Need For Speed Shift Unleashed (2)

hmmm to much hype with this game. i've watched all the Shift2 vids i can find and the physics don't appear realistic at all. the close ups show the cars/envionments don't have the same detail as Forza, and i'm really over excessive use of blurring effects, but this is forgiveable as it's more about the feel of racing drama i guess.
on a positive note i love the sound and the flames from the exhausts.
how well they have updated the physics engine is what will clinch the deal with me. i don't have anything against arcade racers ( loved PGR and GRID ) but i still regret buying Shift1, it was neither here nor there...

Here is another preview, from a sight which is far more sim oriented.

http://www.racesimcentral.com/news/2011/03/final-preview-shift-2-unleashed/#more-5488

found out the relece date has been droped back to march 30.

they're really trying to competer with GT5

It's the 31st over here - but what a couple of days ....

I thought it was always the 31st

JB has it as 31st

stikman wrote:JB has it as 31st

Same as the official trailer I saw somewhere. Preordered mine at Game yesterday, and they say the 31st aswell.

EB's posters said the 24th

Tas might get the new posters on the 30th

NoRecoil wrote:EB's posters said the 24th

But the website says 31/3/11. :-)

Chris (OD)

NoRecoil wrote: found out the relece date has been droped back to march 30.

they're really trying to competer with GT5

nahhh, then it would be pushed back to march 30, 2012

According to first independant reviews this thing has done better than Gran Turismo 5. Now I'm really stoked for it. Can't wait to be playing this with my GT2 when it comes in in about 2 weeks or so.

gt5 wasn't exactly great though, i paid 300 bucks for it and regret to this day still. waste of time, nothing really that good about it.

$300???? for a game? What did you get with it? a new steering wheel with FFB

crimson eagle73 wrote:According to first independant reviews this thing has done better than Gran Turismo 5.

not a big thing that, mate. GT5 is amongst the most disappointing car games i have played on the current consoles.

I have just downloaded SHIFT 2 .. am going to give it a bit of a thrash tonight..

Not sure if anyone has any questions that want to know about the game or anything in paticular in the game they want to know about before it comes out on the 31st ??

I full review would be nice Don...

Will try and do my best.. although i suk at reviews

Don Stylz wrote:Will try and do my best.. although i suk at reviews

download one







.....just annoyed I can't do stuff like that know ....stupid connection

One thing i have to say.. my opinion which will differ from others.. the new helmet cam.. i have to say i dont like it.. incar is good.. but when the head moves right and left into corners .. to me it throws out your angle u are taking the corner at.. similar to driving in outside view with the car.. i cant get the car angles for corners hence i use bonnet or incar views..

will have a peep tonight and see what tracks are avalible and what not.. cant test online features as my chipped xbox stays offline..

Car physics and AI are my only questions.

Will try get a few vids on what cars are avalible and trakcs .. i would think alot of them are locked untill u up level.. i know vinyls are level based if you want to unlock them ....

Team LFA dont let me down...

http://www.needforspeed.com/shift2unleashed/car/lexus-lfa

sorry to disapoint.. but unfortionatly i had a family commitment that i had to take car of so was unable to jump onto the 360 last night will do my best to get on tonight though..

just saw this vid and at least they used someone that can drive!



on the flip side(bad-side)

Iv'e read a lot of, well should I say less than admirable threads/post from forums about the Floating physics (aka Shift1). This extract's is from an official review and sums it up nicely (click header below for full review)

GTPlanet at Shift 2 Media Event: Hands-On Impressions
Shift 2’s lead developer Andy Tudor touched on this while talking with us at this media event. On the scale of “racing games”, he placed Shift 2 somewhere between the more arcade Need for Speed titles and games such as Forza and GT. After spending a significant amount of time with the game, I think that’s a spot-on description. This game doesn’t match their driving physics, but it’s not really supposed to. Shift 2’s “realism” instead focuses on the gritty, violent, rough experience that is driving a race car around a race track, and it does an amazing job of it.

