Wireless router for online racing?

[Cartoondriver]

I've been renovating my house and had the possibility of installing network cable but discounted that as I thought everyone is using wireless now. Since making that decision I've got back into PC racing (offline using GTL and GTR2) but have read that wireless is not so great for online racing.

My question is this, is there any way for me to test my wireless connection to make sure it is good enough? Limited knowledge here but I know ping is important for lag (I think I've got that right) but also packet loss can be an issue as well.

My router connection generally shows 'Excellent' as a general signal strength but I'd like to get a bit more in depth than that. I'm using Virgin (old NTL area) in the UK and haven't had any complaints about the service but I haven't really done much online gaming. I'm more worried about the connection between my PC upstairs and the router downstairs as I believe that is the weak link (if any).

If needs must I can see me stringing and external cable around the house, the Mrs won't be too pleased but I'm sure she will get over it.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers
Andy

[pjj1180]

power line networking would save the need to string cables.

[Cartoondriver]

Thanks for the reply.

I should have mentioned above that I looked into power line networking but my A/C breaker box is separated into two different areas (well not sure of the correct term) but each has it's own RCD and apparently if I want to use power line networking the circuits I use would both have to be in the same 'area' of the box. Unfortunately the downstairs ring circuit and the upstairs ring are not.

Thanks
Andy

[pjj1180]

Geez,
I really don't know what tell you as i am sure you've heard. I really don't have any experience with wireless n, but as you said before it is not the amount its the quality.

[Lunsmann]

Unfortunately, unless your in the same room as the router, your online buddies will be cursing you left, right & centre. Pings is everything in sim racing (& flight sims).

Can you retrofit cat6 ?? or is this just not technically possible? Are your interior walls gyprock or plastered brick? Believe it or not, gyprock is very easy to cut and patch, especially if online racing is important to you.

ps, in Australia gyprock is what many others call plaster board.

[gtrNL]

http://pingtest.net/ should give you a good idea of what your ping is. Try different servers, like US, Asia, Europe, Australia. If your ping is <150 it should be fine for online racing.

Although I prefer a cable, wireless has seriously improved over the last years.
We are running a new w-router, producing a 802.11n network. My pc is 20 meters from the router and conencted via cable, but if I put my laptop (wireless) next to it, the difference in speed and ping is nearly nothing.

[Alpha01]

Hi Cartoondriver

You display that you are in London?
I am in Yorkshire an use virgin cable (fiber optic) is your connection through dial up(connected through telephone line) or fiber optic lines? (Im not sure if London has Fiber optics yet)

I use two pc's, one a laptop that uses wireless and one pc that uses lan cable to the router, both run online ok.
I mean I havnt raced but have connected to servers to test some online tracks, an I get reasonable ping ratings.

A bit of a stutter now and then but I guess, thats more down to the performance of the pc then the connection.

A test you can do!!
Run a lan cable test a server online then run wireless an test, see if there is any difference.
I guess though if you are connected through your telephone line you will experience lag on both.

;-)

[bozont]

i have wi-fi for ages and no problem with online racing. my ping is around 100-150 ms but its not wi-fi related. no one complained about laggs :D. wi-fi is ok indoors.

another thing is no to use windows for connecting. use the wifi card driver or you get every 60secs a galactic lag :D:D

[Cartoondriver]

Again thanks for the replies,

Unfortunately the house walls are plastered brick so tearing into a newly plastered wall isn't an option I'm afraid which is why I'm kicking myself for not putting cable in just in case.

I tried the pingtest and was surprised, typically I get < 40 within UK, < 100 within Europe and and < 150 on the East Coast of the US and even as far as Texas. The real surprise was no packet loss at all in all those tests, Asia and Australia are high as I would expect > 250.

All that was only at one time of the day of course so I'll have to do further testing at peak times to be able to convince myself. The one thing I don't want to do is ruin some else's race because of an issue at my end.

Cheers
Andy

[ravenmorpheus2k]

If you can't put a cable in the walls try homeplugs (also known as powerline) - http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=powerline&x=0&y=0

Plug one into your router and a wall power socket, plug the other into your PC and a nearby wall socket.

No need for a wifi connection and far better connection imo.

EDIT - Sorry just read the top of the thread and I see that this might not be possible for you.

[slickdevel]

The drivers that bring problems to online races are usually oblivious to the lag being seen by others. The ping is good but the packets just aren't getting the job done. The wireless user may drive a seamless race, he doesn't see anyone lagging and no one reports him as lagging. Reasons for this are lack of teamspeak and who really wants to text a message when they're in the middle of a race?

Some drivers have no problem with wireless connections for online racing.

Lag camn occur even for hardwired drivers. Reconnecting/rebooting isn't that difficult for anyone .

Just my thoughts.

Dennis

[Cartoondriver]

Hi guys, thanks for your thoughts,

Alpha01 - That is a great idea, I'll get a cable and try it out and see what difference it makes. I'm connected through a cable modem not through a telephone line so I think it is fibre optic from the exchange (not to my house though).

bozont - Good point, I must check what driver is being used, I wouldn't have thought to check that.

Ravenmorpheus2k - Thanks for the idea but it's a no go for me.

Dennis - Yeah that is my fear, that it would look fine for me but I would adversely affect someone else's race while being oblivious to what was going on. On the brief tests I've done so far I've experienced no packet loss but I don't know if that test is really representative of the data profile for racing online.

