Cyberpunk adds 150ms input lag

Frame generation is having a reality-check moment. Cyberpunk 2077 can now show absurdly high frame-rate numbers with Nvidia’s newer DLSS modes, including Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50-series cards, and that looks amazing in an overlay. But the thing players actually feel is latency — the delay between moving the mouse and seeing the result. That’s where the trick breaks. In the worst cases people are testing right now, the game looks fast and feels awful. Cyberpunk got DLSS 4 support in Patch 2.21 on January 23, 2025, which is why this game keeps showing up as the demo for both the promise and the catch. (cyberpunk.net) ### What is frame generation actually doing? It is not making the game simulate more often. The GPU still renders a real frame, then AI inserts extra synthetic frames between the real ones. Nvidia’s DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation can add up to three generated frames per traditionally rendered frame on RTX 50-series hardware. That is great for animation smoothness and for matching high-refresh displays, but your inputs still depend on the cadence of the real frames underneath. (nvidia.com) ### Why does low base FPS break the illusion? Because responsiveness starts at the base frame rate. If the game is only producing, say, 10 real frames per second, each real update is already arriving about every 100 ms before you add the rest of the pipeline. Generated frames can fill visual gaps, but they cannot make the game world react 10 times sooner. Basically, you are watching a (nvidia.com)s that feel heavy. (techspot.com) ### Why is Cyberpunk the perfect stress test? Because it is one of the hardest mainstream PC games to run, especially with ray tracing or path tracing. Players love using it to push every new graphics feature to the edge. CD Projekt Red added DLSS 4 support directly, including selectable 2x, 3x, and 4x frame-generation options for compatible hardware, so it is an easy place to see both the upside and the failure mode. (cyberpunk.net) ### Where does the 150 ms figure come from? From community testing that compares displayed frame rate with end-to-end latency while cranking frame generation from a terrible starting point. The headline example making the rounds is roughly 10 FPS base boosted to around 1,200 FPS, with more than 150 ms of added delay. The exact number will vary by setup, but the shape of the result is the important part — once th(cyberpunk.net)unter look spectacular while the controls become borderline unusable. (youtube.com) ### Isn’t Reflex supposed to fix this? It helps, but it does not perform magic. Nvidia pairs frame generation with Reflex to cut queueing delay, and that absolutely lowers latency versus running the same feature stack without it. But Reflex cannot erase the fact that the game is still only producing real input-bearing frames at the base rate. If the starting point is too low, the system is fighting physics, not a settings mistake. (nvidia.com) ### So when does frame generation make sense? When the base frame rate is already healthy. The rough consensus from reviewers, support docs, and experienced users is that you want at least about 60 FPS underneath — often more if you care about mouse feel. Above that, frame generation can make a single-player game look much smoother without wrecking control latency. Below that, it turns into a numbers trick. (techspot.com) ### Does that mean the feature is bad? No — it means people keep asking it to solve the wrong problem. Frame generation is a polish tool, not a rescue tool. It is great for taking a solid baseline and making it look richer on a 120 Hz or 240 Hz display. It is bad at turning a struggling game into a responsive one. Cyberpunk just makes that mismatch impossible to ignore. (nvidia.com)ne? If your base FPS is low, trust your hands, not the overlay. In Cyberpunk, a four-digit frame counter can still come with triple-digit latency — and that is the number that decides whether the game feels playable.