EA has released a brand new trailer for EA Sports PGA Tour that offers viewers a peek at several golf courses players will have a chance to experience. Courses include 28 real-life courses and two fantasy courses, each crafted with stunning details. Golf fans will immediately recognize some of the world’s most famous golf courses, including Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, and many others.
In addition to getting a quick look at many courses, viewers are also offered a brief peek at how courses are created to provide the most accurate detail possible. The goal is to allow players to fully immerse themselves in golf’s finer details. Each real-life course has been meticulously mapped. Developers used state-of-the-art tools, including photogrammetry scanning, drone technology, and survey-grade GPS, to obtain the most realistic golf game ever made.
Next-gen technology and course realism
We also led custom LiDAR helicopter flights over each course in the game, scanning at lower altitudes with slower speeds. This helps to achieve more data-point-density and higher realism than scans from publicly available sources. Using these technologies, we achieved pinpoint accuracy down to the blade of grass for many courses in-game. Each course’s scan has been transferred into the game to be developed and tuned for the most accurate depiction of them possible. And we didn’t just scan the greens. The terrain map also created precise renderings of clubhouses, vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, water, and more on-course elements.
Developers also took the time to visit each course. While there, they walked the holes and surveyed course superintendents. Each course’s unique conditions were mapped and recorded during these visits over the years of the game’s development. Illustrating the intense detail, developers speak of mapping even the distinct cuts of grass and how a golf ball will behave on them. If that doesn’t capture hyper-realism, nothing does.
Other game features spotlighted
- day/night cycles
- unique weather phenomena
- four unique biome – humid subtropical, Mediterranean, Oceanic, and Desert
- true-to-life ball dribbling and behavior unique to each course
Check out the full developer blog on the EA Sports PGA Tour official site.
