Good overview

HMMMM Redheads!!!

My feel was simple as this:
This game is what Gran Turismo should have been years ago.
Decent A.I.
Same racing vibe(single races, time attacks, series, rivalries, manufacturer series, one-off special events)
DAMAGE!!! (Hellooooooo Polyphony!!! )

And finally a NFS game that does not have a corny story to follow!!! Just a simple voice lettin' you know what you're getting into and maybe what's expected of you...if you wanna make it!!!

One thing they could improve on is the racing lines.
As of today, in pretty much all games, it's either ON or OFF. There should be a kind of ghostly one that could re-appear gradually as you leave the racing line... So you could bring yourself back slowly into the groove.(Please don't sing...)
Somewhat like in EA's NHL series when you be play at being a pro and you have to follow your position. When you're off-position, an arrow shows up on the ice...

Haven't you seen the racing line in Forza ? It works really well and just like you explained

@ Arrows4ever: Yeah, Supercar Challenge gives you several options for the racing line.
- basic line which just shows you the ideal line.
- full line which changes from yellow to red in braking zones.
- A braking zone only line which slowly ghosts in as you approach the braking zone.
It's a much better solution. The racing line is great when you don't know the track but I find that very quickly it does more harm than good as you end up concentrating more on the racing line and less on the track. And in the end, it probably takes you longer to learn the track this way.

One thing Shift does very well is brakes. They've very sensitive. Perhaps overly sensitive. But it really forces you to pay attention to them and modulate your brake pedal pressure, especially on corner entry or you'll be way off line and unbalanced. This is one area where GT falls short as you can pretty much mash the brake pedal anywhere and not worry.

@ Karlth: Supercar Challenge is actually a PS3 exclusive.

picked up my copy this morning from PC World. After a couple of hours I can say that the game is fun to play and well worth its price. However, in no means is this a sim and comparable to Forza ? No way.

The best thing about it is the online mode which after trying out some duels is good fun. I'm sure to pass many hours away on this for sure.

But if your buying it for a sim, you'll be dissapointed, buy it for what it is, a racing game. And a good one at that.

Back to iRacing then.

I've heard theres a demo out for the PS3 on 1st October.

Demo for PC now available. PS3/Xbox360 demo will be avaialble in a few weeks.

My two cents after few hours of playing. From 1 to 10.


User Interface - 3/10

Mouse not active, lots of arrows, esc, enter clicking. No calibration for controller. The default settings for G25 very poor. Annoying replay constrols

Graphics - 3/10

While looking impressive at still shots it fails in motion. Cockpit view worsen the fps and speed immersion. My machine goes on full setting with all Simbin games and rFactor, so it's bnot a hardware problem I think. They added tones of candy things who are just eating fps, lots of voving objects on track side etc. Bad desision. And what the hell is this bluring dials in cockpit at speed. Where the hell hell is this idea coming from? Does anyone loosing ability to read in car dials at 150kmh in real life. Amazing how sensless it is.

Cars - 8/10

wide selection of vehicles, with lots of tuning and setup changes to buy. if you will want to do 3 laps in every car at the Ring, the game will keep you busy for a long time. cars are well rendered, and have nice cockpits. Unfortunately they look and work good only untill you really go fast LOL


Tracks - 2/10

big dissapointment, Spa and Ring are done badly (mostly drove there), few classes below what is available for Simbin sims



Physics - 0/10

While not bad as for 'game', it's distaster confronted with what was expected and hyped based on marketing of the product. You don't feel conected to surface you drive on. Steering is delayed. Force feedback is joke. With no aids low power cars behave like you are seating on rubber ball and control the car by two string attached to steering rack. If real cars had behave this way, I would be dead 20 years ago. The behave better when traction, braking and stability aids are on. I guess that was the licencing condition from manufacturers LOL

I am yet to unlock more hardcore cars tuned to race spec, but still... it's a joke. I drove in real life quick cars, some in half race specs on tracks. Over years I drove some 50 laps of The Ring in variuos cars (some rented quick machines) and again I would have died 100 times if the real cars behaved that way.

I hope I am missing something fundamental about settings for steering wheel calibration, as I can't believe how bad it feels


Gameplay "-10"/10

The points system is for under 14 years old only. Points awarded for "spining competitor out while staying on track" in game that used word simulation in their marketing campaig? LOL


Conclusion: Trying this game expecting simraing experience is like watching "Driven' movie expecting picture about racing.

