Shift 2

[werty]

They are marketing this game as a real racing game. Not sure if they mean sim but the video looks fantastic!

One thing to note from the article is the drivers head movement from the interior view, that coupled with the sense of speed makes it look so cool:cool:

I hope this game doesnt disappoint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLj_uhFFQ-M

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/114/1144255p1.html

[Matra et Alpine]

oh no another release in the "Need for Speed" franchise :(

Drivers head movement looks an exagerated setting on typical "look to apex" settings in most decent sims. Does look as if they'ce decided to adopt Hollywoods "shaky camera" method to increase feelings of speed and tension. Not sure I'd not get pissed off with that pretty quickly. Looks "good" because it's what folks THINK a race driver sees. Reality is that our eyeball does a great job of removing all those car and head movements from our visual system. So for me it will just annoy GREATLY and get in the way of a simulator.

But it's NfS and so expect good action, but not holding myh breathe on "real" meaning real world racing :)

Note on the web site it is championing the new GRAPHICS engine for th ehelmet mounted cam abut no mention of the car and track physics engine.

Good game then :)

[werty]

yea I could care less if its a sim. I like the NFS shift series because its fun to play

[LHamilton_w]

Hopefully they toned down the "overdramatic shaky camera" a bit. I like how they try to give a sense of speed, but in Shift (the first one) IMO they tried a bit too hard to do so. Good to see that Shift 2 will be adopting headtracking, as that actually comes in handy and, if done correctly, makes the racing feel more natural. I mean, who really races without looking to the side everyone once in a while??

Personally, I do feel because of the "shaky camera", Shift is better oriented towards race cars more and road cars less.

[Roentgen]

NFS shouldn't be making realistic driving games. They should stick to those insanely unrealistic wall-riding, veyron-drifing, cop-smashing games. Leave the simulation genre to those with the know-how, like GTR on PC, Forza on xbox, and Gran Turismo on PS.

[Dino Scuderia]

The best thing about Shift is some of the car models are really good and get converted over to GTR2. Same goes for GRID.

[Matra et Alpine]

agree with EVERY word in the last 4 posts !!!

[fpv_gtho]

I dont mind games like Shift. I also dont mind the direction they took from Underground through to Undercover, minus Prostreet. Games like Hot Pursuit (3) however are shit, theyre neither Burnout or 21st century NFS.

Only being a 90% sim, as i put it, is more of a plus for me than a negative. I rarely play these games even with all the driver aids turned off to get the pure experience, but i still enjoy the more realistic handling characteristics. Whenever i do try them "pure", its too much frustration with mistakes to attempt it full time let alone invest in a more pure sim.

[RacingManiac]

Played the Shift1 Demo actually a day before GT5 arrived, trying to test out the G25 on the PS3. The driving model is loose but the AI offers a bit more spunk than GT....which is not a surprise. But I really don't like the newer racing games's overly used bloom and HDR-like effect....

If my PC is more up to snuff I might play it on PC and can get the modded physics to go with that, but as is I have a ton of driving game on PC thats not getting much seat time...

[thebrochureman]

not that keen on any of the need for speed games they are not realistic enough for me.

[Matra et Alpine]

:whathesaid: :)
Might be worth a torrent search in a few months time !!!!

[digitalcraft]

Meh, I want them to make another Underground game. ricing the hell out of a car is good fun for a videogame. Its the only place it should be done. I kind of even enjoyed the fact that you were required to rice your cars out to pass beauty contests basically, enforcing that when you're creating for the public, you have to let good taste go a bit to meet the public's crap tastes. Was entertaining to have a game you could go so far in to it. I don't know of a game since that has let you put neons in your engine bay.

[Roentgen]

They really should make a Most Wanted 2. But then I guess the current Hot Pursuit is sort of it.

[fpv_gtho]

Most Wanted 2 was technically Carbon.

[pimento]

The first and fifth NFSes are still the best. Shift 1 was ok, much more realistic that any of the other later ones but it didn't grab me. For youse that want something more real than usual NFS it's probably worth grabbing the demo when it appears, just for shitzengiggles.

[LHamilton_w]

The first and fifth NFSes are still the best. Shift 1 was ok, much more realistic that any of the other later ones but it didn't grab me. For youse that want something more real than usual NFS it's probably worth grabbing the demo when it appears, just for shitzengiggles.

Pretty much agreed. NFS 5 still remains my favorite, and I'd take it over the newer NFS releases even today.

And NFS 3 is still the real "Hot Pursuit". There's just something about the older NFS games that the new ones can't seem to capture. Doesn't necessarily make them bad games though....just not as good as the old ones IMO.

[Dino Scuderia]

Loads of new screenies....some interesting race version concepts.

Need for Speed Shift 2 Sim Racing News (http://www.virtualr.net/need-for-speed-shift-2-massive-preview-batch/)

[werty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=929UZ6Nq-hk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y79dZWILitE

[whiteballz]

The ingame sounds are amazing.

[derekthetree]

Got this over the weekend. I've only played a little bit as I'm supposed to be wriitng an essay!
I completed the first race but then spent a bit of time trying to get my wheel working a bit better... watch this space.

