Newbie seeking simulator advice

[loll_l]

I’ve just ordered the SkyTrak and I just wanna clear a few things up with regards to the my simulator options…

The main 3 simulators I keep reading about are TGC, WGT and E6. My understanding of them is as follows…

• TGC is the best out there but, despite promises that it would be, is not available for the SkyTrak yet – which seems to be frustrating a lot of SkyTrak owners on this forum!... I have also read that TGC requires a powerful PC/laptop to run properly.
• WGT is fully supported and you can buy a subscription from the SkyTrak website – although from what I have read WGT is very basic and does not support online play.
• E6: This is the one I do not know much about… I have seen videos on youtube showing SkyTrak working with E6 but is E6 actually fully compatible with SkyTrak or is it just at the testing phase? And how does E6 compare with TGC?

My current laptop has the following spec:

• Asus X553MA with Intel Pentium CPU N3540 @ 2.16GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
• Memory: 8192 MB RAM
• Intel HD Graphics with Approx. 1792 MB Total Memory
• Windows 10

Which leaves me with the following questions:

• Which are available to buy now and how do they compare cost wise?
• If I have understood correctly and TGC isn’t available yet – is it that much better than E6 that it is worth waiting for?
• Is there anywhere I can download beta versions of TGC and E6 from if they are not available to buy yet?
• Will my laptop struggle to run any/all of them?
• Where do I get the software to link the SkyTrak to my laptop?

Thanks in advance.

[Sascha1818]

Well, first of all your laptop will not be able to run TGC. For me TGC is the best option so far, well in the works but should come out soon. There is another option you haven't mentioned: Perfect golf. Unfortunately I haven't even seen anything from PG yet. Haven't looked much either. Skytrak was saying that the full E6 version and PG will come out first. There is a E6 demo version out right now. It's a 30 day trial and works great other then putting. E6 is ok graphic wise and should run on your laptop. I just don't think at approx. double the cost of TGC, it's a good deal. WGT is out in a full version but be careful, tablet version only !!!!! It has online play (tournaments) but unfortunately no multiplayer. So you can't play with your friends on your sim. Also since the Android version for skytrak is not released yet it's Apple (ipad, iphone...) only.

[Sascha1818]

Sorry I forgot,
- only WGT is available now
- Yes TGC will be out ................ and I think it's much better then E6. But that's just me
- No beta version for TGC
- Your laptop should be just ok for E6, WGT is ipad and it will not be able to run TGC
- Check the skytrak 2.0 beta thread on here. You can get a beta version of the PC software but the 2.1 full version should be out any day. I would wait for that.

[loll_l]

Thanks for the replies. So does that mean I will have to purchase a new laptop to run TGC or can I just upgrade the graphics card inside? (I'm not great with technology!)

I'm struggling to find prices for the software... can anyone tell me what I can expect to pay for each one?

Oh and.. where can a download the E6 demo from?

[voodoo_ca]

The word LAPTOP and UPGRADE do not usually go together - unless you are talking about a hard drive and RAM.
Its likely you wont be able to do anything to the graphics components inside the laptop... I have been out of components for a while, but I dont think there were any external components that you could buy either (unless that has changed).
People keep saying the TGC should be around $999 - but I dont think thats set in stone yet.

[Sascha1818]

You can download the demo from the truegolf site. https://trugolf.com/e6/demo/ The full version for skytrak is not out yet so no price yet. But it runs between 1200 and 1700 with 15 courses for other sim hardware so I expect it to be in the same range.
TGC seems to be about 1000 (not official yet but should be close) with around 90000 courses and a course creator to create your own courses. I'm sure there will be monthly or yearly options too but I never looked into them. Not big into that, if I buy something I want to own it hahaha.

[loll_l]

Woh!.... I wasn't expecting the software to cost anywhere near that much! I can't really understand why it is either... surely it doesn't take much tweaking to turn a normal console golf game like Tiger Woods into a simulator!

Looks like I'm going down the WGT route for now then... does this work on any old ipad or does it have to be a new ipad?

[Sascha1818]

it has to have a retina display to work with skytrak, so older yes but not too old. Ipad air, air2, ipad mini2 (with retina) mini 3 and it has been reported that the iphone 6 works too. I myself hate apple that's why I sold my air (which I only bought to use the skytrak) as soon as the pc beta came out.

[loll_l]

My old man has an ipad 3rd generation that he doesn't use anymore... will that work?

Yea I hate apple too! ... I assume when you say you are now using the PC beta it means you are not using it with any of the simulators? (ie. you are just using with the basic SkyTrak software?)

[Sascha1818]

I am using the E6 demo. The 30 day trial will end soon. I have never used WGT. But there was supposed to be a ANDROID version of the skytrak app soon too. so I might in the future. My main focus is on TGC. I bought the PC "game" to get used to it and design some courses. Already spend the money for the computer and if they don't screw up totally I will get TGC as soon as it is released. Playing E6 was and still is fun don't get me wrong. It has pros and cons. Pro is the multiple tee boxes you have but what pulled me towards TGC is the better graphic, basically unlimited courses, you can design your own courses (which I did one to perfectly match my distances just for practice) they have online tours and the price was better. I have not used the basic skytrak software since I started the E6 trial cause the E6 driving range is much better and it also has a chipping green.

[luv2golf]

Check out the video link I just posted under Perfect Golf for Skytrak.

Your PC will most likely run both E6 and Perfect Golf, but definitely not TGC.

Alot will depend on what pricing models will look like.