Gemini, you hit the nail on the head with your comment 'points system for under 14s'. The game is very good but as I said before, if your wanting a sim, then go buy iRacing, because Shift is will only dissapoint.

I can't believe the guts the marketeers had to call it a sim.

Well... they succeded. I bought it. I am a motorsport fan, a simrace fan and a petrol head. I am completely non immune to anyone promising me something that relates to experiencing joy of driving a vehicle on the limit on safe closed track environment. I thought the Need for Speed grew up and instead of scenario of idiotic street car police chase, they want to 'educate' the gamers that it's TRACK where you drive fast and responsibly.

Still, they endorse cars. So I am not sorry I bought it. Cars are my love. I think cars are greatest thing adult man can enjoy (except sex of course LOL). The NFS Shift failes in eyes of seasoned simracer like me. But maybe... maybe... they will make one kid imagination focused rather on laptime at Silverstone rather than doing streetrace crashfest.

I recorded 2 laps on Spa and Nordschleife.

Spa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnh3FYazPO4&fmt=22

Nord: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJaCC4xN5vE&fmt=22

Excuse me for my shitty driving. I'm still new to the game



I do not agree. I'd give it a 7-8/10 when it comes to gfx. Can't be compared to Gran Turismo 5, but it's still pretty decent.

If it wasn't for all the tyrescreetching i'd give it high ratings when it comes to sound as well, but as for the rest... well...



Best NFS ever? What are you smoking? The old games, up to NFS 5 (Unleashed, Porsche 2000) still remain in a class for themselves.

Eh? and again, eh?. First of, did you ever hear about something called the focal point? The faster you go the further up the road your eyes and brain want to look, so you focus on there. You cannot focus on two places at the same time, gosh. It sure adds to the sense of speed. And well, your fps, the ISI based games are sort of in the stone age graphics wise, no innovation since GTR2 came out at least. Things have moved on the last 4 years, also for hardware requirements mind you.

Secondly 'done badly', how? Yeah there's a lot of objects added for 'atmosphere' (not my taste either) but the tracks themselves are damn accuracte as far as I can see.

I don't think you're the target group for this game if you feel this strongly, but maybe you need some time to come to grips with new features?

Anyhow, I'm enjoying it a lot. Only just unlocked Tier 2, but that GT40 invitational was pretty cool

@ALX9

Great vids, you went from back of grid to front in Spa before half a lap ! Nice ;)

Oh come on Gemini, tell us how you really feel. I understand your disappointment but don't you think you're being a little harsh?

Tracks: From what I understood, the guys from SMS, who were formally at Blimey Studios, took the exact track and specs they had previously used on GT Legends, which is why this version of Spa is the old layout with the bus stop chicane. So I don't know how you could make such a statement that it's a few classes below other Simbin games.

Physics: No, it's far from perfect and the FFB has a rather disconnected feel which I don't really care for, but to rate it at 0? Come on, that's rubbish and you know it. The cars tend to suffer from lift off oversteer and there's something not quit right about the grip level when the cars go off line or off track. But if you rate this a 0, than what do you rate Dirt2 or Grid?

Oh, I get it, you rate them a -10 on your scale of 1-10, right.

But I have to say, I feel exactly the same way about the game play. It's annoying, distracting, ridiculous and it takes away from the game IMO. I still don't know if I would go into negative numbers but I wouldn't give it above a 2.

is this game out?
is it worth buying?

jaisli, I never Grid, Dirt and other titles like that. I also did not tgry any of the NFS's in last few years... My experience is on PC sims and latest brief romance with GT5 Prologue, for which I decidred to buy PS3 (have to say I was rather positevely surprised with GT5P)

My very low opinion on Shift is a function of my big expectations. So I agree with you and MCH that I should probably give it a bit more credit to track based on real race venues...

I don't think there are based on GT Legends work as those data belonged to Simbin, not Blimey. Anyway it's still good to have them. Even if Spa and Ring have tracl dimensions wrong in many places and some unreal cambers there.

