Gaming VPN or game optimizer?
Some gaming tools are called VPNs and others game optimizers. This guide looks past the names at what a tool does with your game's traffic. It explains force tunnel and split tunnel, the two set-ups that decide which traffic goes through the tunnel, using Microsoft's description of VPN routing in Windows. Then it covers why the route matters for ping, and what to check in any tool, NitroPing included.
Force tunnel and split tunnel
Microsoft's page on VPN routing decisions in Windows calls this one of the most important decisions in setting up a VPN: send all the data through the VPN, or only some of it. The decision affects the configuration, the capacity planning and the security expectations of the connection.
- Force tunnel: all traffic goes over the VPN. Microsoft notes that force tunnel is the default configuration, and takes effect when no routes are specified.
- Split tunnel: only the routes you specify go over the VPN, and all other traffic goes over your normal connection.
That page describes Windows' own VPN settings. A product can work another way, so the question to ask of any tool is the same: what does it send through its tunnel?
Why the route matters for ping
A tunnel changes the path your game's traffic takes, and Riot's 2015 engineering post shows how much a path can change ping. It explains that backbone providers and internet providers route traffic along the lowest-cost path, not the lowest-latency one. Its example League route took 70 ms, where Riot says a direct trip may have taken 14 ms.
Riot's 2016 follow-up describes the fix Riot built for its own games: a network of its own, peered directly with providers, that picks up player traffic as close to the player as possible and carries it over many fewer routers.
Distance still counts. EA's Apex guide says a data center far away can cause high ping and packet loss because your data has to travel further. Distance adds delay, whatever route the traffic takes.
What to check in any tool
- Does it carry only your game? Ask whether it works as a force tunnel, with all your traffic, or a split tunnel, with only what you choose, and whether you can choose the game yourself.
- How does it pick the server? For example, by latency measured from your PC, by a city you pick, or both.
- Can you test it with the game's own ping display? Epic's Fortnite latency guide asks you to compare a test result with the ping you see in the game. Our suggestion for any tool: play with it off and note the ping the game shows, and its packet loss where the game shows it, then turn it on and play again on the same server or region. Valorant, CS2, Fortnite, Apex Legends and League of Legends all show your ping in the game.
- Does it say what it cannot do? Distance adds delay whatever the route, and Wi-Fi trouble starts in your home, so read a tool's stated limits before you choose.
How NitroPing helps
Your ping depends on the path your internet provider sends your game's traffic along, not only on the distance. NitroPing sends only your game's traffic through one of our relay servers over an encrypted tunnel, which can be a shorter, steadier path than your provider's default route. Everything else on your PC stays on your normal connection.
Pick Auto and NitroPing measures the relays from your PC and uses the one with the lowest latency, or pick a city and it stays there.
What it cannot do: shorten the physical distance to your game's servers, or fix Wi-Fi trouble or a connection that is already full. If your provider's route to the game is already good, the difference will be small.
Common questions
Is a gaming VPN the same as a game optimizer?
Not necessarily. Check what the tool sends through its tunnel, the whole connection or only the game, and how it picks the server. Microsoft's Windows documentation calls the two set-ups force tunnel and split tunnel.
Does a VPN lower ping?
It can lower ping or add to it, because a tunnel changes the path your game's traffic takes. Riot's 2015 post gives an example route of 70 ms, where Riot says a direct trip may have taken 14 ms. EA's Apex guide adds that a far-away data center can cause high ping because your data has to travel further.
Does NitroPing send all my traffic through a tunnel?
No. NitroPing is a game network optimizer: it sends only your game's traffic through one of our relay servers over an encrypted tunnel, and everything else on your PC stays on your normal connection.
How do I test whether a tool lowers my ping?
Our suggestion: use the game's own ping display, off and on. Play with the tool off and note the ping the game shows, then turn it on and play again on the same server or region. Epic notes that a normal-looking ping test may not rule out a problem on the path the game actually uses. That is why we suggest comparing the game's own number.
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