Need For Speed Shift

[broadrun96]

Makes no sense for the demo to come out so late EA missed the boat on that one, I rented the game this afternoon. I'll post a sense of the control and playability of the game later tonite.

[broadrun96]

Preliminary review, pretty much feels like driving and braking on polished ice. Both the M3 E92 in the opening race and the 135i I bought as the first car feel VERY light and skittish and can't put the power down with or without traction control, have to feather the throttle even with full TC on. The brakes are very light and don't seem to grip anything really. And every corner seems to be a drift-fest with the front washing out on the E92 at Brands doing all over 65 mph. Hoping it gets better but seems like a waste of 9 bucks to rent so far. Will add some more after I drive a few more races.

[Hazard]

It's not what I hoped it would be, but it's pretty good. It's similar to GRID really, with a little bit of Test Drive Unlimited thrown in.

It's not a sim though.

[brands hatch]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

but the cars just don't handle well at all.

exactly what i thought when i tried the demo at modified live at brands hatch in june, pretty awful if im honest.

[johntt]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Preliminary review, pretty much feels like driving and braking on polished ice. Both the M3 E92 in the opening race and the 135i I bought as the first car feel VERY light and skittish and can't put the power down with or without traction control, have to feather the throttle even with full TC on. The brakes are very light and don't seem to grip anything really. And every corner seems to be a drift-fest with the front washing out on the E92 at Brands doing all over 65 mph. Hoping it gets better but seems like a waste of 9 bucks to rent so far. Will add some more after I drive a few more races.

Like rFactor then?

[Finn]

The standard car handling in this game is shocking to say the least.

You need to change the set up as below for the Xbox controller to make things a lot better!

Steering Dead Zone-15%
Accel Dead Zone-10%
Brake Dead Zone-10%
Steering sensitivity-0%
Acell Sensitivity -5%
Brake sensitivity-5%
Speed steering Sensitivity 100

Also the understeer and oversteer slider needs to be at the far left at 0.

[chunder]

For all the advertsing and rubbish E have put behind this...

All I can say is "next time save your Ad money and spend it on decent developers.

I played this for 2 minutes before uninstalling it and taking to back to the shop.

Honestly, I have played better JAVA free racing games, this is shocking in the extreme.

[GTfour]

Originally Posted by johntt

Like rFactor then?

Yep,like rFactor.

I'll take GTR over it any day. Just dwnldd NFSS(hey,it's free!) and I have to say,after toying around with it for a couple of hours,I'm pleasantly surprised. This by itself is totally unexpected 'cause we all know that the entire NFS series to date,have been just arcades for 14 year old boys.

The graphics are simply beautifull,the detailing is high and the sound most cars produce is very close to reallity.
As for the gameplay,it's far from the real sims like GTR(2,Evo) or rFactor,but it's a whole lot better then all the previous versions.

[chunder]

I actually really enjoyed Need for Speed 2, was a superb little game and I played it for a very long time

What annoyed me about this game was the rubbish coming from all the PR peple about how good it was how sim it was etc.

For Gods sake they cant even sort the basic controls out for PC gamers so how dop they think they are gonna sell to that market!

Rubbish, simple as

[GTfour]

Originally Posted by GTfour

'but it's a whole lot better then all the previous versions.'

Added:

I have to come back on my previous statement,for after juggling with the various steering and throttle settings,I haven't managed to find a set up that makes the steeringwheel(G25) react as it should a.e. exactly linear to the one seen on the screen.
The amount of delay is just TOO frustrating. Imagin driving your car with half a second delay between your steeringwheel and the frontwheels. That way,one will ALLWAYS overcorrect oversteer,which will then result in a violently fishtailing car,spinning you of the track...

BIG dissapointment. Again,luckely it was a free download but I'd be pretty p***** off if I'd spend 50 euro's on this gamepad game.

[broadrun96]

Its about as bad with the 360 controller, once the tail decides to swing it's all over. Even adding both body kits didnt seem to help the Cayman. That said I'm getting better and its kinda nice to have a game that races at Spa, but DAMN was the jump from tier 2 to 3 a BIG one. Def have to upgrade the cars fully before entering in the later races in both tier 2 and 3, or at least I had to.

[JAG]

I'm not sure what game people are playing, or on what system, but on the PS3 with a Logitch DFGT it's an excellent game.

It's very much a mix of GTR2, GT, Forza and the original NFS games, I wouldn't play it with a gamepad.

I read lots of highly critical comments within hours of it's release, but as the dust has settled the feeling is this is a very worthy semi sim.

[johntt]

Originally Posted by JAG

I'm not sure what game people are playing, or on what system, but on the PS3 with a Logitch DFGT it's an excellent game.

It's very much a mix of GTR2, GT, Forza and the original NFS games, I wouldn't play it with a gamepad.