I gave another go this morning, trying car after car at Laguna Seca to dial the controls. I failed there. I looked at number of simracing forums and lots of poeple there complain they can't get the feel through G25. I finally installed a settings for 'custom steering wheel' from here

http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164378

After installing that I finally was able to control the vehicle. There is still a delay and in car steering wheel is not synchronized (try few locks from one side to another, the in car wheel actually is so delayed it moves in other direction LOL). But now I am able to drive w/o any aids, and catch the car when it snap oversteers on entry.

I will play it from time to time and now I will have a chance to enjoy it even. Shame I have to go through career mode to unlock cars. Other than that I would just to timed laps. AI are driving like bunch of monkeys on acid.

I am focusing on further view, but it does it mean that cannot have a glance on rev counter right? It's stupid invention. Pretty much like Simbin did in Evo with their famous 'helmet view", so it happens from time to time to every developer.

EDIT: Forhet about graphics tastes, stupid brake disk whistle, that goes on even you press the brake in stationary car LOL... Forget the flashy HUD (which be turned off). I went into bottom of all my problems with this game! I was annoyed how delayed steering wheel movemnt in car is in relation to steering input from my G25, but that could could be forgotten if it was only graphics issue...

I went on of the stationery car, moved the camera around to have a good look at front wheels and tried steering my G25. Man, there is massive delay between your steering wheel input and front wheels actually turning. It's like 1/4 of a second. I am able to do a quick 25 degree input and return wheel to center before front wheels react! I felt so stupid that I went to check all other games I am playing. Of course there is nothing like that there. The smallest, the quickest move is transferred to front wheels with no delay.

Here in NFS, regdless of aids on of off, there is massive delay. Again I am not talking about deadzone in range. I put it to zero, so wheels react to smallest input but... with 0,25 sec delay. It's bad that when tried some low speed agreesibe wheel movement (like F1 frivers do to warm up tyres) the delay is causing front wheels going always in in opposite direction to where you swing your wheel.

I downloaded the latest G25 software - no effect.

Is anyone noticed that problem. Please go to outside camera and have a look.

Is it my copy of game that is bugged? I went to controllers files, but I do seem to find a parameter that could quickly cure the problem...

I have to withdraw all my comments about the physics as I am not position to judge that with such a steering bug. Please help!

Bought it yesterday and I think it's great...

NFS:Shift - Good game but no sim.

Bring on Forza 3

Tried the demo. Not at all impressed. The graphics aren't that impressive, apart from the cockpit, and it feels like I'm driving a ball instead of a car.

I like it a lot as well. Not sure what people were expecting here . . .or why anyone would play a console game on a PC.

I think I was expecting the full potential of what the SMS guys could deliver and not the watered down mess that Shift ended up being with EA's obvious input. I can put up with the obnoxious menus, the ridiculous figure 8 track where it's a essentially a demolition derby and even the reward points for knocking other cars off the track. NFS:Shift has some of the best, most stable, lag free online play that I've ever experienced. I don't know how they do it, at times it's impossible to tell the difference between a live player thousands of km away or an AI car in an offline race. Kudos where it's due. But I think I've reached the threshold and I'm at the point now where the more I play shift, the less I like it. Tier 1 & 2 cars, when driven at 50% are really a joy and behave very realistically. You can tell there's a lot going on in the suspension movements and it seems very credible. But drive it at 8-10/10ths and it's simply broken. You experience understeer, no problem--just crank the wheel harder and apply gas and it goes away. The cars fly into snap oversteer the moment you apply the brakes (even just a little) if you're the least bit off line. But it's VERY rare that you actually lose control. We must all be experts at regaining control of cars that are at the teetering edge of grip. I'm convinced the engine developed by SMS is capable of much more. 'Pro' mode should have been just that.

I still think it's a lot of fun to drive around at a good pace. But if you really push the car, as you would need to in order to be competitive, it responds in an arcade like way and it's kind of ruined it for me.

But you're wrong about one thing Ricardo. Shift on the PC is the one to have. Guys are already out there tweaking it and improving things for the better. And that's not going to happen on the console version. Unless EA/SMS come to their senses.

Second that,

I got PS3 demo from PSN Store and of course took driving aids off and set manual gears. I also choose BMW M3 over Lorus Elise due BMW would have more real car feeling from start. And immediately lights turn green at Spa I felt exactly like you. Cars ot behave like that. Ok, I thought it was due controller fine tune so I quit race and wanted to go mainmenu tweak settings. But did demo let me? No, there was annoying bullshit for minutes about how great this game is by EA and I wasn't able to skip it.

