Need For Speed Shift

[Hepatic]

which part of the 7hrs of filler whilst we figure out if its going to stop raining was that in?

(shame actually, it was turning out to be a cracking race)

[nickyf1]

Haha, it was at around somewhere between 10 and 11 pm! They did a fantastic job they did.

[Hepatic]

a hell of a lot better than i could!!!

[GTfour]

Originally Posted by johntt

Have you tried adjusting the settings?

I too tried every possible set up. Even the one recommended for the G25 by the NFS guys themselves...
I guess this game is o.k. when toying around with a joypad but a PC and G25 set up simply was too much trouble for them lads to write proper software for.
Real shame actually,for as JAG says,the graphics,sound and overall apearance of it makes the mouth water...

[chunder]

Am downloading the PS3 version to see if its any better on its designated platform!

[Knowlesy]

Got myself a new XBox Elite yesterday with FIFA 10 and NFS Shift lumped in.

Don't think Shift is so bad really. The handling is odd I suppose at first, but for me it is a step back in the right direction for the series. I don't expect a sim, I expect exotic cars, good visuals and sound and nice circuits. Much better than previous efforts IMO.

OT: FIFA 10 is amazing. Surpasses Pro Evo Soccer at last, it saddens me to say.

[chunder]

Have played the downloaded PS3 demo and it is much better on a console

Still utter rot in teh physics stakes, losingthe dials at speed and not being able to correct much without going off thrittle is a bit tame though.

Well presented, but more effort needs to be put in the game rather than the marketing and licences they went form, classic case of EA pulling people in with little actual gameplay and lots of glitz

[medius]

I finally gave it a go as the demo is on XBL, and I gave it fair chance, came in with an open mind etc.

I basically wobbled round London in the Nissan GTR, with the joypad the car felt dead, numb, disconnected to the steering.

Will try it again with the reccomended input settings, but I can't see much hope for it. I'm sure Forza 3 will muller this in a few weeks.

[Knowlesy]

Well yes, obviously.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Got myself a new XBox Elite yesterday with FIFA 10 and NFS Shift lumped in.

Don't think Shift is so bad really. The handling is odd I suppose at first, but for me it is a step back in the right direction for the series. I don't expect a sim, I expect exotic cars, good visuals and sound and nice circuits. Much better than previous efforts IMO.

OT: FIFA 10 is amazing. Surpasses Pro Evo Soccer at last, it saddens me to say.

Off-topic, but my God, I agree! So much better!

I can't believe some people still won't let it go that FIFA kills Pro Evo..

Selby

[johntt]

Originally Posted by medius

I finally gave it a go as the demo is on XBL, and I gave it fair chance, came in with an open mind etc.

I basically wobbled round London in the Nissan GTR, with the joypad the car felt dead, numb, disconnected to the steering.

Will try it again with the reccomended input settings, but I can't see much hope for it. I'm sure Forza 3 will muller this in a few weeks.

Thats very true if you own a 360, for those of us with a PS3 Shift fills the gap to GT5 quite nicely, if GT5 hadn't been delayed then I probably wouldn't have bought Shift.

I played the demo of Dirt and didn't play it again, I never thought that I would choose an NFS game over a Colin McRae game...

[chunder]

Thats very true if you own a 360, for those of us with a PS3 Shift fills the gap to GT5 quite nicely, if GT5 hadn't been delayed then I probably wouldn't have bought Shift.""

And that is the EXACT reason why EA rushed this out.

I am not that desperate to play an avaerage game, but can see why people do, just disappoints that integrity and playablity is lost for pure profit and greed.

Exploitation is a bit strong but sort of fair!

[medius]

It looks and sounds gorgeous, but I'd have happily scarificed some of the polish for more driveability.

[Knowlesy]

I'm getting into it more and more.

[Hepatic]

Originally Posted by medius

It looks and sounds gorgeous, but I'd have happily scarificed some of the polish for more driveability.

oh yeah - just try the McLaren on the oval and you'll see how truly bad some of their "world class physics" really are...

[M30TGV]

I've read some of the posts here and can agree with many of them.

I rented the game last night and spent 5 hours playing it. So - you might think that it was good because of that? Well, no. I played it that long for 2 reasons - Firstly, I'd paid for it and secondly I thought I'd do it the courtesy of at least trying it properly.

Is it a simulator? No. nothing like it. It's a halfway house between an arcade racer and a GT/Forza style tech sim. The graphics are good, the new tracks look OK but the real-life tracks are not good enough. Silverstone for example just doesn't feel like the real thing at all.

My final positive is that I quite like the addition of a race engineer talking to you through a kind of virtual radio.

However the negatives... here we go.

Handling is on the comical side of drifting. If a BMW 1 series coupe was that easy to get the back end out (and it's not - I had one as a courtesy car for a week and tried...), there would be law suits the world over. I personally have no interest in drifting. It's like what synchronised swimming is to the real thing. It's all a bit arty and subjective so I shall ignore those events at all costs.

This, however all pales into insignificance next to the single most annoying thing about this or any other game with the same flaw. The controls. They give you 3 options - and they're all pre-determined, so you can't configure the controller and personalise it the way YOU want. Oh yeah, you can adjust the deadzones and all that rubbish, but first of all - an explanation of all that would be nice AND it still doesn't help that I can't use the buttons *I* want. I've been playing Gran Turismo since the very first one came out on the PSX and have played Forza and Forza 2 for years and as I have always used a controller to steer (tried the wheel, but hated it) I cannot retune my mind after 12 years or so of using these controls to using what some snotty programmer thinks I should use, but the bloody programmers don't give you the option of what I see as the most common button configuration. The PS3 controller has got a pressure sensitive analogue feature to the buttons used by your right thumb for brake and throttle, and you can then free up your index fingers for upshift and downshift on the "paddles" at the front of the controller - just as GT has taken advantage of and Forza allowed as a customization - but that option is not available and as a result I spent about 2 of the 5 hours having to re-learn something that I didn't want to re-learn which kinda spoiled the experience. And it wouldn't be rocket science to work that into the game surely.

