Today, I will cover what mouse smoothing is, whether you should use it for gaming, what is the difference between mouse smoothing and acceleration, and whether pro players play with mouse smoothing. So let’s dive straight into it!
What Is Mouse Smoothing?
Mouse smoothing is a feature in which the hardware predicts mouse movement and adds additional tiny mouse movements to create a smoother movement pattern. During this process, cursor movement is slightly delayed, which might feel awkward to some people.
P.S It is not the same as Mouse Acceleration which I talk about in the end!
It basically manipulates your mouse movement to create a smoother movement overall. Take a look at this picture:
It smoothes out the mouse movement to create a smooth and polished mouse movement. But is it good for gaming?
You might also be interested in BEST Mouse Settings For Gaming Guide With Pro Players Analysis.
Should I Enable Mouse Smoothing?
It is not recommended to use mouse smoothing for gaming because it manipulates mouse movement, which causes inconsistencies and can negatively affect performance. Furthermore, it adds delays to your mouse movements which are not ideal.
I will explain soon the benefits of mouse smoothing and who should use it, but first, let’s talk about its problems.
Consistency
The biggest problem with mouse smoothing is that it causes inconsistencies. This is because your mouse movements will constantly change as the hardware tries to smooth the mouse movements.
It is obviously awful in a gaming environment. Where gamers fight for consistency as it is one of the most critical things in gaming.
The ideal reality is that your mouse movements are 1:1 consistent input without hardware interpretation. Unfortunately, turning on this feature will ruin that.
Delay
Your movement is slightly delayed to predict your mouse movements to smooth the pattern. This is a massive problem in gaming, where every millisecond counts.
People spend hundreds of dollars to get the least input delay possible. Unfortunately, turning on this feature will add extra delay, which is never good in a gaming environment.
As we can see, adding delays and alternating mouse movements is not ideal in gaming as gaming requires raw precision. Any external program or feature interference is generally not recommended for gaming.
Imagine flicking to an enemy’s head in CS:GO, and the hardware alternates the movement, and you miss the shot. Holy. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.
The Benefits Of Mouse Smoothing
So now you know what mouse smoothing is and why it is generally not recommended for gaming. But what’s its purpose?
Mouse Smoothing is a feature that was intended for older mice. Back in the day, older mice had up to 60hz polling rate and a max of 400 DPI, which caused them to be a bit laggy and jittery. That’s why manufacturers created mouse smoothing to provide a better experience.
As you can see, there is no reason to use mouse smoothing. Mice have improved, and not even a standard desk mouse should have mouse smoothing enabled. Especially today’s gaming mice.
Read more about polling rate at Best Mouse Polling Rate By The Pro Players: 500Hz vs 1000Hz
Do Pros Play With Mouse Smoothing?
Pro players do not play with mouse smoothing. The reason being is that mouse smoothing manipulates the data from the mouse, which causes inconsistencies and can negatively affect performance. Therefore, it is recommended not to use this feature.
Straight to the point. No one should use mouse smoothing in gaming.
By the way, if your mouse has smoothing built in and you can’t disable it, you have to upgrade to a new mouse. I recommend getting a Logitech G Pro which is probably the best mouse you can get right now. But feel free to check out What Gaming Mice Do Professional FPS Players Use? – Top 5 Gaming Mice In 2022
Mouse Smoothing vs Mouse Acceleration
Mouse smoothing and mouse acceleration are both different things. Mouse acceleration is a feature that increases your cursor’s speed based on the speed at which you move your mouse. Mouse smoothing is a feature in which the hardware adds additional tiny mouse movements to create a smoother pattern.
Many people think that mouse smoothing and mouse acceleration are the same things. But in reality, both are very different things when it comes to mouse settings.
But, both have one thing in common. Both should be turned off at all times!
Read more at Mouse Acceleration And Enhance Pointer Precision: Turn It OFF Right Now!
Final Words
That’s it for this article. But I am leaving some articles here that you might find interesting:
BEST Mouse Settings For Gaming Guide With Pro Players Analysis
What Gaming Mice Do Professional FPS Players Use? – Top 5 Gaming Mice In 2022
Thank you for reading, and keep slapping!
