Online Features for Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

With just a month now until release, and E3 a matter of days away, EA Sports has revealed the online feature suite for Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. Unfortunately it appears that the popular Country Clubs mode may be out, but some interesting things have been done with standard ranked and unranked online games and Tournaments.

All players, and not just their shot arcs, for the first time will be visible on the course. Based on screenshots like the one above this looks somewhat awkward and potentially distracting, but the novelty might make online matches more fun. Players will only get one shot at each tournament. 

ONLINE HEAD-TO-HEAD
Online H2H mode starts at the Online Hub. Players can toggle between playing Ranked and Unranked games, with Ranked games using an all-new matchmaking and shooter-inspired lobby system. Simply set your golfer and choose one of three base Gameplay Styles – Arcade, Tour, Classic – in the Ranked tab and join a session.

After being placed into a Ranked session, players will be paired up with those who have selected the same Gameplay Style. For Ranked games, the server randomly selects two courses (with randomly generated course settings) for players to vote on.

Once on the course, all users will play through the round simultaneously. Gone are the days when online matches felt like you were playing alone. For the first time ever, other golfers will be rendered in the environment. Players will see (in real-time) when their competitors move or swing, and their golf ball will be visible flying through the air and rolling on the terrain.

When an opponent’s ball comes to a stop, their Online ID will appear for a few seconds to help keep track of who is where. There’s also an all-new hole clock at the top of the screen, which replaces the individual shot clock. Players have a set amount of time to complete the hole.

After finishing a hole, players will go into spectating and have the ability to toggle through different cameras placed on that hole to view their opponents as they finish. Once everyone is done, the group moves on to the next hole.

At the end of the round, players are given wins, losses and ties for how they fared against each individual user in the game. The group is then returned to the session screen, where two new courses are randomly generated for voting and another game will start.

Results from Ranked games all feed into new, restructured leaderboards. Performance is now tracked separately for each Gameplay Style, and wins, losses, level, rank points and other statistics will be specific to the Style you played. This means that each Style has its own top-ranked player. Unranked games give players the freedom to set up the game with any course, settings, and even custom Gameplay Styles.

ONLINE TOURNAMENTS
Just like Online H2H, the mode is split up by each of the three base Gameplay Styles, with Daily and Weekly Tournaments provided for each Style.

Players only get one attempt at an Online Tournament, so be ready to play. Once you play or quit out, you cannot enter again. This is the case for ALL Online Tournaments.

Tournament leaderboards track each Gameplay Style separately. Stats include Winnings, Events Won, Top 5’s, Top 10’s, Top 25’s, Top 50’s, Top 100’s and Average Finish.