GPADLAB Testing Standards
The GPADLAB Controller Health Score is a site-defined browser benchmark combining six stages: stick drift, button response, trigger range, deadzone, latency, and connection stability. Each stage has a fixed point budget, results use four severity bands, and the normalized 0-1000 score maps to grades from S at 950+ to F below 450.
What GPADLAB Testing Standards means
The six-stage scoring pipeline
Every constant below is verified against src/lib/scoring/index.ts. The point weights, severity ratios, and grade bands are the shipped values - not aspirational targets. If the scoring library changes, this page updates.
- 01
Six stages, each with its own measurement
Stick drift measures max radial magnitude at rest across both sticks. Buttons measures the fraction of face and shoulder buttons that register. Triggers measures the analog range covered. Deadzone measures the ratio of usable stick surface after accounting for center noise. Latency measures polling-loop input timing. Connection stability measures dropout frequency across the session.
- 02
Fixed per-stage point weights (total 1000)
The maximum points per stage are hardcoded: Stick Drift 250, Buttons 200, Triggers 150, Deadzone 150, Latency 150, Connection 100. Total 1000. Stick drift is the heaviest because it's the most common failure mode and the hardest to work around; connection is lightest because occasional dropouts are a symptom, not the root problem.
- 03
Severity bands with within-band interpolation
Each stage first maps its browser-observed measurement to healthy, functional, partial, or faulty. The scoring library then interpolates within that band using these point-ratio ranges: healthy 90-100% of the stage maximum, functional 75-90%, partial 50-75%, and faulty 0-50%. For stick drift, for example, the shipped cutoffs are under 0.05 healthy, under 0.10 functional, under 0.15 partial, and 0.15 or above faulty.
- 04
Weighted total → normalized 0-1000 display score
When all six stages are attempted, their point budgets total 1000. If a stage is skipped, the scoring function removes that stage from both earned points and maximum points, then grades and displays the attempted-stage percentage on a 0-1000 scale. A displayed score therefore represents performance across the stages actually attempted, not always raw points earned out of all 1000 possible stage points.
- 05
Grade band assignment
The shipped grade thresholds are S (950+), A+ (900-949), A (825-899), B (725-824), C (600-724), D (450-599), and F (below 450). These are GPADLAB-defined display bands applied to the normalized attempted-stage score; the letter grade should be read together with the per-stage breakdown and any skipped-stage note.
GPADLAB Testing Standards grade bands
The seven letter grades are GPADLAB-defined summary bands for this browser benchmark, not tournament eligibility, organizer certification, or a universal controller-quality standard. The shipped thresholds are S=950, A+=900, A=825, B=725, C=600, D=450, F below 450.
| Composite score | Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 950 - 1000 | S - Highest GPADLAB grade | The attempted browser-observed stages scored in GPADLAB's top band for this run. It is not proof of perfect hardware condition, tournament eligibility, or organizer acceptance. |
| 900 - 949 | A+ - Very strong | A very strong GPADLAB benchmark result across the stages attempted. Check the stage breakdown for any weaker measurement rather than inferring controller age or competitive suitability. |
| 825 - 899 | A - Strong | A strong composite result under GPADLAB's scoring rules. Individual stage results matter more than the letter grade when diagnosing a specific controller issue. |
| 725 - 824 | B - Mixed | The attempted stages produced a mixed but generally usable browser benchmark result. Review the lowest stage or repeat the run under controlled conditions before deciding on repair or replacement. |
| 600 - 724 | C - Needs review | One or more attempted stages reduced the composite materially. Use the per-stage measurements and targeted tools to identify whether the issue is repeatable and controller-related. |
| 450 - 599 | D - Weak result | The GPADLAB browser benchmark recorded substantial weakness in the attempted stages. Repeat under controlled conditions and inspect the stage-level evidence before drawing a hardware conclusion. |
| < 450 | F - Lowest GPADLAB grade | The attempted stages produced GPADLAB's lowest composite band. This is a diagnostic prompt, not an automatic declaration that the controller is physically irreparable or unusable. |
Grade thresholds mirror src/lib/scoring/index.ts: S=950, A+=900, A=825, B=725, C=600, D=450, F=0. The grade is calculated from (earned points ÷ attempted-stage maximum) × 1000, so skipped stages reduce the denominator rather than automatically lowering the displayed grade.
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Because stick drift is the most common and least workaroundable failure mode. A drifting stick affects every second of gameplay in the affected game. An occasional connection dropout is annoying but rare, and typically fixable via battery, distance, or wireless mode changes. The weighting reflects real-world impact per user hour, not academic parity between hardware subsystems.
The implementation uses stage-specific severity bands plus linear interpolation inside each band, then applies fixed stage weights. That design keeps the six measurements on one scoring scale while still allowing small differences inside a band to change the score. It is a GPADLAB scoring choice rather than an externally validated model of controller failure severity.
S begins at 950 because that is the top-band threshold defined by GPADLAB's grading table. The code does not establish that 950 is a universal boundary between tournament-ready and non-tournament-ready hardware, nor that 1000 is physically unattainable. Treat S as the highest GPADLAB benchmark band and read the underlying measurements alongside it.
The band edges are product-defined thresholds in the scoring library: 950, 900, 825, 725, 600, and 450. They provide a consistent GPADLAB display convention, but the codebase does not contain an external validation dataset proving that a particular point difference has the same practical meaning across every controller, browser, or connection type.
Everything runs on the Gamepad API (navigator.getGamepads) sampled inside requestAnimationFrame with performance.now() timestamps. No Web Bluetooth, no WebHID, no browser plugins. That means the tests work in any modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) with no installation, but they inherit the Gamepad API's own quirks - polling granularity, browser tab throttling, occasional axis noise floor above true zero.
The individual tests give per-stage measurements with their own thresholds and verdicts. The composite Controller Health Score puts them all on one screen with weighted point contributions, so you get a single number and a grade instead of six separate readouts. Both are valid - the individual tools are better for diagnosing a specific issue, the composite is better for a quick overall assessment or before-and-after comparisons.
Yes, and this matters. A test run on a laptop tab in the background (throttled requestAnimationFrame) will show inflated latency. A drift test on a controller held in your lap will show inflated drift. Bluetooth range tests near a busy Wi-Fi router will show inflated dropouts. The methodology assumes best-effort test conditions - foreground tab, controller on a flat surface for drift measurement, standard room for connection stability. A score is only meaningful if the test conditions match what the methodology specifies.
A lower score means the measurements in that run earned fewer points under GPADLAB's scoring rules, but browser-observed results can vary with test execution, system load, connection mode, browser scheduling, and controller state. GPADLAB does not publish a validated universal minimum score difference that proves a real hardware change. For comparisons, repeat the benchmark under similar conditions and inspect the stage-level measurements rather than relying only on the composite.
Further reading
- Gamepad API - MDN Web Docs · MDN Web Docs
- Performance.now() - high-resolution timestamps · MDN Web Docs