[scottapotamas]

You can possibly fix/improve this situation by tuning some config settings on the ESP32 and/or host. Changing these with the ESP-IDF is pretty easy, but you'll have to find the relevant calls that are suitable for an Arduino based project.

Your description of packet clumping sounds like Nagle's Algorithm at play, which I found increased TCP latency on the ESP32 fairly significantly.

If the hardware isn't battery powered, then you might also see improvements by playing with the ESP32's WiFi power saving modes.

[aspenmayer]

I hear that this is one of the advertised benefits of upcoming WiFi 7 - so-called “deterministic latency.”