Client side anti-cheat (the one installed on your PC) will never work, it’s just fundamentally impossible. They can restrict user freedom as much as they want, but the hardware still isn’t under their control.

The only reason they push for those kinds of anti-cheats is because they don’t have to pay for the extra processing of server side anti-cheat, and they also get the benefit of a backdoor into your computer that you may never fully uninstall without buying a new computer.

There is encryption that will save you unless ISPs use shadow peers, which they can’t use retroactively.

Edit, cuz I think the scope of my original comment has been misunderstood, my bad:

Of course, ISPs can still know you’re torrenting, and if they don’t like that, you will get letters. But they can’t know what you torrented.

If you’re gonna torrent, get informed about the laws in your country and how ISPs enforce anti-piracy measures, and if you can freely torrent in your country, there’s no need to use a VPN. Encryption will save you from ISPs retroactively snooping on what you torrented.

VPNs are a barrier for torrenting. Some people don’t want to pay (or can’t even pay), and other people may find setting a VPN up difficult. This is not good advice.

Force encryption for bittorrent and you’re already future proof.