I read lots of highly critical comments within hours of it's release, but as the dust has settled the feeling is this is a very worthy semi sim.

Thats good to hear I'm considering getting it myself and I have a PS3 and a Logitech DFGT. What wheel settings are you using?

[neilwilson]

I only have the PC demo and I like it a lot.
It suits me for those times when all I want to do is give a decent car a good caning around a track.

Neil

[JAG]

Originally Posted by johntt

Thats good to hear I'm considering getting it myself and I have a PS3 and a Logitech DFGT. What wheel settings are you using?

With any new game I try to stick with default for a good few hours, it gives you a better understanding of the physics and whether controller and/or car set-up changes are needed.

So far I've only tried altering the accelerator and brake sensitivity, braking is VERY sensitive.

I've started with an RS Cosworth, being 4wd it isn't as tail happy as some.

Apparently there's a PS3 patch due this week too.

PS the sounds are also excellent, this is a big deal for me.

[broadrun96]

Glad to see some people are having some success with the game. felt alot of the cars were VERY flighty, at one point getting the Cayman with all level 2 mods and body kit to cover alot of a track without having the wheels on the ground. That said once I got the tweaks I needed, and they give you almost infinite variability, done it wasn't too bad of a game but the last Xbox update killed ALL of my settings and brought the controls back to their original. But it was better than the previous update that killed the game, game would load but none of the race events would. I have given up for now, only rented it, but may come back after 6-8 months; FM3 comes out soon and it may take most of that time. Also, not lucky enough to own a wheel just yet, my last experience was enough to turn me off from one, was WAY too slow versus the controller.

The upgrades are pretty good for the first level but do any other cars seem to improve with the second level upgrades? I only ran the Cayman and 135 but the body kit and suspension 3 upgrades didn't seem to have any impact on the sliders, was that just to add tuning to the settings? I didn't get too far into the tuning part, just was trying to set up the controls and get my racing fix in. Been a long time for a new racing game, so on track time was desperately wanted.

[Hepatic]

the demo on the pc is truly awful. looks stunning, sounds stunning, plays like a 3yr old wrote the controller input code. when i have LFS and rfactor to compare controllers with, NFS:S is so stunningly bad i simply can't play it. even RD3 controlled better than this...

[chunder]

My sentiments entirely Hep

Possibly one of the most botched PC conversions ever!

I imagine the game is playable on a controller, but with a decent whell as I ahve it is simply impossible.

Shame coz as mentioned the visuals are fine.

But as soon as you see high viz arrows on the outside of the corners you have to worry! Reminds me of Ridge Racer and Burnout!!

Thats where this game belongs

[Hepatic]

figured out the most annoying bit is the steering input is not linear. 45deg move makes a bit of a move in game but the next 45 is over half a lock in game. makes precise control near impossible but suits a pad well enough. just can't believe crap like that sells...

[chunder]

It sells because EA are the best at marketing games, adverts for that rubbish ahve been on every large website I go on daily for motorsport news.

Plus, they know fans are waiting for GT5 and Forza 3, they know they will be out late this year early next so rushed through their game to get it out before them to capitalise.

Racefans are often easily pleased with new stuff coz there is so little about, and EA know this, they do it with Fifa and other sports games.

Shame they dont spend as much time writing decent code as they do marketing.

Utter tripe as you say

[johntt]

Originally Posted by Hepatic

figured out the most annoying bit is the steering input is not linear. 45deg move makes a bit of a move in game but the next 45 is over half a lock in game. makes precise control near impossible but suits a pad well enough. just can't believe crap like that sells...

Have you tried adjusting the settings?

[JAG]

If you've done some reading on NFS Shift you'll notice some people insist on classifying it alongside the Grids and Burnouts of this world.

In reality it slots into the semi-sim segment with ease, the physics can be forgiving, particulalry tyre slip angles, but it is still far superior to something like GTR1 or F1C, which both suffered from twitchy, on ice handling, in Shift you can actually feel the grip levels and circuit undulations through the wheel.

In short it's Need for Speed, to see such a game get back to it's roots and compare favourably with some recent sims is great to see, and I speak as someone who found the Grid and Dirt 1 demos awful.

On the PC side I see there are already some early mods for NFS Shift, I could see this game being the next major PC modding platform.

[Hepatic]

Originally Posted by johntt

Have you tried adjusting the settings?

first thing i did but linearity isn't one of them so you're stuck with it. the logitech profiler can compensate for a lot but that has to be in a game...

[chunder]

I somehow doubt this will be a big game for modders, the physics have to be right for that and they clearlyu are not in Shift.

I played around with it for about an hour and nothing really changed so moveing on to something professioanlly written and tested properly for PC

[nickyf1]

Did I hear something about a 3D mode mentioned during Radio Le Mans' Petit coverage?