Basically, a vast majority (probably in the 99% area) of the “condition” is psychology, and the majority of that is successful marketing. Imagine saying that on an Apple forum 😄 — although, I think, “gamers” are far worse about drinking the mythic Kool-Aid than Apple fanatics.
Anyway… I don’t want (and probably not allowed to in this section) go too deep into the topic but I’ll leave you a few tidbits:
• Consistency is very important — For example, if a game’s frames per second is fluctuating 120->163->150->101->133->200 that will feel laggy, choppy, jarring, etc. In contrast, if the frame rate is only fluctuating between 58 and 63, it will appear (very) smooth.
• The minimum beneficial frame rate is nowhere near 60 FPS — This relates to reaction time.
To start:
1000 (milliseconds per second)
———————————————— = frame time (in milliseconds)
frames per second
So, for example, 1000 ms / 60 FPS = 16.666… ms
Next:
The fastest artificially-assisted reaction time is 50 miliseconds from stimulus to action, which was achieved using electro-muscular stimulation (EMS) by researchers from the University of Chicago (USA) and Sony CSL (JPN). A typical human reaction time is about 250 ms.
www.guinnessworldrecords.com
For those of you not wanting to do the math, a 250 ms frame time is 4 FPS.
Going a bit further, here’s a test:
Have you ever wondered how quick your brain can respond to new visual information? The average human reaction time is around 250ms and the world record is 120ms. Take the test to find out your reaction time!!
www.arealme.com
By the way, my average was 198 ms after one test attempt.
• Different isn’t necessarily better — I notice a difference in 60 vs 30 FPS. However, it’s typically subtle and just different. The motion is no more “real” than when at 30 frames per second. That feeling varies by person but there’s a factual/objective limitation, our brains require performing interpolation at some point too. In other words, there are diminishing returns as motion rate increases.
You've seen this optical illusion in movies — but it happens when you're watching in person too. What's really going on? Above: The reverse-rotation
gizmodo.com