Questions regarding input lag

[exxphoenix]

I've been looking up information regarding this topic and seen some stuff about it being hard to fix, being related to windows or being related to using certain controllers.
Initially I started trying some of my games out like Gran Turismo 3 and Yakuza and noticed terrible input lag, after which I tried to fix it with some of the settings like the frame pacing, trying out keyboard to rule out controller and leaving graphical settings low to make sure everything just runs as smooth as possible.

Yakuza still has noticeable input lag and Gran Turismo makes me slightly nauseous when trying to drive, so I then felt like asking around about this topic.
However I still felt like at least trying out a few other games and found out that a game like Ratchet Deadlocked does have a few frames of lag, however it's so small it feels like zero and I had to frame by frame check it in order to see the very tiny amount of delay it has. I found a few other games that also run basically perfectly input-wise and then another game that runs terribly; Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.

So I'm assuming that the issue is game-related, at least to a certain extent. Is it known if some of these games inherently just have input delay or if it's the emulator having trouble with certain games?

[envisaged0ne]

why don't you play them n your real PS2 and see if you notice the input lag on your real hardware?

[jesalvein]

you can try checking optimal frame pacing in settings->emulation
Just keep in mind that pcsx2 won't make games better if you had a noticeable input lag on real hardware.
Do you get the same problems on your real console ?

[exxphoenix]

Thanks for the replies and uh, I actually hadn't thought about checking my old console that might be a good idea haha.
I currently only have my pc monitors though, but I've seen some converters online so I should check around for those so I can hook my ps2 up to an hdmi display.

[NarooN]

I played Yakuza 2 on PCSX2 back in 2017 and didn't notice any input lag, can't speak on the first game as I never played it. Gran Turismo 3 however, no matter which emu version I played, it does exhibit the same input lag you're speaking of, so I'm kinda convinced that's just how the game is normally. I play GT3 across many different revisions over the years and to me since the behavior was consistent regardless of my system specs (played on 3 different rigs and Windows installations as well) it seems to support that hypothesis. GT4 feels fine.

[exxphoenix]

Ok I initially couldn't find the PS2 and found some other stuff instead, after emulating on larger screens and handhelds it's actually insane how sharp the GBA display is. You can apparently reshell them and add backlights which seems like a nice thing to do.

I got access to an old hd tv with component input so didn't need the converter in the end. I should also sort out my crap later as I didn't find everything and all the memory cards I found were apparently PS1 cards. Booted up Metal Arms again as that game has the most delay out of the games I initially tried and I guess that game just has the character have a bit more inertia to it that makes it feel less responsive. The game has a little jumping section at the start and it was super easy to get the timing down, which I struggled with on the emulator before. Started up Ratchet Gladiator next and that game feels extremely snappy and responsive.

Now when I went back to the emulator again to confirm that it had more delay I now find it a bit hard to tell actually. I managed to clear the same jumping section again and it honestly felt fine this time around. Then played Ratchet again and maybe it didn't feel as snappy but that game is already very good to play so a slight delay isn't very noticeable.

One weird thing about this though is that I used the on-screen buttons to show my input, which seems direct in the emulator. And I recorded my screen at 60fps and then check frame-by-frame to see how many frames it would take for the game to perform an action. For some reason Metal Arms had 8 frames of delay in the menu before and it was 6 when I checked again today so no idea why that happened.