Well my next steps will be to check my drivers and also to dig out my long lan cable to see what difference it makes. Thanks for the ideas guys and for the encouragement, I hope to be online once I can confirm my connection is solid one way or the other.

Cheers
Andy

[ravenmorpheus2k]

My advice would be to suck it and see.

Join a league with guys who know what their doing.

The GTL Gamers Crib Muscle Car League is always looking for drivers - http://www.gamers-crib.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=228

Or perhaps join in on the GTL Friday night addons server http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=237807

;)

Then you can do a couple of races online see what's going on and get the advice from those that know, we had a few drivers in the GCMCL who had lag issues and we appear to have helped them resolve those issues.

Ping and packet delivery are not the only contributing factors to lag. Often the way a game uses your computer is also at fault, for example, I run GTL in Windows 7 64bit, if I don't change the core affinity to all cores (it initially runs on 1 core only) I get lag in online races.

Then there's graphical settings and whether or not your PC can handle such settings. Often lowering graphical settings helps with lag in online racing. Depends on the game of course.

If you find you're not having much success and causing problems, which the guys should let you know you are, then at least you have tried.

You could spend weeks testing your connection without really knowing. ;)

[slickdevel]

I agree with Raven....
Get in an online race that has a fair number of drivers and go repeatedly to chat asking if they see you lagging. We all appreciate drivers trying to get better!

[ermax]

My experience with rFactor on WiFi has been very bad. This is with a full signal too. The router was about 30ft away with perfect line of sight. No walls or anything in between. The problem with lag is you have no idea that you are lagging unless people point it out. If the lag isn't that bad people often don't notice it or don't bother pointing it out because it isn't that bad. What I always suggest is running WiFi for browsing and stuff like that but build a long cable that you drape across the floor when racing and just roll it up when not.

Keep in mind too that WiFi will die when the wife cranks up the cancer box (microwave). So if you do plan to do WiFi and your doing an important race (what race isn't. hehe), make sure you warn people at the house not to use the microwave.

[Cartoondriver]

I may just have to try some online races then and see what happens, I just need to get some practice in so that I am not a total rolling roadblock. Thanks for the links and advice, I think joining a league is probably a good idea, if they will take me, I just hope I can be fast enough.

I did go online with a friend a while back, we found an empty server so we could race against each other (I think using GTR2) and I didn't notice problems then and he didn't report any.
Problem was as soon as I was in front all he seemed to want to do was ram me, he thought it was hilarious, me less so. WTH is going on with some people?

I'm a bit wary of public servers for that reason but I assuming by now in GTL the majority of the idiots have moved on so I may try and join a public race and see what happens.

Oh and thanks for the tip on the CPU affinity, I hadn't heard of that and also thanks for the tip in the microwave, I didn't know that could affect wireless so much either.

Cheers
Andy

[Janis]

If you serious online simmer ( not you personally ) and spend money on switch boxes and custom wheels wouldnt you have one of these or similar. ?

http://www.bigfootnetworks.com/support-faq/#Q3

http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Components/Killer%20NIC/Killer%202100-420-90.jpg

Although I am assuming FPS games covers simulations as well ???

[bozont]

bozont - Good point, I must check what driver is being used, I wouldn't have thought to check that.


google for "60 second lag" or similar.

lol that took me almost a month to figure out what the problem. windows has that idiotic hardcoded instruction to check every 60 secs for new wifi connections. simply dont use the wifi setup wizard from the control panel.only the SW provided with the wifi card. its ok for common networking, but a killer for any online gaming except chess :laugh:.

and there tons of settings to play with in the registry. i post the link or linkswhen i fing them. :D

here is something: http://www.speedguide.net/articles/windows-7-vista-2008-tweaks-2574

[redi]

I may just have to try some online races then and see what happens, I just need to get some practice in so that I am not a total rolling roadblock. Thanks for the links and advice, I think joining a league is probably a good idea, if they will take me, I just hope I can be fast enough.

I did go online with a friend a while back, we found an empty server so we could race against each other (I think using GTR2) and I didn't notice problems then and he didn't report any.
Problem was as soon as I was in front all he seemed to want to do was ram me, he thought it was hilarious, me less so. WTH is going on with some people?

I'm a bit wary of public servers for that reason but I assuming by now in GTL the majority of the idiots have moved on so I may try and join a public race and see what happens.

...
Gamers Crib's public server is pretty decent w.r.t. idiots (we have a blacklist so notorious wreckers cannot even log on). Also the abovementioned Muscle Car League, the Friday Add-on Server and also the Mini League offer fun and fair racing without any obligations and for all skill levels. Check them out :)

[rookiedaz]

And also there is a public GTL league that runs under the NoGrip banner on wednesday nights, all skill levels are welcome, only thing you need is the relevant car/track combo and the right gentlemanly attitude to your racing. See the wednesday night racing forum for details.....


http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=82

[Cartoondriver]

Thanks for the links and info guys, I'll do some tweaks and reading.
See you online

Cheers
Andy

[guybo]

The real prob with wifi is that it WILL disconnect during an online race. Wifi is not reliable enough- regardless of pings and lag- for online racing. And if you are 40 min into a 45 min race and the wifi drops for even a second- sucks to be you. Game over.

Figure out a way to wire up that house and get a hard wire to that PC. If need be, put the router in the same room as the sim racing PC and have every OTHER computer connect wirelessly to it.