DualShock 4 deadzone is 20 times smaller than DS3

The new PlayStation 4 controller has been unanimously praised by everyone (including ourselves) who was blessed enough to try it, but we didn’t have some hard data to gauge how much of an improvement it really is over its predecessor. According to Guerrilla Games‘ Technical Director Michiel van der Leeuw, who had a chat with GameReactor, the DualShock 4 deadzone is about 20 times smaller than that of DualShock 3.

The more precise mechanics is something we can thank Sony for as the new controller has a dead zone with the analogue sticks that is 20 times smaller than with DualShock 3 and PlayStation 3. The latency between controller and game is much shorter, which makes for a sense of more direct and immediate response

For those of you who don’t know what a deadzone is, let us point out that it’s a small area around an analog stick’s centre position in which the stick will not send any information to the console. Basically, having a far smaller deadzone enables players to use almost the entirety of the analog stick to move and shoot in the most accurate way possible. It’s also interesting to read about the reduced input lag, which is always a bonus especially for a first person shooter with competitive multiplayer.

PlayStation 4’s release date draws ever closer and some stores in North America (and soon, even in Europe) are already running demo stations; you can find the closest one to you and go try the DualShock 4 right now, provided that you live in the USA.