2K Announces The New PGA TOUR 2K21 (TGC2021) Game!!!

[Silver]

Just announce with more info coming May 14th, no current sign of PC though

[Silver]

I think the courses will port across again, the graphics and engine looks identical to 2019.

[shwag33]

Honestly looks like TGC19 with a few things added that bring nothing to the sim environment. I'd be shocked if protee pursues this release, but i'm also talking with no knowledge of anything that happens behind the scenes.

[3on3putt]

Definitely looks super cool, although it doesn't look much different than TGC2019. I wonder what the key differences are (if any?)

[DS12]

Adding pro golfers to compete against for the FedEx Cup

[3on3putt]

But that element of it would not make it into the sim version. The PGA Tour licensing that exists in the console version of TGC2019 was left out of the sim version and this would be no different.

[DS12]

Agreed, but that's the big draw from what I can tell, just for the console version

[DS12]

Since it's created by HB studios, I'd hope they'd port all the courses from prior versions

[mthunt]

They'll port courses. They like the numbers

[3on3putt]

ESPN article says 15 courses and 12 tour pros.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...simulated-game

[Knickerbocker]

I doubt we will see a sim version until there is one that is built for next gen consoles with updated engine. There are so many great courses for TGC 19, that I am not worried about no new courses in the future.

[Jwheels9876]

The issue is not new courses, it's the gameplay issues and the lack of game modes that actually function properly in multiplayer online

[kahi]

I don't think there is any reason to produce a new sim version until the graphics are updated to take advantage of the huge advancements in the hardware (both PC graphics cards and the upcoming new consoles). Ray tracing, HDR, photorealistic 3D assets in addition to nicely increased triangle crunching.

Of course there's the option of updating/modding the current version. I see no reason why TGC 2019 shouldn't get an update to take advantage of the latest hardware. You can see in Youtube how e.g. GTA 5 looks when ray tracing is applied to an already existing game.

[madmike6537]

Someone in the youtube comments was saying it has scramble mode. I wonder if that is what ProTee United was referring to when they talked about adding scramble to the game about a year ago. Adding scramble and a few bug fixes would make me really happy with TGC2019 if they can pull those features into the sim version somehow. But who knows.

[kahi]

More teaser links to the ”what should be” discussion. These sky modeling techniques are directly applicable to golf, we could have realistically immersive morning/evening sunlight!

https://youtu.be/oDQl9gw_fRM

https://youtu.be/SeNM9zBPLCA

[3on3putt]

Someone in the youtube comments was saying it has scramble mode. I wonder if that is what ProTee United was referring to when they talked about adding scramble to the game about a year ago. Adding scramble and a few bug fixes would make me really happy with TGC2019 if they can pull those features into the sim version somehow. But who knows.

The espn article says skins, scrambles and alternate shot for multiplayer use. (Although it does not say those are the ONLY options, so a best-ball could be an option as well).

[Jay28]

PC release date is August 21st.
It's on pre order now.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1016120/PGA_TOUR_2K21/

Hope a simulation version comes out.

[Jerome]

While checking out the above link I noticed TGC2019 is now $14.99 on Steam.

[DS12]

Only for another week, expires on 5/21

[kahi]

mthunt $100 sim software is impossible if it requires the support of a separate company.

It’s possible if there is no need for a separate integration. The launch monitor could provide the data to the software directly, as normal PC game controllers do.

You don’t need extra software to connect a driving set (steering wheel, pedals, sticks) to a driving simulator game on a PC or a console. You have hardware device drivers for the OS (Windows) and direct support for it in the sim software.

The same goes for e.g. flight simulator controllers.

To a golf game the launch monitor could be just another controller.

It would be both natural and great to have this in the consumer (home users) space now that we have two high quality reasonably priced launch monitors available (SkyTrak, Mevo+) and more upcoming, with the prices dropping as the home user volumes grow.

[andygg1986]

I think the difference is that the controller as you are describing it is the same as pushing a button. In the case of sim software, you also have to add golf ball flight modeling. I don’t think that when you play the PC version of TGC the computer says “you clicked the mouse at these specific times which translates to a ball launching at 156mph with 2336 rpm backspin, 7.1 degree spin axis, 13.2 degree launch angle, 1.7 degree right”. If that were the case then yes, just inserting launch monitor data would be simple. But I believe that what the simulator software packages add is taking those numbers and translating them into a ball flight that the video game understands.

[kahi]

I’m sure the PC/console version of TGC 2019 contains a ball flight model that is real-world realistic and calculates the flight based on speed, angles and spin.

Check e.g. the ”Environmental effects” section of this comparison: https://gunghogolf.com/articles/tgc2019-vs-e6connect

In the case of a mouse or a game pad the input the controller provides is a swing simulation that models the club head movement. That data is then turned into impact data which the actual ball flight model gets and calculates the ball flight. In the sim version the swing modeling is not needed because the launch monitor provides the ball data directly.

So the sim version is actually running a simpler modeling pipeline than the PC/console version to produce what we see on the screen.

The other way around: E6 connect could be turned into a console game easily by creating the interpreter that turns the game pad input into launch parameter data.

[kahi]

If anyone is wandering what ray tracing is or why it’s important for making games and golf sims much better, here’s a terrific video about it. Both PCs and the new upcoming consoles are covered.

https://youtu.be/SJ0NzZAkPlo

The presenter explains in detail how the game developers are already finding ways to combine hardware ray tracing with software algorithms to bring photorealistic lighting to their already published games. Check out the RTX mods of Quake II and Minecraft as examples of simple graphics getting an amazing facelift from ray tracing!

HB Studios is currently using Unity. If you only have a minute, watch from 02:30 to 03:30 for a reference to middleware game engines.

[kahi]

https://youtu.be/eOHsJoKp_wo

That was published a year ago, it gives a glimpse of what could be done to e.g. TGC 2019 or 2K21 right now. Just upgrade the 3D assets and turn on ray tracing, no need to rebuild the courses!

[Jerome]

I don't think ray tracing would add that much to computer/simulated golf. Think about TV coverage of the Masters. HD TV camera output is the what computer 3D engine(ray tracing) output to 2D monitors is shooting for. You ask anyone who has seen Augusta in person and they will say that TV does not show the elevation changes well. We need stereoscopic(VR) golf simulation.

Many times(mostly in e6 connect) I'm way short or long because I didn't note the text indicator of elevation change. I can't tell the elevation change just by looking at the target on the screen(ray tracing can't fix this). I think stereoscopic rendering(VR) would solve this issue and be a huge advancement in reading simulated greens.

[kahi]

VR or perhaps AR so you’d still hit a physical ball with a physical club is the holy grail of immersive sim golfing!

Getting that to work realistically and photorealistically will take a while, though.