[FC 26 PC] Input lag progressively worsens during full matches
Hi everyone,
I've been dealing with a strange and very consistent input lag issue in EA FC 26 for about a month now, and I wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing or has found a fix.
**The Issue:**
During online full matches (Ultimate Team, etc.), the input response degrades very quickly:
- Only the first ~5 seconds of the match feel responsive.
- After that, input lag starts and progressively gets worse as the match goes on.
- By the later stages, there's a significant delay between pressing a button and the action happening on screen.
This happens in every single full match.
**The strange part:**
Rush mode plays completely normally — zero input lag, fully responsive from start to finish. The issue is exclusive to full-match modes.
**My Setup:**
- Platform: PC
- Wired LAN connection (not Wi-Fi)
- All other games and applications run perfectly fine
- Issue started roughly one month ago
**What I've already tried:**
- Contacted my ISP — they confirmed no issues on their end and the connection is stable
- Verified game files integrity
- Updated GPU drivers to the latest version
- Reinstalled the game completely
- Closed all background applications
- Tested with different in-game settings (resolution, frame rate, V-Sync, etc.)
Nothing has resolved it.
**Proof my connection is healthy (from the game itself):**
I ran EA's own in-game Connection Quality test, and the results are excellent across the board:
- Overall Connection Score: 87/100
- Connection Quality: Good
- Ping: 50.59 ms (Good)
- Jitter: 1.36 ms (Great)
- Packet Loss: 0.26% (Great)
- Network Type: Ethernet (wired)
So according to EA's own diagnostic tool, my connection is in great shape — yet the input lag still occurs consistently in every full match. This further confirms the issue isn't on my end.
**My theory:**
Since the lag scales with match time, is isolated to full-match modes (Rush works perfectly), my ISP confirmed the connection is healthy, and all other games work fine — I suspect this is either:
1. A server-side issue specific to full-match servers
2. A memory leak that builds up during longer matches
3. Something introduced in a recent game update
**Questions for the community:**
- Is anyone else experiencing this exact pattern (fine in Rush, broken in full matches)?
- Has anyone found a workaround or fix?
- Any ideas on what else I could try?
Any help or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!