I pressed magic button on my controller and forced game to quit. Demo didn't survive much longer on PS3's hard drive either...
If you want good EA driving game, get Burnout Paradise!

I'm sure Burnout Paradise is fun but I wouldn't categorise it as a driving game and is certainly not comparable to NFS:Shift.

For me, EA driving games were at their best during the late 90s with games like NFS III

Well I'm quite happy with the PS3 version, it's what I'd expect out of a quality console racing game. It's great that people can mod it afterward on the PC, but that's not the game I'm buying. Shift isn't a watered down mess, it's a quality console game that EA want to sell millions of copies of ; if they'd put out an SMS/Simbin simulation they could take a zero off their sales projections.

Considering how many bugs Shift had at release, I would be careful at throwing the word "quality" anywhere around this game. But your point is taken. And I'm still convinced it wouldn't take much to sort out the wacky at-the-limit handling that plagues this game like a disease. The SMS guys know what they're doing. There are already several different modes for the handling built in. I don't know why 'Pro' mode couldn't have really been 'Pro mode' and not 'Super-Arcade mode'. Having spoken to a person who played an early pre-release version of Shift in the spring, I know for a fact that it wasn't always like this. So I'm convinced it was EA's doing. It just frustrates me because the game does a lot of things right, brought some really innovative ideas to the table and has nice visuals and sound. But it's just missing the most important element to put it all together.

Alright I've played Shift for a few hours here is my brief review:

This is NOT a simulator. It's not a true arcade game either, but the physics of the car are not like they are in real life. It's more like fake handling, which might make it feel like a simulator because you can't take hairpins with 200km/h but simulator? No.

Graphics, can't tell anything about that, I play at the bare minimum because my laptop can't handle anything more

The thing which annoys me most is the thought behind NFS Shift. It's just silly sometimes. Like the medals you can earn, there is bronze, silver, gold and epic. C'mon. I had things like that. Bronze, silver and gold are materials and epic is not! Name the last one daimond or platinum. This is silly, it could have been 1, 2, 3, POTATOE.

And when you start, it's a BMW at Brand Hatch and a Lotus at Nordschleife. It would have made more sense if you where driving an English car on an English track, German car at German track.

The profile points are just stupid. I catch myself not driving the fastest way possible but over the racing line, trying to get more profile points. You have pressicion and aggression and it's like the factions of World of Warcraft. Pressicion is good and holds the colour blue, aggression is evil and holds the colour red. Aggression actions are just stupid, why would a game reward hitting another car or crashing an opponent out while you stay on the track. I seriously hated the game when there was asked "Spin out 4 opponents in this race".

Lastly, I dislike games where you always have to start from the middle or the back of the grid. Can't you randomize it or add qualify, or a grid like results from last race? Now every race is the same approach, overtake, overtake, overtake.

Conclusion:
This game is NOT made by racefans

EDIT:
I just found out there is a downloadable mod that makes car handling more direct and realistic, I think this says enought for how 'Sim' this game is. Tempted to try it out but I guess I can't go online then anymore.

Are you sure EA didn't have deal with Briatore, Alonso and Piquet jr?

Again,which version? That said I did crash the PS3 version once. As for the rest, the reason PRO mode wasn't a true PRO mode is that it wouldn't work with a console controller, I'm pretty sure. The PC version is a port.

hmmm, that's a bit sh*t.

Check the EA forums--PS3, Xbox360, PC--they all seem to have issues ranging between just annoying to rendering the game almost unplayable under some circumstances. There's already been at least one patch of the PS3 version and they're working on another. If Pro mode doesn't work with a controller, fine. I'm a PS3 owner who has played various racing games and never picked up the controller once other than to navigate the XMB. Surely I'm not alone. Granted, marketing a hard core racing sim on a console would likely be a money losing experience. But I just think they could have done more.

oh, you're awesome, we all suck.

I love reviews from guys who played a game for 20 minutes, then justify their opinions by saying they drove on a real track.

