It should definitely get better over time, but the latency issue is pretty tough to get around. Bouncing between a half dozen nodes, surely back and forth across an ocean once or twice between each request and piecing everything back together, is a pretty tough problem to solve. Especially when a disproportionate number of nodes seem to be located in Central Europe.
Its also an issue that most exit nodes restrict their outbound speed and ports they route outward. Without restricting the speed in my tor configuration my exit node holds a constant 10/MBs all day even with only common ports open. Once you stop restricting ports you'll be getting multiple cease-and-desist notices within a matter of days since all your traffic will be absorbed by torrents.
Someone will likely come up with an equally/more secure option before Tor gets all that close to your average user's connection speed.
Its also an issue that most exit nodes restrict their outbound speed and ports they route outward. Without restricting the speed in my tor configuration my exit node holds a constant 10/MBs all day even with only common ports open. Once you stop restricting ports you'll be getting multiple cease-and-desist notices within a matter of days since all your traffic will be absorbed by torrents.
Someone will likely come up with an equally/more secure option before Tor gets all that close to your average user's connection speed.