Nvidia GeForce Now review: how well does it work on hotel WiFi?

Why did I test Geforce Now?

So, on a recent work trip I had a problem. With long, dark, empty evenings and none of my usual dad-and-husband responsibilities, what exactly was I supposed to do with all this sudden free time?

Well… spend hours on the dangerous topside in Arc Raiders, naturally.

But like the ever-lurking airborne snitch, this calls in another issue: how am I supposed to game while traveling with nothing but a MacBook?

Enter NVIDIA GeForce Now.

What is GeForce Now

Not going too deep technically, but simply put: GeForce Now is Nvidias cloud streaming, a platform that lets you rent GPU time from their powerful servers around the world.

On these remote machines, Steam, Epic and the other launchers are already installed. In fact, most popular games are installed on this machine.

You launch the GeForce Now app and sign in — exactly like borrowing a friend’s PC.

Once logged in, the games you own sync automatically (*not supported by all plattforms) and you can then play games from your Steam, Blizzard, Epic, Xbox and Ubisoft library.

When you play, your input (mouse, keyboard or controller) is sent to the remote PC. Then and the video feed of the game is streamed back to you.

The real question is: how well does this actually work?

I’m glad you asked stranger! Luckily I am here to help you figure that out.

Potential problems

From the get-go, there are obvious issues with the whole idea of streaming a fast, responsive game over the internet.

Where exactly are the servers? Are they close, or far away? And how will network speed — and more importantly latency — affect the game feel on my end?

Will it work on 5G? Will it work on hotel WiFi? Or am I just setting myself up for major disappointment and looking at the hotel wall?

Steam logon issues

The first real problem I ran into came immediately after installing the GeForce Now app: logging in to Steam.

You know the Steam QR code you normally scan with your phone to authenticate a new device? It works perfectly when your phone and your computer are in the same physical location. But when your phone is up north in Norway and the “computer” you’re logging into is a server in London, Steam’s fraud detection shuts the whole logon process down.

NVIDIA’s workaround? Don’t use the QR code at all. Put your phone in flight mode and log in using offline Steam Guard instead.

It works, but it’s clunky. And the fact that I had to dig through NVIDIA’s FAQ to figure this out tells me their solution aren’t fully integrated as a Steam-approved login environment.

Battle.net was slightly easier. After entering my username and password, I immediately got an SMS saying my account was blocked. A quick check of my email and a six-digit code fixed it. Not ideal, but it worked.

Server locations

It turns out that being close to a server is extremely important, and unfortunately something you can’t control (unless you are vacationing in in those areas).

I really wish NVIDIA surfaced this fact during sign-up or when downloading the Geforce Now App.

Show me where the closest data centers are, show me expected performance. Give me a hint before I hand over my money.

All server locations can be seen over at status.geforcenow.com.

All data center locations / Credit Nvidia

Different tiers

GeForce Now comes in three tiers:

• Free tier — limited resolution and refresh rate, ads, and capped at one hour of playtime per day

• Performance tier for 9.99$/month — higher resolution, higher refresh rate, and up to six hours of daily playtime

• Ultimate tier for 19.99$/month — RTX 50-series performance, support for 240 Hz, and up to 5K resolution using DLSS

For this article I used the Performance tier. For testing Geforce Now, the free tier would suffice, but note you are stuck with one hour of playtime and a very puny 60 Hz frame rate.

Nvidia Geforce Now tiers. Credit Nvidia

Testing on Hotel Wifi

The first thing I did after fixing my login issues was boot up my newfound love, Arc Raiders.

I started in the firing range since it’s solo and I wouldn’t risk getting killed by a bad connection.

It becomes obvious immediately that this is too laggy to play. The internet speed was fine, but the physical distance to the servers killed any sense of responsiveness.

In pure desperation, I tried tethering my MacBook to my phone and switching to 5G. No luck. Same problems with stuttering and rubber banding

GeForce Now’s own network test even told me the connection was too poor. 5G performed slightly better than the hotel WiFi, but it was still laggy, unpleasant and unplayable.