The FPS issue is on Xbox, as the PS3 does not have problems with FPS. Welcome to Mickeysoft.
While the PS3 version is already patched, there are still some bugs (Viper Vs. GT battle-you can't race as Viper).

All the control issues can be changed/correct under 'steering tuning'.

Nurburgring times on some cars are very close to actual times seen in the press.

The blur aspect is to give a sense of speed, and to force attention to the road ahead. No one reads dials at 240 km/hr (oh, wait, you know this from your 'ring experience).

The game starts out bad, but actually gets quite deep after a while. There are enough cars, and they can be all race-spec'd (a la GT, GT2, but then lost thereafter). There is a nice tuning mode, and upgrade mode.
I recommend the Lotus Exige or the Audi R8.

The auto settings are annoying at first -they drop you into a new car on a new track, and judge your ability in one lap. Verdict: lam-o, but you can turn off all the aids.

The game is far too easy on 'easy' or 'medium'. On hard, the AI is really variable. Overall, the AI is good for collision avoidance, but exactly like GRID for aggression. Far better than GT5. Race events and AI behavior is good, with cars running off track, minor collisons up front, but there are too many catastrophic flips and bumping a car will allow you to drive right under them. Crash/bump physics are more accurate, and not fake like GT5.
However, at points it gets REALLY annoying. Ever wonder what would happen if they got 16 Bugatti Veyrons together for a race at the 'ring? Apparently, everyone would bash about like a country fair smash up race with $16M worth of cars.

So far, I'm at 120 stars and level 26, and have done some on-line races (all horrible, kids can't race). This game should be compared to GRID, and in that respect is a better game, but unfortunately, EA took a nice model from Simbin and crapified it for the US market. Those doughy yank kids think that racing games should be demolition derby. It's frustrating to come out of Eau rouge perfectly, draft the car ahead, enjoy the physics of the car, then have the opponent just bash you out like some retarded 14 year old online. That's what NASCAR games are for. The poor coding and bugs is typical EA -they always do a 80% job.

The whole precision/aggression aspect is just stupid, you can bash cars around and still be deemed "precise". Many car battles on 'hard' can only be won by bashing out the opponent. Damage mode is the same with "visual only" or "full".

Why you should rent or buy used: the McLaren F1 in Dolby 5.1 around the Ring. That's worth it.

How this game would be better:

1. Forget the fake tracks. I don't know why developers insist on crappy fake tracks that run through cities or under tunnels. Forget ovals, they are as boring to drive on as to watch.
2. More real road racing tracks, accurately modeled. The real tracks, like Spa, are accurate for track details, but not surroundings. The beauty of games like GPL are the real tracks, and historical tracks.
3. Remove the aggression aspect of the AI -make it into a racing game, not a demolition game.
4. Replay mode is weak.
5. Reward system is far too overdone.

It's a lot of fun, but with some changes, it could be great. It's about racing and thrills-very unlike GT5.

No weather, tire wear, pitstops, red flags, etc. Like all other console games -0 sim value.

I but the bullet and bought the game today. Am playing with an ordinary PS3 controller and there are a few issues with the physics. It's not a sim that's for sure, but it's fun.

Haven't played much so far so won't go into much detail, my main issue so far is Spa, I had no problem with the made up tracks and Brands but somehow the physics on Spa seem to be playing havoc with my normal racing style. I'm guessing it's just me being a tard but I gave up on a to lap race after 15 minutes of trying to get a ridiculously twitchy S2000 round Pouhon and Rivage without the end getting away from me. Probably need to change the settings later.

As I said, it shouldn't be marketed as a sim, it's not a sim in the slightest. The handling is more geared towards back end out entertainment than realism.

That is not what EA were selling.

I played this game for two weeks, then sold it and got back to GT5:P

The physics are out of this world! (in the negative way )

Yeah well they're not realistic but it's still hard to control a car in NFS (specially the fastest, being the Pagani Zonda R) so I still find racing fun. Specially online is fun. It's not about going fast really but more about car control.

I know, but I just can't stand that I can't go in a corner without oversteering the heck out of the car.
The AI cheats like hell in single player. Glitches all over the place. Races at autopolis in slow-motion, also online.
Controlling the car is fun, but after a while I was asking myself: why is it so hard to control this car? It's way easier in real-life, without all of the bumps at Spa. F1 cars go smoothly over there, so why not in this game?

