Computer not utilizing graphics card

I recently got ark ascended and trying to play with friends but keep getting capped at around 20-30 fps. According to the task manager it's only using about 40-50% CPU, 40% RAM and a big fat 0.1% GPU. My specs are as follows:

CPU: Intel core i5-8400

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

RAM: 32 GB

Storage: enough

I know my GPU is below recommended but I still don't know why it wouldn't utilize it. My GPU memory is also maxing out but I don't know why it displays 0.1% usage. I've tried tweaking all sorts of settings and using launch commands and yes, the display is connected to the GPU, not the motherboard. It seems that its quite a common problem for the game and heard the game is poorly optimized.
Does anybody know what could be the issue behind this?