Testing Arc Raiders on Geforce Now

I still wanted to test a real mission, so I went topside and tried getting a quest done on Blue Earth. I managed to call in a supply drop and escape with my life, but the moment I engaged a single wasp it became painfully clear that this performs nowhere near my desktop at home. It’s a night-and-day difference, and hitting anything felt like a struggle due to the lag and the general lack of control.

I refused to let my first test discourage me, so 24 hours later I was back at it again — somehow hoping the network connection to the remote server in Sweden would magically be better. It wasn’t.

I played two missions with a group of friends, and several times during those runs I experienced input stalling: walking forward would get stuck, repeat, or keep firing long after I released the key. This is extremely stressful when you’re trying to stay inside the elevator during extraction.

Experiencing extreme lag with Geforce Now on hotel Wifi in Arc Raiders / credit kaytomas.com

…and testing Overwatch 2

For the sake of testing, I also fired up a round of Overwatch 2 — the only competitive game I have on Battle.net — and played a single match showing off my skills and impressive 2020 D.VA skin from the time Overwatch was a e-sport.

Most of the time it worked to an extent, but the overall game sense and feel were totally off. I had little control and barely any responsiveness from my character. Every few minutes I also experienced heavy rubber-banding. See for yourself in the video.

Playable in a desperate situation, yes. But not for anyone hoping to get actual competitive gaming done. Not even for simple quests.

And no, thats not your video lagging, its my experience using Geforce Now.

Overwatch 2 did not fare any better / credit kaytomas.com

Nvidia’s example of dark patterns

I also noticed what I would call a classic subscription dark pattern — something we see far too often in online subscription services, like GeForce Now.

After paying for one month, I immediately wanted to turn off recurring payments. This was just a test after all. I always do this to avoid getting caught in the subscription trap. But nowhere could I find a simple cancel or turn off auto-renew button.

The only real way was to “downgrade” to the free, standard subscription. Technically that is correct, but it’s a sneaky way of hiding what should be a very simple option. I have few hopes of Nvidia execs reading these very lines and changing this, but I am still obliged to write them down. In a desperate call for change in this world.

What others are saying

I understand that my experience does not reflect the rest of the world. I am testing Geforce Now, and writing very article off on an island in northern Norway after all.

In fact other people are reporting very good experiences with Geforce Now.

Anthony Shelton from gamingtrend.com has a very difference experience than I and writes:

It’s hard to ignore the number of considerations needed to justify subscribing to Nvidia GeForce NOW, but looking only at the service provided and the quality of the technology, GeForce NOW is undeniably excellent. It’s impressively powerful, has no input lag when playing on a PC or PC handheld, and, put simply, it just works.

The same goes for Sean Hollister over at The Verge, noting that Geforce Now breaths life into their Steam deck and applauding its native Linux app.

Another positive is Katie Wickens from TechRadar, noting that:

…it still provides a near seamless game streaming experience with access to more top games than the competition, as long as your internet can keep up.

I expect all of them are located close to the Nvidia data centers.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, GeForce Now doesn’t work for me — not because the service is bad, but because I’m simply too far from the data centers.

There’s no way to send my input all the way to Sweden (or the UK), stream the video back, and expect that to feel responsive. It’s just not physically possible.

If you live somewhere closer to the servers, you might have a completely different experience. Plenty of people online say it works great for them. But I strongly suggest checking the status page and server locations before you subscribe.

If you are considering Nvidia Geforce Now, I suggest you check if you are located close to the data centers, and make sure you hava a decent internet connection.

If you want to try it out, the free tier is exactly what you need. No risk, and you get to see and feel how it works on your hardware and internet connection.

If you live close to an Nvidia data center and mostly play single-player games, GeForce Now can absolutely work. If you’re further away, and want to play online and competitive, it’s a gamble.