diff --git a/config/toml.go b/config/toml.go
index 0baf4859f..0319f0902 100644
--- a/config/toml.go
+++ b/config/toml.go
@@ -569,6 +569,10 @@ var testGenesisFmt = `{
 			"max_gas": "-1",
 			"time_iota_ms": "10"
 		},
+		"timing": {
+			"message_delay": "200",
+			"precision": "50"
+		},
 		"evidence": {
 			"max_age_num_blocks": "100000",
 			"max_age_duration": "172800000000000",
diff --git a/internal/consensus/replay_test.go b/internal/consensus/replay_test.go
index 517ac3626..69124df0d 100644
--- a/internal/consensus/replay_test.go
+++ b/internal/consensus/replay_test.go
@@ -816,7 +816,8 @@ func testHandshakeReplay(
 	}
 
 	// now start the app using the handshake - it should sync
-	genDoc, _ := sm.MakeGenesisDocFromFile(cfg.GenesisFile())
+	genDoc, err := sm.MakeGenesisDocFromFile(cfg.GenesisFile())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
 	handshaker := NewHandshaker(logger, stateStore, state, store, eventbus.NopEventBus{}, genDoc)
 	proxyApp := proxy.NewAppConns(clientCreator2, logger, proxy.NopMetrics())
 	if err := proxyApp.Start(ctx); err != nil {
@@ -825,7 +826,7 @@ func testHandshakeReplay(
 
 	t.Cleanup(func() { cancel(); proxyApp.Wait() })
 
-	err := handshaker.Handshake(ctx, proxyApp)
+	err = handshaker.Handshake(ctx, proxyApp)
 	if expectError {
 		require.Error(t, err)
 		return
@@ -1004,7 +1005,8 @@ func TestHandshakePanicsIfAppReturnsWrongAppHash(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	stateDB, state, store := stateAndStore(cfg, pubKey, appVersion)
 	stateStore := sm.NewStore(stateDB)
-	genDoc, _ := sm.MakeGenesisDocFromFile(cfg.GenesisFile())
+	genDoc, err := sm.MakeGenesisDocFromFile(cfg.GenesisFile())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
 	state.LastValidators = state.Validators.Copy()
 	// mode = 0 for committing all the blocks
 	blocks := sf.MakeBlocks(3, &state, privVal)
diff --git a/types/params.go b/types/params.go
index 3c3f00b57..72f4ef267 100644
--- a/types/params.go
+++ b/types/params.go
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func DefaultTimingParams() TimingParams {
 	// TODO(@wbanfield): Determine experimental values for these defaults
 	// https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues/7202
 	return TimingParams{
-		Precision:    2 * time.Second,
+		Precision:    50 * time.Millisecond,
 		MessageDelay: 3 * time.Second,
 	}
 }