Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Australia / Oceania
150-250ms to Singapore, 180-250ms to US/EU- No dedicated Australian server — nearest is Singapore SA server at 150-200ms
- SA server only available weekends and peak periods — Australian players often forced onto US or EU servers at 180-250ms
- Former Sydney server was shut down; community has repeatedly requested restoration
- Oceanic players at 200ms+ experience frequent ghost shells in air battles due to ping × tick rate compounding
Southeast Asia (non-Singapore)
60-120ms to Singapore when available; 180-300ms to US/EU when Singapore is unavailable- SA server in Singapore only open weekends/peak hours — players often connect to US or EU at 200ms+ on weekdays
- Indonesian players report 200ms+ and 5-50% packet loss on all available servers
- Philippine players experience ISP routing issues similar to Dota 2 — PLDT routes suboptimally through Singapore
- No dedicated Southeast Asian server that is always available
South America (non-Brazil)
60-200ms depending on country and ISP- Many South American countries route traffic through Miami before reaching Sao Paulo server
- Argentina and Chile players get 80-150ms to Sao Paulo; Colombia and Venezuela can see 120-200ms
- Sao Paulo server has lower player count — longer queue times at high tiers
What players commonly report
- Ghost shells / sparks — shells that visually hit but register no damage (persistent, top complaint since 2015)
- Low server tick rate (~11Hz) causing hit detection inconsistency
- High-ping players causing desync for the entire match lobby
- SA server restricted availability (weekends only) — hurts Asian/Oceanic players
- No dedicated Australian server
- Netcode handling of jet combat at high speeds
- Packet loss causing entire matches to become unplayable
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Switch to a different server region and test routing
1. Go to Settings in War Thunder 2. Find the Server Region selector 3. Note your current ping on your current region with the overlay enabled 4. Switch to a different region (e.g., if you're on SA, try US or EU) 5. Play a quick arcade match and note the new ping 6. Your ISP may route better to a geographically farther server
Some players get 30ms better ping by switching regions due to ISP routing quirks. Free and takes 5 minutes to test.
02 Switch to Ethernet — jitter kills hit detection at 11Hz
1. Connect your PC to the router with an Ethernet cable 2. In Windows, go to Settings > Network & Internet 3. Disable the WiFi adapter to prevent Windows from switching back 4. Open War Thunder and check ping stability with Server Info overlay 5. Jitter (ping variation) should drop significantly
At War Thunder's ~11Hz tick rate, a single dropped WiFi packet = a 90ms desync. Ethernet nearly eliminates jitter and wireless packet loss — reducing ghost shells caused by connection instability.
03 Check if packet loss (not just ping) is the real issue
1. While in a War Thunder match, watch the Server Info overlay 2. Look for packet loss % next to your ping — even 1-2% packet loss is severe at 11Hz tick rate 3. If you see packet loss, open Command Prompt and run: ping -t <war_thunder_server_ip> 4. Count the number of 'Request timed out' responses — that's your packet loss 5. Packet loss above 0.5% will cause noticeable ghost shells and desync
Ghost shells are often caused by packet loss rather than high ping. Identifying packet loss as the root cause directs you to the right fix: router reboot, ISP contact, or network optimizer.
General network tips (not War Thunder-specific)
04 Enable the Server Info overlay to see your real ping
1. Open War Thunder and go to Settings 2. Click the 'Interface' tab 3. Find 'Show Server Info' and enable it 4. In-game, your ping will appear on the HUD at the bottom-left 5. Alternatively: press F11 during a match to toggle the ping display 6. Watch for ping spikes during busy battles — consistent spikes confirm a routing issue
Doesn't fix anything but tells you what you're working with. If your ping is consistently elevated or jumps in spikes, a routing fix (Ethernet, different server region, or PingAim) will help. If ping is stable and low but you still get ghost shells — that's the 11Hz tick rate issue, not your connection.
05 Open UDP 20000-30000 in your firewall/router
1. Open Windows Defender Firewall > Advanced Settings 2. Create an Inbound and Outbound rule 3. Select 'Port', then UDP, enter port range 20000-30000 4. Allow the connection, apply to all profiles 5. Also forward these ports on your router to your PC if you have double NAT 6. Restart War Thunder and check for connection improvement
Firewall blocking or throttling UDP 20000-30000 causes intermittent packet loss — appearing as ghost shells and desync. Most impactful for players behind strict corporate firewalls or certain ISP-provided routers.
06 Close bandwidth-heavy applications before sessions
Pause game downloads, stop streaming video, and disable OneDrive/Google Drive sync before launching War Thunder.
Packet loss from bandwidth saturation causes ghost shells at a higher rate — War Thunder's server model is sensitive to even brief packet loss spikes
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western and Central Europe — Frankfurt/Amsterdam cluster provides excellent coverage. Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, UK players typically get 10-40ms. Good ISP peering with Servers.com infrastructure.
- Russia (European part) — Saint Petersburg server gives Moscow/European Russia players 10-30ms. Gaijin is a Russian company — infrastructure investment in Russia is high.
- US East Coast — Northern Virginia Leaseweb cluster provides 20-40ms for East Coast US players. Good peering for major US ISPs.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects War Thunder automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies War Thunder by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.