Is ping affected by distance?

Your Ping depends mainly on your Internet connection . Its value is expressed in milliseconds and may be less than 10ms for a very good ping and exceed 200ms for a low-speed connection (this can rise much more). The lower the more it is considered good.

Yes absolutely , the closest your server is from the user the better the ping is because the travelling distance / time is reduced.29 Nis 2016

Ping from Find My Phone