PGA 2k21-upgrading from PS4 to PS5 (awesome) first impressions

[golfnut67]

I've been playing 15-20 rounds or more per week of 2k21 on a standard PS4 since last December. I tried to go to 60fps when the update came out last march, and even my friend's PS4 Pro wouldn't come close to running the game smoothly at 60fps.

I signed up a couple of months ago for a chance at a Sony Direct closed restock event. I got lucky and got chosen last week. The PS5 arrived today. I still can't believe I scored one at retail. I did it just because it was retail, and to be ready for whatever comes next year from EA and 2k.

PS5 instantly recognized my 65 inch 4k TV and set the correct settings. Transferring all data from the PS4 was easy and I didn't lose any data, not even MyPlayer data. Updated the game with the latest update and went into the next round of my PGA Career.

And then...HOLY ****.

Every aspect of the game is totally transformed. Everything is deeper, sharper, the Scout cam glides effortlessly over the shot with more depth and detail than ever. The player animation is so much more detailed and fluid. It really has transformed the entire swing mechanics of the game. Everything seems to move a bit "slower", but that's probably just an illusion. It's just more frames and more detail. And I've discovered that I've been playing with a worn out PS4 controller for months, because my left/right fast/slow has instantly improved. What a transformation. It's like a new game.

I know this is all old hat to you guys who have nice gaming PCs or have been able to play 60fps on a console, but this is the first time I've experienced it, and it's incredible.

My question is, are there any higher graphic settings other than vsync at 60fps, SMAA Medium? I tried the other anti aliasing settings and they all seemed to blur the edges more than SMAA. Are there any higher settings than 60fps SMAA Medium?

Thanks for reading. 55 year old here tweaking on PS hardware haha. Loving it.

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by golfnut67

I've been playing 15-20 rounds or more per week of 2k21 on a standard PS4 since last December. I tried to go to 60fps when the update came out last march, and even my friend's PS4 Pro wouldn't come close to running the game smoothly at 60fps. I signed up a couple of months ago for a chance at a Sony Direct closed restock event. I got lucky and got chosen last week. The PS5 arrived today. I still can't believe I scored one at retail. I did it just because it was retail, and to be ready for whatever comes next year from EA and 2k. PS5 instantly recognized my 65 inch 4k TV and set the correct settings. Transferring all data from the PS4 was easy and I didn't lose any data, not even MyPlayer data. Updated the game with the latest update and went into the next round of my PGA Career. And then...HOLY ****. Every aspect of the game is totally transformed. Everything is deeper, sharper, the Scout cam glides effortlessly over the shot with more depth and detail than ever. The player animation is so much more detailed and fluid. It really has transformed the entire swing mechanics of the game. Everything seems to move a bit "slower", but that's probably just an illusion. It's just more frames and more detail. And I've discovered that I've been playing with a worn out PS4 controller for months, because my left/right fast/slow has instantly improved. What a transformation. It's like a new game. I know this is all old hat to you guys who have nice gaming PCs or have been able to play 60fps on a console, but this is the first time I've experienced it, and it's incredible. My question is, are there any higher graphic settings other than vsync at 60fps, SMAA Medium? I tried the other anti aliasing settings and they all seemed to blur the edges more than SMAA. Are there any higher settings than 60fps SMAA Medium? Thanks for reading. 55 year old here tweaking on PS hardware haha. Loving it.

Congratulations on your upgrade. I have found that on my XBox Series X, the 60 Hz vsync option, which enables 60 FPS animation, has made a big improvement to the feel of the game... I couldn't go back if I had to.

I have my Anti-Aliasing set to TAA, which IMO yields the best looking results. It might result in the loss of 1 FPS here or there, but I find it yields the most natural edges. I also turn SSAO on, as it sharpens the image a bit, without a performance hit. The rest of the graphics options I have set to OFF. The Depth of Field seems to produce the most noticeable hit on performance when it's enabled. I also find that they overdo the DoF by blurring objects at too short a distance, making things look out of focus, that shouldn't be out of focus.

Oh, one more thing... did you re-calibrate your swing at the practice range after switching to 60 Hz vsync on the PS5? I found that helped me when I switched over on my
Series X.

It's amazing how much that one simple option with selecting the vsync has helped the feel of this game though, isn't it? I tried pleading with HB Studios to also add a "vsync OFF" option. That would enable the game to seek its own maximum frame rate and would work wonders for gamers who also have a 120 Hz, Variable Refresh Rate capable display. There would be no judder of stuttering, even though the frame rate might be varying between 55 and probably up to 80 FPS. I checked this latest patch that was released yesterday and they didn't add it. Honestly, I don't expect them to, even though they did see fit to include a vsync off option on the PC version.

[golfnut67]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it IS amazing how much it has transformed the game. The PS5 is effortlessly running this game with all graphic options turned on. TAA seemed to be a bit more blurry to me than SMAA Medium, but I'll mess with it again and see if I notice a difference.

You're right, being able to turn vsync off would probably just let the hardware max out on it's own. The PS5 is obviously more than capable to run it full blast.

Even if I have it set as I do now, and that's the best it can be, it's a massive improvement. I didn't recalibrate my swing, because it instantly helped me swing more straight without doing anything, especially the backswing. On the PS4, I almost never had a completely straight backswing, let alone a down swing. It's so much better that I jumped up to Master for the first time last night, and lost a tournament by one stroke. I never even thought I would be willing to put myself through Master, and there's no way I could have shot under par with my old controller and at 30fps. HUGE difference all the way around.

[golfnut67]

Oh, and about yesterday's patch. I've been playing online with a friend every night, he's got a PS4 Pro and I had my PS4 until yesterday. So we get online yesterday, and he tries to sign in to our party room as usual, and kept getting a Profanity message that wouldn't let him enter the room. We tried it for 40 minutes, I went online looking for ways around it. Couldn't find anything. He was simply trying to type a simple login and password.

So as I'm searching for an option, he gets the notification that there's an update. I didn't get it because it's not for PS5. He installs the update, and the Profanity message went away haha. So obviously other people were having this issue and probably submitted support tickets for it. It was just funny that the very first time we encountered it, our first attempt with me on PS5, they issue a patch 2 hours later that fixed this issue. Go figure!

[scagwi]

Welcome to a dramatic hardware upgrade!

Nice -- eh!?

Have fun and hit 'em straight!

[golfnut67]

Thanks for the encouragement! Hitting them straighter than ever. About to jump online with my friend and play River's Bend, a PGA course in our area (Dayton/Cincinnati Ohio).

This game will continue to do me just fine until we finally get the nex gen action. I think there is soooo much more room for dramatic improvement on golf games than there could ever be at this point for Madden, NBA, Soccer, etc. It's like golf games are still frozen in time from 2015, even this one. I'm really expecting both EA and 2k to blow our minds, at least visually, compared to what we've all been looking at since Links 2000 or whatever.

I would be over the moon with just a game that has 2k21 swing and ball mechanics/physics, inserted into the most graphically beautiful golf game we've ever seen. With working leaderboards and a much more in depth career mode, of course. But just give me the physics of 2k21 in Frostbite or whatever, with lots of real courses and thousands of user courses, and it will be the biggest advance in sports games in a long time. I don't care if 2k or EA does it. Just hoping one of them gets it right.