[RacingManiac]

I ordered it and waiting for it to arrive....

[ThisBlood147]

These guys still need to learn the difference between how an in-car camera reacts to driving dynamics......and how the human eye (of the actual driver) reacts to driving dynamics.

Still, looks very visceral. Not sure how well the physics hold up. I've heard some ppl say that its uber realistic.....and others say that it's still way too arcadish.

[RacingManiac]

I am holding out on actually playing it. Though what I fear is that I am getting the PS3 version, while it should support my G25, I am afraid that the default wheel setup of the console will ultimately let the FFB down. On PC its typically tweakable beyond the intent of the game....

My PC really isn't suitable for newer games anymore...

[whiteballz]

Its.. Shit.

Going to trade it in as soon as I play around with the tuning side a bit more.

Have two different physics models for race/drift which shits me to no end. Its actually impossible to drive in a straight line in the drift mode.

Sounds are awesome, Graphically its amazing, the race physics are fairly good (get sensation of grip etc) and helmet cam is a boon.

As a drifting fan I'm let down by the two seperate modes to pander to the retards that don't want to knuckle down and learn how to drift in a "real" way. (its just floor it and turn out of the skid) and you win races. So stupid.

[RacingManiac]

oh nice...so if I don't play in drift mode I am ok then....:D

[kingofthering]

Is the game any better on a wheel? I was playing it with my roommate's xBox PC pad and every car felt like a twitchy mother. Even with the settings cranked down the R32 I was driving felt like it was going to potentially fly off the road. Of course, this is an unfamiliar car in an unknown state of tune, but it's completely the opposite of the GT-series R32s I've driven. Hell, even a real car isn't this jerky.

I do like the crash physics though. Those completely blow away any racing game save for those powered by Codemasters' Ego engine.

[RacingManiac]

Shift 1 was like that, you can't go straight with a Pad for the life of me....I tried it on G25 and it was better...

[RacingManiac]

Spent the last few hours playing it, took a while to find a setting to use the G25 in somewhat serviceable feel. The feedback is inconsistent I find, very loose on center, ok in corner but the drop off is way too abrupt. I can't drive the car very precisely, timing between my input and the car is also slightly out of sync. With slower car(I use a MKV GTI, lol) you can kinda will it and it will respond, also with lots of foot pedal manipulation. With some of the edgier, faster cars though, the loose-ness is PITA to deal with as you can't feel "straight ahead" and you are correcting based on the visual and with cars like Elise or something its very easy to miss your line a tad and find yourself braking with one wheel on grass or something. The event structure and layout is ok and the racing itself is somewhat interesting, better AI than GT5, but hard to race them wheel to wheel with the loose control. You hit them they will punt you out....

The upgrade system is pretty in depth and seems to have a full suite of setup option, though the menu is very convoluted, and I can't use my controller in the menu and wheel in the race, I have to pick an input device and stick with it. G25 really doesn't work that well as a PS3 controller....

Graphics is only so so. In GT5 or even Forza they strive for more of a photo realistic look, this game still looks like a NFS game, with all the associated shine and unnatural look. Feels like a game from a few years ago....The track selection is pretty good and I wonder if the vast collection of track from GTR had something to do with it(Slight Mad was a bunch of ex-Simbin guys), but the track themselves don't look that nice. The effects are nice, but still kinda fake looking. Sound is great though. The engine have real bark to it, and convey good sense of immersion with 5.1 sound....

Will probably keep the game and play it for a bit for some different experience with GT5. All in all though this is still a game made for the ADD generation, not really a true racing game, but can be fun at times...but throwing a car in GT5 around Nordschleife, or 4 wheel drifting a car in GT Legend on PC are still ultimate more fun and rewarding to me....

[whiteballz]

Agreed, I think I'll keep it just to race around Bathurst.

[derekthetree]

I'd also agree. With faster cars there is some massive lag around the centre. On slower cars (even up to the E90 M3) the feel is quite good but any faster and its tricky. The racing is fun and all in all quite a good game, better than Hot Pursuit was anyway!

[NSXType-R]

I had played the demo of this for the PS3 a while back ago, I didn't quite like it then.

[derekthetree]

Just had another session and foudn two things:

1) Turned down speed sensitivty and the lag got a bit better on the fast car
2) Check out the extras menu, I unlocked a Pagani zonda and reventon police car for having Hot Pursuit installed, a nice little treat

[RacingManiac]

I am running with the steering sensitivity maxed out and it seems to have made the steering more responsive across the board. Though I think inputs in general has a bit of a lag to it. Not entirely sure its setup related or game, or even just graphics being a step behind the physics(like the wheel in driver's hand on screen). I seem to notice the car diving under braking a slight delay behind the actual action of getting on the brake...

Track knowledge as usual is king, driving their original tracks and I am very lost not knowing the line and having the AI punting me was immensely frustrating. On most of the real-world track I am usually much faster. Its nice this game has Dijon, something I haven't played outside of GT Legend, but the version of it in this game looks so tacky....