How can I achieve the optimal connection for using Tor as a client, in terms of bandwidth and response time, given infinite resources? Can I set up a server with very strong connection and do a VPN into it from a client machine (eg. browser on a laptop)? Could I connect to low-latency nodes only? Etc.
2 Answers
Short answer is no. It is possible to do so, but would very much lower the anonymous nature of your traffic. It would be best to run A relay node 24/7 to increase the amount of "fast" circuits that you connect to.
Tor itself seems to pick reasonable circuits these days.
There is no support for picking a certain set of nodes based on the properties you want, and if there was, it's unclear if that'd help.