Why are people recommending to connect to VPN servers closest to game server, rather than physical location?

Basically title. I'm wondering about this because I'm considering getting a VPN for gaming. My ISP has some bad congestion and routing when I play internationally, and I think a VPN might improve that latency.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm very much an amateur at this topic. But when I connect to a VPN, I'm using my ISP's routing to reach the VPN server, right? Hence the question why connecting to a VPN server close to the game server is better than close to my physical location. What are the upsides? TIA