[jcauthen04]

I don't think the vast majority of golf gaming public has an inkling of just how major a development in the golf gaming world unfolded yesterday.  What was intended at one time to be the next, revolutionary edition of Perfect Golf for the PC (and possibly consoles later), was released as "Virtual Golf 2" for the Trackman 4 launch monitor.  Discussion of this should be topping the gaming social media pages and sports/golf gaming forums, but instead, here's what I was able to scrape up about it yesterday:

1.) One response to its announcement on Trackman's Tiwtter page, and that was mine, and 1865 views

2.) 12 responses to the announcement on Trackman's Twitter page, and 2,120 views

3.) 96 likes and 14 comments on Trackman's Facebook page

4.) Not a single post about its release in the Trackman Golf Simulator Forum

It is sort of heartbreaking to me that a golf simulation/gaming breakthrough of this magnitude is going to be lost on so many people because it's got such a narrow stage.  Andrew, Mike and the others who were involved in creating Virtual Golf 2 deserve a broader spotlight for such an epic achievement as this!?  I hope that one day Trackman will realize what they are sitting on and tap the larger market potential for the gaming aspect of what they have in VG2.

[jcauthen04]

Check this video out of the wind effect on trees in Virtual Golf 2 (in essence Perfect Golf 2)... very impressive!

https://streamable.com/26l0d

[Stan Solo]

We need this on PC and consoles

[jcauthen04]

We need this on PC and consoles

I totally agree with you Sir Stan and I still think there's a glimmer of hope for it at least on the PC, but for it to reach its fullest potential, it would need also appear on the PS4/5 and XBox One/S/X/Scarlett, with something other than 'Hacker Harry' as the avatar. 

It still kind of irks me that an upgrade in simulation software, stemming from what was originally intended to be a PC golf game, is being lost on the vox pop.  There's still no gameplay videos of the game in action on the internet, 3 days after its release...  this accomplishment deserves better attention than this!

[jcauthen04]

We're getting closer to having the kind of gameplay video I'd like to see of Virtual Golf 2 on Trackman's Instagram page. Check this out:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5UyWXSnpwi/

[Stan Solo]

Everything just looks so lush and natural  .... those textures

[jcauthen04]

Everything just looks so lush and natural  .... those textures

Here's the first video of a live human hitting some practice approaches to various practice holes... warning - the graphics look even better than I imagined they would

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=114&v=lPa3WBY8jZI&feature=emb_logo

[jcauthen04]

Here's something closer to complete tee to green play (the golfer has auto-putt enabled) at Silverleaf Golf Club.  The desert mountain backdrop is easily the best looking I've ever seen in ANY golf game or simulation!  I questioned the poster and he says he's only interesting in ball striking and that's why he has it in auto-putt.  I'd love to see how the full putting experience goes with this though.  What's the norm for gimmies on simulators?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzkPwto9xxs

[jeffield]

One thing that puzzles me is   ....  they both use the Unity engine

Yet they seem to have the opposite struggles  ?

Yeah, I dream of a TGC with JNPG's bunkers (or sand pits for Jeffield's sake ) in it, or a JNPG with TGC 2's fluid golfer animation.  It tells me the Unity engine is a bit more diverse than I give it credit.

Hey, hey, hey.   Hold on there cowpolk.....    you mockin me?   

[jcauthen04]

One thing that puzzles me is   ....  they both use the Unity engine

Yet they seem to have the opposite struggles  ?

Yeah, I dream of a TGC with JNPG's bunkers (or sand pits for Jeffield's sake ) in it, or a JNPG with TGC 2's fluid golfer animation.  It tells me the Unity engine is a bit more diverse than I give it credit.

Hey, hey, hey.   Hold on there cowpolk.....    you mockin me?   

Before I answer your question, I've got to ask you one that is far more profound than the one you're asking me... what prompted you to pull this fossil of a question from the Stone Age of this thread!?      No wonder this thread is closing in on 1.5 million page views if people are researching it to that extent!

To answer your question of was I mockin you, no, I was deferring to you by using your vernacular.  Although in retrospect I could see how you may have perceived it as "mockin'" 

[Yeltzman]

Not played PG for a while did PP add a few courses for free in a update,noticed i had The Grove in my course list and i think a few others as well nice touch from them if they did,still can't play the game that's the trouble.

[MERACE]

Not played PG for a while did PP add a few courses for free in a update,noticed i had The Grove in my course list and i think a few others as well nice touch from them if they did,still can't play the game that's the trouble.

http://www.perfectparallel.com/topic/11498-i-got-all-the-pay-courses-free/#entry175549


-MERACE

[Yeltzman]

Many thanks Merace i always forget about the PP forum,always look here first got to say a great gesture from PP with those free courses,shame Royal Troon and Birkdale not there 2 i would like but still a nice gift from them after all this time.

[jcauthen04]

Here's a link to a You Tube video of a Trackman 4/Virtual Golf 2 full round at Sweetens Cove.  It's rendered smoothly in 1080p, although for the first time in the Virtual Golf 2 videos and images I've seen thus far, the difference isn't as obvious in this one.  The 3D rough doesn't really show the advantages of Turf Effects, but it might be down to the late evening lighting used and the lack of a much light rough at this course.  The panorama looks really nice as does the sky dome.  The winds are pretty much still so there's nothing to see in terms of sashaying tree foliage in this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_gxJpqofpU

What impressed me most about this video is how quickly the ball's flight is depicted on the screen on full shots.  There's almost no delay between the impact of the ball on the screen and the animation depicting the ball flight starting.  This guy also gives us the first look at the "Broadcast Camera" perspective on the cut views, and I really liked it, although I'd prefer to have cut views that were more reverse than side angle.  None the less, I strongly prefer the Broadcast view shown here to Follow Cam, which I shied away from in the early Tiger Woods PGA Tour series years.

Finally, I thought the putting looked pretty decent.  The player in the video had some very believable results with his 10 to 20 foot putts he hit.  There was a bout a two second delay between the putt strike and the ball rolling on the green, but the path an behavior looked consistent with the strike.  It's just a shame that Virtual Golf 2 software is playing to such a small audience, when there are millions of gaming computers and consoles that could support it so well 

[jcauthen04]

Here's a new video of PGA Professional Steve Smith playing Sebonack on Trackman 4, using the new Virtual Golf 2 simulation software.  This one shows off the usage of Turf Effects for 3D rough a lot better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cecQT0yC1ag

Unfortunately, Steve had the simulator set for "Autoputt", which tells you nothing about how the putting actually works in the game.  For example, in one case, he's given a 3-putt bogey from 8 1/2 feet, but two holes later he's 'given' a 39 foot, double breaking putt for a birdie.  The round scores are totally useless for when autoputt is selected, but if you want to get around a course in less than 25 minutes, I guess it has its purpose.

I asked Steve in the comments section of his first Virtual Golf 2 video from Sweetens Cove 9, why 8' seems to be the minimum gimme putt distance.  This was his reply:

"8' is the shortest gimme option for Trackman. I've heard that Trackman mostly ignores balls under ~5mph so that is why 8' and in is a gimme."

Still, I thought it looked believable in the putts he hit of 8' to 15' when he wasn't in "autoputt" mode in his Sweetens Cove 9 video.  Being awarded "gimmes" to me inside of 8' is giving me waaaaaaay too much slack!