Need for Speed Shift Available, Post Impressions Here

[Heelfan71]

Quote: Originally Posted by lnin0

I put my steering deadzone down to 12% (was at 50%) and turned the sensativity up to 50% (from 25%). I think they had such a large dead zone and low sensativity that the only thing you get is drastic moves. I feel like I have much more subtle control now although it still feels a bit twitchy at times.

Will have to change my settings. Biggest problem for me is you barely press the L stick and the car turns too much or too easy IMO. Also I can't make it through many curves without screeching the tires. Might be because I am using Automatic at the moment.

[goh]

They took away the naaaawwwwssss when I did the works conversion. Not that it's needed but it's nice to have.

Speaking of lack of options is there no option to turn off that stupid and rediculous blur/gray screen turning when you hit something? What about the "corner cutting" penalty? It's pretty crap when the AI knocks me across one and I get warned for it. Can't imagine trying to deal with that online.

On the bright side it turns out you get full value for your cars when you sell them. Wich came in very handy when I went to buy a Euro drift car,got distracted and ended up buying an American one instead when I went back to the game. Also makes the lack of garage spots much less of a problem.

[lnin0]

Setup the 360 wireless wheel last night for round two with Shift. Unlike the problems I had with the default sensativity on the controller the default wheel settings seem pretty good. I did need to adjust the brake sensativity though and still find it way to easy to lock the brakes up in this game.

So the good news is that with the wheel the car responds 100x better than with the controller. The twitchy movement is all but gone. The bad news is that the game does not seem to be created with the wheel in mind. Because you lose grip so early on these cars the advantage of driving smooth with a wheel is almost negated. The car physics respond much better to throwing the car around the track which is easier with the twitchy controller setup. It is kind of a toss up as to which I like better. I feel I have smoother control with the wheel but the style of driving the game is built on seems easier to do with the controller.

Control issues aside I discovered my real issue with this game - the AI. I am on Tier 2 now so the AI has a little more speed to hang around. Problem is the AI is terrible. I am not sure I wouldn't prefer the GT parade of cars - at least you know what they are going to do.

For starters Shifts AI is blind to you and your car 50% of the time. They have no problem cutting into your cars as if you didn't exist. The majority of the time this means you go flying. Even if it only forces you to get two wheels off you are in trouble. In most games if you put two wheels off you don't want to yank the wheel back toward the track and slam the gas. In Shift you do, otherwise the quicksand will slow you and suck you off the track further.

So what about the 50% of the time the AI does see you? You would think this is a good thing but in Shift it is not. If they see you odds are they will come straight across the track to block you or give you a rub. I'm not talking friendly stuff here - I am talking BurnOut takedown stuff with guys weaving to take you out. Tap the back of the AI car that did this or take a hit to the side and out of control you go. Since you start at the back of the pack in most races getting through lap 1 of 2 becomes frustrating difficult.

The other problem the AI has is cornering. They are insanely slow on corners to the point three or more cars bunched up at a corner will almost come to a stop. There is an insane amount of brake checking and swinging two and three wide in tight corners (they seem to noticed and avoid each other just fine). Races are so short that you really don't have the time to wait for the packs to spread out so you can overtake one on one in the corners.

Because of the AI at Laguna Seca, a track I know very well, I turned the game off last night. It was litterally unbearable trying to get a decent first lap in 10 tries.

I am not an agressive driver badge either so I don't get why so many of the AI seem out to get me. The entire agressive / precission thing is kind of stupid to begin with. Drafting is agressive?? Really? I don't understand this gimmick. Why not make agressive things bad that take away points from what you earn during the race. Encourage people to be clean drivers instead of douches.

[BIG CAROLINA]

Quote: Originally Posted by lnin0

Picked it up last night and played with the controller to get a quick feel for it (wheel stand it setup for iRacing and was too lazy to switch it out with the 360 wheel). Initial feel was horrible. I don't know what they are thinking but the default setup just feels twitchy and wrong. I don't know how anyone could enjoy it right out of the box and will be game killer for those who don't investigate settings. But maybe that is just me. Lots of people liked Grid and I loathed the feel of those controls. I put my steering deadzone down to 12% (was at 50%) and turned the sensitivity up to 50% (from 25%). I think they had such a large dead zone and low sensitivity that the only inputs it registered where drastic moves. I feel like I have much more subtle control now although it still feels a bit twitchy at times. I turned the breaking sensitivity down to 25% and the acceleration sensitivity down to 35%. Both were at 50%. This helped with less lock up and being able to apply power evenly without coming unglued. The physics are alright. Not in league with Race Pro or Forza. You can sense they wanted cars to power slide a bit more than normal but unfortunately didn't achieve this with the finesse of a PGR. You abruptly lose traction. It comes unnaturally early and then your car finds this uncanny drift grip that holds far to well. Kind of like a less arcade version of Grid leaning a bit more toward the old Race Driver series. Didn't play online but did look at options. Max 8 racers and you can mix in AI for non-ranked games. No host options to lock handling or damage settings which seems like an oversight. Damage is subtle even on max so it might not matter online. Someone who has played maybe able to answer what the default seems to be. You can lock cars to a specific class or all same and if AI is involved you can set their skill. Didn't check max laps. No pits, gas or tire wear in game at all. I'll get the wheel setup by the weekend and post some impressions. Hopefully this improves the feel. Overall its fun but probably not going to keep anyone's interest for more than a couple weeks. I cannot see myself coming back to it like I come back to Forza or Race Pro. The driving just does not demand that type of respect.

Thanks for this Inin,

You tend to like the same racing games that I do and your post here settles it for me, not buying. I am not falling for this one like I did Grid, thanks for saving me the money.

[RunN1st]

Quote: Originally Posted by BIG CAROLINA

Thanks for this Inin, You tend to like the same racing games that I do and your post here settles it for me, not buying. I am not falling for this one like I did Grid, thanks for saving me the money.

Agreed, BC.

[Heelfan71]

I am on the PS3 version, why do I have to select my language every time I play the game??? like that on the 360??

[kennytomson]

Pro:
- cockpit view is best around. your cockpit blurs when going faster than 110, sense of speed and physics really felt. movement of head / view is the evolution I feel this game will add to the genre for all future releases.

Con:
- big bright arrows telling you when to turn
- arcadey environments
- not enough HUD options, basically either all or none
- Dirt / Dirt 2, GRID, (most likely Forza 3) > Shift. Hard to justify purchase when stronger competion already out or on the horizon

[DEFTFUNDAMENTALZ]

^ Totally agree about the HUD options. They need to have something about the laps and the placement of the race on the limited HUD. You can turn the racing line off by the way.

[goh]

Yesterday I found out you can't use tier 5 or reward cars in career.

I sure hope there isn't DLC later that decides to add a tier 5.

The Hazyview Eight Endurance race is probably the funnest in the game. I play with visual damage only,you could probably win that by just sitting at the starting line (or a safe looking corner) and not doing anything if you've got damage on. Too bad I forgot about the photo mode,the front end of my viper got imbeded in the concrete.

Oh and don't bother installing it to the hard drive to reduce these long load times. I did that and it crashed 2 of the 3 times I tried to play it.

[ODogg]

Thanks for the heads up about installing to the hard disk, i was about to do that today.

Listen up, here is the bottom line - this is a FUN racing game, if you're at all a fan of racing then you have to own this game. I liken it to Forza and Burnout combined into one killer CD. Unfreakin-real!