In testing the software performance of Trackman's Virtual Golf, we set out to get an accurate test of what is actually being used within the software. We chose five popular golf courses: Pebble Beach, Royal Troon, Pinehurst No. 2, St. Andrews Old Course, and Sutton Bay.
We tested each of these courses on both 1080p and 4k resolutions, as well as the 2 different graphics settings on our three currently available prebuilt computers from SurfThing. We then took the average frame rate performance of all five and put them together into one performance metric. As you can tell from the boring graphs above, what we found was an extremely consistent performance across all settings.
If you've read any of our other articles, or notes on our testing methodology, you'll know that we always recommend trying to target 60FPS (frames per second) or above for a very smooth experience. The first thing you'll notice from the graphs is that this milestone is obviously attained by all three systems tested (more or less). But hey, what's with the plateau? The interesting thing here, is that Trackman has chosen to lock their software at 60FPS, preventing you from going any higher. And no, you can't change it. The only real possible drawback is for someone who may have decided to invest in one of the few available high refresh rate projectors targeted to "gamers" (or possibly a gaming monitor) and they will not gain any benefits from it over what you would get from the standard 60Hz refresh rate projector or monitor. Keep in mind, most people do not buy these for their simulators as the projectors are not generally set up to handle the dimensional and illumination needs of simulators.
On the flip side, what is the upside from the locked frame rate? For anyone who runs a business with the simulator running all day, or someone who likes to leave their software running 24/7 at home so they don't have to wait for it to load back up, the software will, by design, use significantly less than all of the horsepower it has available in your computer. Unlike other comparable softwares, which will typically use as much graphics processing power as it has available to it, Trackman software restricts this usage beyond what it needs to get to 60FPS. In the end, this results in less energy consumption, and less heat created in your computers; hypothetically leading to a longer lifespan of your computer equipment.
