Controller tests

These tests use the browser's Gamepad API, which reports a controller as a list of buttons and axes. That is why a pad usually has to be woken with a button press before it appears: the browser does not expose it until it sends input. It also means the tests work with almost any controller your operating system already recognises, not only the ones named on this site.

Stick drift is worth checking first on an older pad. The sensors under each stick wear, and the resting position slowly stops reading as centre, so a game keeps receiving a small input after you let go. The stick drift test shows raw axis values at rest, which is the only reliable way to tell real drift from a dead zone doing its job.

Buttons bound to macros in vendor software, and features outside the Gamepad API such as DualSense adaptive triggers or gyro, will not report here even on a perfectly healthy controller.