Project Natal’s Lag Time Reviewed

Ever since our hands on, we've been shamelessly  been excited about Project Natal, except for one key piece: The slight but undeniable lag. And now, MTV has actually put the difference between your movement and onscreen response to a stopwatch.

Over the course of several demos, MTV found that the lag ranged from .08 seconds to .12 seconds, and .10 proved to be a pretty consistent average. (You can time .10 seconds here.)

During the demo, the delay was linked in a driving game to steering an old Cadillac. Indeed, as an input device alone, such a delay will mean certain game play situations just aren't possible.

However,  we still see the delay as a non-issue for the aspect of Natal, that's still gone without mention by most publications - that of head tracking. You'll see what I mean in in this demo by Johnny Chung Lee who, it just so happens, works on the Natal team now. The same can be said for vocal commands, facial recognition, and heck, even just spotting your exact position in a room.