Working your way up is OK, but you don't have as much freedom of the type of car you will use for many races. You're told either it's THIS one or nothing. Or in some cases you have a choice of two and again, you can't tweak the settings on the car, so if you hate the way it handles, but know how you'd fix it in Forza or GT - tough - you're stuck with it.

I'll continue with it tonight because it CAN be a good laugh, but it's way to arcade like for my tastes. After every race you're bombarded with a bazillion awards and stupid stars that you've apparently won for doing some random things during the race - yeah yeah - so what. All I want to know is if I won the race, and gimme some cash to upgrade the car or buy a new one. If I wanted awards for getting big air or drifting for a half-mile I'd play Burnout.

Entertaining - at times, simulator - hell no.

[M30TGV]

I tried it again tonight, but no. It's just not worth it. Not only is there little realism to the cars handling, but it's inconsistent.

And the lack of control customization just kills it for me. I've got it rented for a week, but I'm taking it back after 24h.

EA should stick to football games. This is garbage in a world where there are other games so much more accomplished and better aimed at the kind of people who are interested in racing and driving games.

Like someone else said - don't fall for the pretty advertising, underneath it's poorly finished, irritating and a very poor substitute for Gran Turismo or Forza.

[Knowlesy]

It's not that bad. I hated the previous Need For Speeds, but this one is alright.

Handling isn't so bad. The cars do handle weird in drfiting mode, however it is necessary as the cars don't actually drift at all in normal config annoyingly. However, with practice they are fairly straightforward.

It's not a realistic game, but that hasn't hindered Gran Turismo over the years too badly. Although I wouldn't for a moment suggest NFS is as polished.

You can use plenty of cars for most events. You just have to buy some.

Oh, and if you can't get used to the controls, I suggest you put your controller down and walk away from gaming forever.

Overall I enjoy it very much but will obviously transfer to Forza 3 in a fortnight.

[johntt]

The PC modders have been picking apart the game and have made some interesting discoveries about the game.

The handling model is a downtuned version of the GTR2 model and they have modded the game to give it full sim handling.

Also, a more advanced damage model has been put together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuLZtSYheBM

[B24]

I brought the game on friday to see what it was like but returned it yesterday. Sadly just not what Im looking for.
I find far more enjoyment with GT4 and Prologue.
Another issue is its only 720i which just doesnt cut it with a 50inch screen. GTP is in 1080 which came out 12mths ago so why it so hard for other developers to bring it to this level?
Im happy to wait till March for something decent..

[Tathrim]

Merely because the 360 has a requirement for 720p gaming, and, because this game is cross platform, including the 360, 1080p support won't be as good.

[chunder]

OK, I am getting close to finishing this game now but have noticed some utterly incredulous errors in the game as you get near to that hell for programmers of games, completion!

I am in Tier 4 using either a Modded car or a works one. In the 5 race series earlier there was my rival in a Corvette. He was in the same car in every race (as with every other rival in the whole game, same car in races, same car in battle at end)

The other cars in the races varied from some that were not even allowed to be there to cars that were not at all like others raced anywhere?

Now this smacks of desperation from a programmer keen to ensure you carry on playing and positive you will not notice!

Then to cap it all this Corvette driving rival turns up for the battle driving the top end Zonda, round the ****ty Nordschliefe! All of a sudden he is unbeatable and can pass you on the grass, round the outside, on the brakes and anywhere you like, the only way to beat the berk is to try and have him off, but he goes so fast that unless you are in a supertuned Lambo you cant even spin the ego tripping programmers jerkoff!

This is what I hate about modern games programmers! You have been playing the game for weeks, got progressivley better at it so that you can go quicker and quicker and then, just as you might complete it, the juvenilia sets in and you have to do this kind of thing! What is the poiint in making a game fairly lengthya nd enjoyable and then in the final 0.1% sticking your tongue out and saying "ner ner ner ner ner! Utterly childish and spoilt!!

I really do give up!

[ROB IS THE STIG]

And breathe

[chunder]

Tried a little experiment the otehr night with this. It seems the game is very definately programmed to prevent certain aspects from being completed.

In one instance you lap sections of a track, in this case the Nordschliefe split into 3 short lengths. On one bit you do a part of track containing the Karussell. There is a green line denoting the line and you have to stick to this to clean 13 sections through the 4 miles. The final part of the Karussell section is the actual Karussell corner. I ahve now sat on the green line 20 times in various cars and it never lets me clean that section? Call me whatever you like but that is plain bad.

Then onto "spinning cars"! Well this is almost unreal! The game is marketed as a sim, yet here we are at Spa, one of the best tracks in the world and to complete a star I ahve to spin out 4 opponents in 2 laps! Now this might sounds easy but get this!

Was behind a guy into the bus stop, he was on the right me on left, I angled a perfect hit into the rear quarter and spin him. Replay shows that as I hit the car starts to spin, then amazingly he gathers it up just as he is about to go 180 and carrys on regardless! What a genius.

Shameful programming and awful games testing. The game is hard enough to last a long time without this kind of rubbish, very poor.

[Knowlesy]

The Karrussell clean line is glitched. It even says you have done it clean at the side of the screen but won't count it.

I did manage to do it though, after some research. Think you have to use the Audi S4 with pretty much all assists IIRC. A silly glitch, and if I have a gripe with EA it is that they are not good enough on the patching front.