I like the fact that putting every possible upgrade on my S2000 made it worse... soon as I traded it for an M3 with lower stats but that was in the tier I was racing in I could control the car.

I
Hate
Drifting.

Gotta admit this game is growing on me, I am and always have been a Gran Turismo fan but the online aspect of this game is epic!

We've (my bro and I) been having some fantastic races online and i'm dominating; currently on a 20-race winning streak online against some level 50 players!

Spent most of this morning racing my RS 4 around Spa (), this ain't no GT but it'll do until then oh and I agree, the drift mode is SHIT!

I think its a fantastic game. EA nailed it...

Yes, drifting sucks. I skipped it since the beginning . Last saterday I put my mind to it and it wasn't that hard. It is just hard cause it's not easy to control the throttle with R2. But it can be done. But I would have had no problem if EA skipped drift.

Never heard about Iracing etc, and I think 99% of the NFS Shift players heard about it... I think 99,9% never raced a real racecar.

Anyway.. Driving down the long straight on the Nordslcheiffe with the Zonda R gives me a huge sense of sim and adrenaline. So fast. Tough to control but I have no reference materia of a real carl. So I love it.... I can do it....

I'd rather set a top time with shift than with GPlegends, Iracing or whatever.. I don't know anyone who plays those "games".... So why would I or EA care...? Can't brag about it at work. They play Shift.... Nuff said, really.

One thing I dislike is there are not enough cars. I have reached level 36 and basically tried all. I hope for an update. But there are a porsche and an Aston Martin to win in the coming levels..

Now saving for a racing seat and a G25 or G27 steering wheel. Anyone ideas for a cheaper way? Cause how I see it now it will cost around 500-700 Euros. That's a bit to much....

If you intent to play only arcade racers then G25 is an overkill. I would recommend the old Microsoft USB Wheel if you can get it cheap.

Well thanks...

I do have have that one already (for about ten years) , and also the PS2 logitech wheel......

The Logi DFP will still give you 900° rotation which would be better than an old MS Sidewinder. Otherwise the G25/G27 are the best 'cheap' wheels out there for racing games - arcade or not.

karlth,

Sorry if I went out of line but I thought you were making fun fun of me...

Problem here is that there are posters that play "real'' sims and complain about things that aren't "real"...

Who cares. I am sure it takes just as much skill and effort to do top worldwide 10 laptimes with Shift or Gran Turismo as it does with GP Legends.

But that's tough to take.. But IMO that's just the way it is.

Wrong, they were pushing a "simulation" aspect and the simbin connection.

"Put your foot to the floor and you’ll see the depth-of-field shift further out, putting the cockpit out of focus and making your speedster more difficult to control, adding a realistic, simulation feel to the racing engine of SHIFT."



"Simulation" is just a marketing term now, it means nothing. "Simulation" in GT5 means ramming car bumpers at 140km/hr to get through challenges.


I'm actually 3/4 way through the game, and it's basically closer to Burnout than anything at the higher levels. I gave up. The difficulty levels take 5 second/lap jumps, but "hard" is basically like Burnout. It's not about racing at all.


Stupid setups -you can adjust spring and roll bar stiffness, but not car height. So the Zonda R either bottoms out or bounces, making eau rouge impossible.

I respect that arcade games can be fun (NFS: underground was FUN), but EA sold this as a racing game, not a demolition derby.

I just bought a ps3 last week and chose this game randomly. What controller are you using for this game? I saw a youtube vid on the G27, I find it impossible to do all the events with the standard sixaxis shockwave controller.

I find the standard controller OK, you just have to be prepared to use a ridiculous amount of opposite lock.

Be carefull, you never guess what happened to me...

Last friday I bought farcry2 platinum and installed it. Had to download some software on the PS3. At 12:00 my Shift Brother called me. We played the game together and we wanted to achieve level 50 together... We were halfway 49....

But guess what...

After starting it up, game gone. Still 26.000.000 on the bank. My lambo in the back. But not able to do a thing.

600 races done > gone
26.000.000 > gone
records > wel not gone.

still on the online scoreboards but not in the game. While I had competition with two of my colleagues. Everything is red again. While most were green...

Had to reset the save game and I started over but not happy. And internet shows me I am not alone. This has happened to more people.. .

EA