled router to be able to use it with your PS5, and select a VPN server close to the game server. You can also try other game servers – and, make sure your connection is wired, clear your PS5 cache, reboot your modem, and call your ISP for help if all else fails.
Until we find a way to completely break the laws of physics, no. This is just not an option. No matter how close the game server is to your PlayStation, data still takes time to be processed and sent back and forth. Putting the game server on the same network as your console would get you close, but literal 0 ping isn’t going to happen.
While a VPN can certainly reduce your ping in many cases, we come back – inevitably – to the laws of physics. While they’re not always as rigid as they appear, even data that moves at the speed of light still technically takes time to go places. Now, if true quantum computing becomes commercially available, we’ll let you know.
Generally speaking, the lower the better. But if you want specific numbers, well… anything in the 25-40 ms range is ideal, though often not easily achieved. At that ping rate, every game you play will feel smooth. At 40-60 ms, action games and shooters will still feel good. 60-80ms is still playable, but going over that and past 100 is… just awful.
That sort of depends on what you’re playing. In a turn-based game, you can get away with 100 ms ping or even higher. At the very least, you want a 60-80ms ping for action games and shooters to feel playable. 40-60 ms will definitely feel smoother though, and you’ll lose fewer fights in PVP. Now, 25-40ms is just about the sweet spot.
Leave a comment