Thought I had my mind made up on TGC

[Emptyshotgun]

Hi everybody, I have been monitoring this forum everyday for over a year and been learning all that I can. This week I plan to pull the trigger( for real ) on a skytrak and full sim set up. It is very exciting for me. I thought for sure that TGC was the software for me. I have noticed that PG has been a hot topic on the boards this month and the beta videos on YouTube seem to show a quicker shot to show time over TGC. Is there a reason for this? The time difference is +\- one second but the magic number seems to be 3 seconds, anything under is hardly noticed and anything over feels like forever. Has anyone else observed this? I only ask because I have been waiting forever for TGC to be released to buy a set up and want to get the most user friendly software. Price has my wondering if PG is worth the wait. (Who knows how long)

[wilson]

Sim play is a different beast entirely, and I haven't yet played either on my ST.
But I can offer the view, that spending the 40 bucks on both and playing on steam first has really helped me make a better judgement on which one might work for me.
In the grand scheme of a sim build (or "the sink hole" as my wife calls it) a few bucks on steam is well worth it.

[Emptyshotgun]

Wilson if you had to pick based on your steam games, what one would you choose? Is it close?

[John6577]

I am in the same boat. My problem is that I only have an iMac and cannot get the Golf Club to work since I am running Parallels. I have tried Perfect Golf on Steam and it seems to be good, but my Graphics card is not strong enough to really get a great feel for the graphics and all. Also, much different playing a sim with a mouse and keyboard compared to actually hitting balls with the Skytrak.

I will just wait and see how the reviews come back before I spend even more money by getting a new PC and all. I am brand new to the Golf Sim world (still getting everything bought and setup as we speak). So far, I am about $4000 into my sim setup and by the time I get a PC and software I am going to be over $5k. I am excited to get this all up and going, but I will admit the cost of it all has me second guessing myself.

I think for the time being I can live with WGT and the Skytrak range feature to get started.

[Mickey]

I've had a ST since Nov 2015 and now have a dedicated sim room in my house. My plan is to do the 1 yr lease option for both TGC and PG, perhaps e6 aswell, and make a call once I've really tested all 3.

[wilson]

I think that is a fantastic long term view.
Remember, the pool of users for ';Sim' versions of these 3 are about to explode thanks to ST and its lower price.
The company that sevices best will win in the end.

[Snax]

Funny, I am in the same boat. Just picked up my ST, net still hasn't arrived. Made a make shift sim in a garage this weekend with a tarp. Really happy with my ST (can only hit a wedge). I too was originally looking at TGC but now think PG might be the way to go. I am very optimistic that PG will be available very son given the latest update includes the option for ST. Now just st waiting for sky golf.

[Alienator]

Its going to be about playability and service and listening to requests. Whatever sim plays the best and updates the fastest to add user requested features is going to be the clear winner. Even E6 with its less than comparable graphics can be the popular sim if it is more playable. The great graphics are great in TGC but they are not that much better than PG and you really wont even notice the difference while playing after a few rounds so if one just clearly feels better it will be the way to go. The fact they wont be offering sim demos is really disappointing, I cant even bother to count the number of video games I have bought only to find the controls are shit or playability sucks and just wasted 40-60$ on them because I didnt play them after the first day. This could be the same situation only on a much more expensive scale. Trying the sims out on pc version first will help but it still wont give you the total feel and skytrak integration is likely to be much different than mouse clicking on puts and chips.

[aja]

I wouldn't rush into the 'whole sim set-up' just yet. Get your SkyTrak and get used to it. You'll have lots of opportunity to choose sim software. Only t wo available for SkyTrak are WGT and now TGC - released today.

As a TGC user for over a year and a half I know that I will not even be considering PG, if and when it should become available for my platform.

My take on the PG / TGC comparison is that PG has a loyal following somewhat based on their extremely low price of entry - $20 and a GC2 got you a chance to be a beta tester. The graphics look realistic and some say the flight model is better, although how anyone can really make that assessment without having tested it against TGC, I have no idea. Despite some discussion about how the courses will be more 'accurate' in PG, there are currently only a handful of courses available that are based on real courses. And the total number that are supposedly available isn't much more than thirty five. The course design software also hasn't been released so there can't be very many courses waiting in the wings.

TGC also has good graphics, quite realistic. Price of entry is significant but compared to the 'big boys', ie. E6, the price is reasonable. TGC may suffer from having too many courses available. The advertising lists over 90,000 courses available, but you have to be aware that most are from the console game versions (XBox, PC, etc) and are not very playable as golf sim software. I plugged 'TPC Sawgrass' into the search field and ended up with at least 10 courses by that name with no real way to distinguish between them. That's not good. But, there are many very good designs that play very well as golf sims, at least 50 that are based on real courses and at least another 50 that are originals. TGC has momentum on it's side.

[Emptyshotgun]

Thanks for the post, it was helpful

[bradski]

It does seem to me like the pc requirements are a little less for pg. That along with the assumed lower price def has me leaning that way also

[V8burble]

I'm a GC2 user with TGC and PG. Both are great and you won't go wrong with either, assuming the integration with SkyTrak is reliable and similar to my experience with GC2.
I have no interest in using my GC2 without sim play as it's rounds and competitions that motivate me. If you are the same then you may want to wait for full release to ensure everything works as expected.

pros and cons for both that will depend upon what you want from the simulator but both are great products and you'll have fun whichever you choose.