Latency

What is Latency?

Latency is the delay between user action and system response in digital environments, with lower values being crucial for comfortable experiences that prevent disorientation and simulation sickness.

How does Latency impact the user experience?

This fundamental performance metric directly impacts user comfort and the believability of interactive environments. High latency creates a disconnect between physical movements and visual feedback, which can trigger motion sickness and break immersion - particularly in head-mounted displays where visual-vestibular mismatch is more pronounced. Developers must optimize rendering pipelines, input processing, and display technologies to minimize this delay.

How do you fix Latency?

To fix latency issues you need to be aware and prepared to act on a list of remedies that can fix the latency depending on different causes.

Effective latency management requires careful consideration of hardware capabilities, rendering techniques like single-pass stereo rendering, and efficient code execution. As applications become more complex with higher-fidelity visuals, maintaining low latency becomes increasingly challenging yet remains essential for creating responsive, comfortable user experiences across platforms.