I can already see the comments from smug “hard-core sim racers” on blogs and forums around the web: “So this game is just the same **** as before? **** that **** ******* *******”. If you’re expecting the game to “feel” like GT5 or your favorite PC sim of choice then, yes, you will be disappointed. If you’re looking for a fun, immersive racing game you can pick up and start playing, you’re in for a treat.

The Driving Physics: There’s been a lot of discussion of the new “Elite” physics mode introduced in Shift 2. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it particularly challenging with a steering wheel. With a Logitech Driving Force GT, cars often felt “floaty”, as if it was difficult to keep the car pointed straight. I found this to be less of an issue with older, heavier cars, which provided a more rewarding driving experience.
Regardless, it was difficult to “feel” where the tires were at in terms of lateral grip. There was little communication through the wheel’s force feedback in corners, and the surprisingly unpleasant tire squeal sound was either “on” or “off” -- as if it was activated only after the tires had exceeded their limit. These are two of the most important indicators of how hard you’re pushing a car in a video game, and they’re sorely missed in Shift 2.
I also found there to be a general lack of oversteer in the physics model, most noticeable in powerful, rear-wheel drive cars. I took a Shelby Cobra 427 to Road America with stock tires, for example, and found it difficult to create any power-induced oversteer. I experienced this same unnatural level of grip while testing the Corvette C6R and many other cars.

Try before you Buy!

RU

RU four 86 wrote:just saw this vid and at least they used someone that can drive!



GTPlanet at Shift 2 Media Event: Hands-On Impressions
[i]

Try before you Buy!

RU

Snigger, laugh, closet GT5 fan.

Nah, only joking, I found that review the best impression of the game as well, but then I am looking at Shift 2 the same as I did F1 and that is as a single player game with the odd online burst of play for plain simple non serious fun (though still only with people who try their best to drive cleanly and properly).

In fairness you have edited the article to make the point you wish to make as the article also said things like:
"Dismissing this game for its physics is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water -- it introduces some very cool new features to the genre that other developers would be wise to take note of."
and
"AI in Shift 2 is extremely impressive -- they’re aggressive, but clean."
and
"The track list is also well rounded, featuring classics such as the Nurburgring (the GP course and the Nordschleife), Laguna Seca, Suzuka, and Monza, and other popular real-world circuits such as Mount Panorama (Bathurst), Road America, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Spa Francorchamps, Circuit de Catalunya, and many more."
( I personally think the track list if you check out the full list is the best in any racing game to date as it has many not often seen in other games - baring maybe Race Pro but that is debatable).
and
"You’ve got to hand it to Slightly Mad Studios’ for their selection of cars in Shift 2.....The damage is extremely impressive, featuring cracked glass, crumpled, detachable body panels, and wheels torn off in violent shunts."
and finally
"Despite a physics engine which will leave sim-racers wanting more, this is a fun, exciting, and intense driving game. Without doubt, the Shift series is definitely headed in the right direction. I had an absolute blast racing with other members of the press during the many LAN races held in the EA offices, and that’s what really matters."

I definately agree try before you buy.
Yes it appears the physics engine which is the most important part of the game still is lacking compared to Forza 3 (and if you believe the hype on the tyre modelling they are doing for forza 4) but I also do enjoy a racing game that is fun.
A huge amount of people enjoyed grid ( I disliked it to hell) but I am getting the impression this will be an enjoyable game better than games and more sim than games like Grid/ Project Gotham/Midnight Club LA ok not as SIM as Forza or GT but then if you spoke to PC racers they would scoff at you for thinking Forza and GT are sim compared to some PC games like NetKar Pro, I-Racing, RFactor.

Personally I think Shift 2 will be a fun racing game that I will take ahead of the majority of other less sim racing games out there of recent and past. I will be the first to admit if I get ripped off by this game, look at TDU2 far more less sim than Shift 2 appears to be, but for a reason I can not comprehend a lot of people enjoy playing it, some times just having a racing title for just plain fun can be what you are sometimes after, obviously why TDU2 appeals to some people, but not me, perhaps Shift 2 will be my TDU2.

Was listening to podcasts from NFS yesterday, and if you have played NSF Undercover, NFS HP, NST SHift 1, you will earn XP and in game cash.

So I would recommend throwing those games back in and save a game to make sure you get the extras.