The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR - PC Stress Test

[DivotMaker]

HB Studios is opening up an opportunity for you to take part in The Golf Club...

Written By: Steve Noah

Click here to view the article.

[PES3Paul]

It's stressful enough trying to find out where to register on the site. Took me 15 minutes to find it. Now gotta wait another 24 hours for approval. Maybe not the best way to encourage people to take a chance on GC2??

[Ronoko]

Care to share where to create an account on their forums?* I can't find it

[DivotMaker]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ronoko

Care to share where to create an account on their forums?* I can't find it

Go here to sign up for the Stress test....

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...LNETg/viewform

For Steam User ID, use the username you log into Steam with.

As far as creating an account on their forums, have you tried a different browser? It is not readily apparent where to sign up for their forum on some browsers.

[Ronoko]

Yes, like google chrome lol. I signed up for the forums using mobile tapatalk which I should have done in the first place.

[OnlookerDelay]

I'd like to encourage as many PC users as possible to sign up for this. I'd like to see at least 500 get into it and lets really push this multiplayer. They're going to want swing tuning feedback also, which IMO is even more important than the multiplayer performance.

I'll add to DivotMaker's comment... make sure when you fill in the field called "Steam ID" that you use your "Account Name" (the one you log into Steam with, not your Steam Name, which in many people's case is different, but the one other Steam users see online). The form really should say "Account Name" for the field, not "Steam ID".

[HB_Alan]

Also, if it helps, the forum Registration link is here: http://www.hb-studios.com/forum/index.php?action=register

Where it shows "Guest" in the top right of your browser, click on that to log-in with an existing account or click on Register (which takes you to the link above).

Cheers.

[OnlookerDelay]

I was able to play a total of 108 holes of the pre-beta version of TGC 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR this past week during the three day 'Stress Test'. HB Studios was primarily interested in testing the game's ability to cope with its new real time, online multiplayer interface, but they also asked for testers to provide bug reports and feedback on the new swing interface. Only two fictional, yet realistic courses were available for play and they were conversions of two TGC 2 courses: Faxon Park and Weymiss Bay Golf Links. We didn't get to see any of the six licensed PGA TOUR courses in the test, but we may get a at least a glimpse at them this week at the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Overall, I was pleased with what I saw, even though the pre-beta was pretty bare bones in terms of tailoring your player and making club type choices, but again, the emphasis was on stress testing the servers for multiplayer play and connectivity. I only encountered one, very minor hint of network lag, in the from of camera pan lag, coming from one specific player in a live, alternate-shot match I played, but I had to be looking for it to really notice it was there. I tried both the online, ranked matchmaking, which for the test only had stroke play, in simultaneous... ie. not turn base play mode. It was smooth and reminded me of the online matchmaking in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 through 14.

I also got to try out the Private Matchmaking function, which did enable match play, skins, alt-shot, stroke, and fourball. Turn base play based upon the 'order of play' rules of golf is in effect in the non-stroke play there, and is an option in stroke play. This play option delivered smooth game play and I did see some hints in the help files that there will be a dedicated voice chat facility built into TGC 2019, although it wasn't enabled in this pre-beta version.

What impressed me the most about TGC 2019 was how much more realistic both the chipping game and playing shots out of the rough are now. I've seen nothing to compare to the realistic difficulty, feel, and execution each presents. Every chip shot I played (30+) in the demo portrayed a believable trajectory and roll-out. The execution of chip shots was not as easy to control, as the interface seemed to be more realistically scaled to push, pull, scuff or pop-up based on both your swing path and tempo. You can also take your real life golf mindset into the rough with you, as both the distance and the control affect are proportionally related to the density of the rough and the slope of your lie.

It's also worth noting that for the first time in controller based computer and video game golf gameplay, I actually executed swings that resulted in a push hook, and a few that resulted in a pull fade. The swing feedback meter gave me telemetry to illustrate why this happened, and to the credit of the raw interface itself, I could already feel some hint in my left thumb (you can opt for a left or right thumbstick swing control, but I've always preferred left). The tempo factor seems to be more varied and granular in TGC 2019, than TGC 2, but the severity for fast tempo errors doesn't seem to be as punitive at this point. I think some work is needed in the interface tuning there and fed that back to HBS, as did others.

I'm really anxious to see how this game unfolds, especially how effectively HBS utilizes their PGA TOUR license. They eventually want to have a 32 event PGA TOUR season that features 32 licensed PGA TOUR courses in their PGA TOUR career mode. Actual PGA TOUR player licensing is a different issue, and I've seen nothing concrete written about that yet. HBS does say that they're in for the long haul with their PGA TOUR license. I may know more after E3, and if I learn anything more I'll share it here.