Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Southeast Asia / Oceania (non-AU)
80–300ms depending on host location- No dedicated servers — players rely on finding nearby hosts in the session browser
- Smaller SEA player population means fewer local hosts available, forcing connection to US or EU hosts
- Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand players often connect to Australian or US hosts with 150–300ms ping
South America
120–250ms to nearest active hosts- Very small SA player population means almost all public sessions are hosted in North America or Europe
- Brazilian and Argentine players typically connect to US East hosts with 130–200ms ping
- Steam SDR relay routing from SA to US passes through suboptimal paths on some ISPs
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Set your Steam download region to match your location
1. Open Steam → top-left menu → Settings 2. Go to Downloads 3. Click the 'Download Region' dropdown and select the region closest to your physical location 4. Restart Steam 5. This improves Steam matchmaking routing and SDR relay selection
Incorrect Steam download region can cause Steam to use distant SDR relay nodes when connecting through Valve's infrastructure. Matching your region ensures relay traffic routes through the nearest Valve datacenter.
02 Switch to wired Ethernet
1. Connect a Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cable from your PC to your router 2. Disable WiFi in Windows: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi → Off 3. Re-launch DRG and check your ping in the Esc menu during a session
WiFi adds 5–30ms of unpredictable jitter that causes irregular lag spikes during horde fights. A wired connection is especially important in DRG because session drops in P2P games require a full reconnect — stable connections prevent mid-mission abandonment.
Deep Rock Galactic uses Steam Datagram Relay. PingAim optimizes the path your ISP controls.
General network tips (not Deep Rock Galactic-specific)
03 Check your ping with the in-game Esc menu
1. While in an active mission, press Escape to open the pause menu 2. Look for the player list — it shows each player's ping to the host in milliseconds 3. Your own ping (shown next to your name) is your latency to the session host 4. If your ping is above 100ms, consider hosting the session yourself if you have a better connection, or look for hosts closer to your region using the distance filter in the session browser
Confirms whether lag is from your connection to the host or from the host's own connection quality. If your ping is low but the session still feels laggy, the host is the bottleneck — nothing on your side will fix that.
04 Use the distance filter to find nearby hosts
1. From the Space Rig, open the session browser (press Tab or interact with the Quick Join terminal) 2. Look for the distance filter on the left side — it uses distance from host as a proxy for ping 3. Set it to 'Near' or the shortest distance option available 4. Join sessions with the shortest distance indicator — these hosts are geographically closer and will typically give you lower ping
The single most effective free fix for DRG lag. In P2P, you connect directly to the host — finding a nearby host is equivalent to finding a low-ping server in a dedicated-server game.
05 Host the session yourself if you have a good connection
1. From the Space Rig, start a new public or private mission and host it yourself 2. As host, you have 0ms latency to the 'server' (you ARE the server) 3. Other players with good connections will have low ping to you 4. If others experience lag while you host, it means your upstream bandwidth is the bottleneck — check Task Manager for background uploads while hosting
Hosting eliminates your own connection-to-host latency. In horde scenarios, you'll notice enemy positions and interactions feel perfectly responsive as the host.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western Europe — Large EU playerbase means abundant nearby hosts. Most EU players achieve 15–50ms to local hosts.
- US / Canada — Largest single player pool. Abundant US-based hosts throughout all time zones.
- Australia — Dedicated AU player community. AU players can typically find local hosts with under 50ms during peak hours.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Deep Rock Galactic automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Deep Rock Galactic by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.