EA revealed their latest EA Sports PGA Tour trailer today highlighting some of the 30 courses available at launch. It would have been great to see all 30 in the video but the ones that were shown look fantastic. Photogrammetry scanning, drone technology, LiDAR helicopter flights and survey-grade GPS were used to create the photo realistic courses with pinpoint accuracy.
In fact, many courses in the game are accurate down to the blade of grass and also include renderings of clubhouses, vegetation, bridges, water and more. The team wanted players to see and feel the differences in all 30 courses.
We were able to even record the distinct cuts of grass and how the ball behaves on them along with upcoming changes they’re making for future seasons to capture a full picture of these courses and how each of them play now and in the future.
In game, we represent those as 3 different “tee” times, morning, mid day and late afternoon, across 4 unique “Biomes”. Each of the 4 biomes , Humid subtropical, Mediterranean, Oceanic and Desert, have varying lighting conditions, levels of contrast, clouds and atmospheric haze etc, to give each course a unique look based on its location and the time of day that you are playing.
Swing animations look much better when compared to earlier trailers and hopefully there is a way to disable those hole out animations. We’ll get another look at gameplay in March when the team plays through the Masters prior to Early Access.
As always, check out the trailer and the blog and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
EA Sports PGA Tour releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC for $69.99 on March 24. Anyone that pre-orders will receive the following:
- THE PLAYERS Championship Gear
- The Grand Slam Gear Bundle (Gear items celebrating The Majors)
- Scotty Cameron Putter
Fans that pre-order the Deluxe Edition, which costs $84.99, will receive the game three days earlier on March 21. The Deluxe Edition includes the following:
- Exclusive Early Access to Augusta National
- THE PLAYERS Championship Gear
- The Grand Slam Gear Bundle (Gear items celebrating The Majors)
- Scotty Cameron Putter
- 1500 Premium PGA TOUR POINTS
- PGA TOUR XP Bundle
- Augusta National Amen Corner Gear
- Madden NFL 23
The EA Sports PGA Tour trial also arrives on March 21 for EA Play subscribers. EA Play Pro subscribers will get access to the full game that same day.
