Why Am I Experiencing High Ping in Some Online Games Despite Good Internet?

Your internet speed might be fine, but the route your data takes to reach the game servers can introduce delays. The game servers aren’t just about your ISP; sometimes the path to the server has slower hops which can affect your gameplay. Try running a TRACERT command from your command prompt to check the data path to your game's server and see where the bottlenecks are. If any hops show significantly high response times, that could be your issue. Just keep in mind, your ISP may not have control over those external routes.

Check your hardware too. Make sure you’re using a good quality ethernet cable since you mentioned you’re connected via cable. Sometimes, low-quality cables can affect your connection speed. Also, consider whether any background applications are hogging bandwidth while you’re gaming. Even if your speed tests look good, other network activities can impact your real-time gaming performance.

It sounds like your issue might relate to how certain games handle connections. Some games use centralized servers while others rely on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks like Helldivers 2. P2P connections can be tricky since they depend on your connection to other players rather than just a server. If you find that your ping is consistently high in those games, it might be worth checking if your firewall or router settings are blocking P2P connections, or if your local network is prioritizing other traffic over gaming.