Shift 2 Unleashed

[Ryzza5]

A few of us have this game and a few more are interested in it from what I can gather - so a discussion thread seems like a good idea.

 

 

Shift 2 is more evolution than revolution, as you might've expected. Pretty much all the tracks from Shift 1 are in Shift 2 (as far as i can remember), as well as new tracks, FIA GT1 season tracks, including multiple layouts.

 

If you've played NFS Undercover, World Online, Shift 1, and/or Hot Pursuit 2010, you'll get VIP rewards (cash, XP, and/or cars).

 

 

The big topic atm is handling/physics and wheel setup. You can tell when playing that EA stepped back a bit more this time to let SMS do their thing. The first race in your career forces you to use a casual handling mode, so don't use that for first impressions - just get any type of pass (Bronze will do), finish the race afterwards, then head back to the Main Menu - Options to switch back to Elite and make other adjustments.

 

 

Overall, the physics are better than Shift 1, which in a way felt like you were racing on loose gravel (the way you could take corners at speed and easily slide precisely without loosing that much traction).

 

Shift 2 almost goes too far in the other direction, the front of the car often feels 'airy' (floating). The steering sometimes lags a bit, and if you start to lose control on anything but ideal, smooth road conditions, you'll probably end up facing the wrong way after a big crash. Brakes are also quite sensitive and can really screw up your approach to a corner - so either be super careful (which usually involves braking early and not placing well), or dial down the Brake Sensitivity.

 

Someone's released a mod to deal with the input lag and floaty feeling, which I've tried out tonight and recommend, so grab that from here.

 

Helmet cam :new: annoys me personally, as I've experienced (and much prefer) TrackIR. I'd rather look where I want rather than be glued to the apex of a corner, or rather, the A pillar of my car. You also have noral cockpit view like Shift 1 so that's fine. I'm half expecting a TrackIR mod to be released within weeks.

 

Night racing :new: - Really good.

 

Support for wheels - as far as the menu's go - it all looks good. They don't even bother asking me to map the controls for Gear 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and R as it knows that straight away. I overwite the rest of the controls to make sure everything is to my liking. The one thing that annoys me the most is that you have to choose 'Automatic Clutch' via the Main Menu - Options. It would be much better if you could change this via the Pause menu mid race. Slower cars with H pattern gearboxes are more immersive with the clutch, whereas fast supercars are easier to use with the paddels (where you don't want to have to use the clutch pedal).

 

Career - so far, so good - haven't progressed that far yet (Level 13), but nothing extraordinary to report. You have unlimited Garage spots to purchase all cars multiple times if you want.

 

Wheel settings - after a lot of tweaking and testing - this seems to be as good as I've gotten so far. I'll probably reduce the wheel rotation degrees further, as I tend to understeer due to not turning the wheel enough. Remember to install that handling mod (and backup the files it replaces).

 

I've changed rotation to 360 degrees now, very happy with the handling now.

 

 

 

For those who haven't seen it, here's a video I recorded:

 

 

 

If you have questions, screenshots, videos, settings, etc - post 'em here. :)

[superhyper]

I tested this game and I gotta say the handling was better than on Shift 1 demo (might not be a big difference but somehow this didn't make me leave the game right away). I might even consider buying it :hmmm:

[khevolution]

i have played it, and it looked and sounded like a very good game, but my pc just wouldn't do it any justice

[BobbyV]

Tried it, loved it. Unfortunately don't have as much time to waste on it as I'd like. Although it's short for a wow factor its predecessor had, still pretty much a decent sequent.

I'm waiting for some Ati miracle performance patch so I could put some serious effort in this game.

 

question: is it possible to have multiply game profiles with the same EA ID? Can't find it.

[Ozzmcom]

I did download this illegally , I'm pretty comfortable saying that as I have bought the first one and don't think EA deserves another £30 off me. It's pretty much the same game . You go this is brilliant for a month and then never play it ...

[T3hReaper91]

After some work can get this to run smoothly maxed fully out.

 

Using the controller setup ryzza has posted with the minimod and seems to all be fine now with some tweaks here and there.

 

Can't see how people say its the same as shift 1 as there are quite a few different tracks and cars. Career mode is structured differently too.

 

Videos comming tomorrow!

[Ryzza5]

The fact that they included Bathurst was enough reason for me to preorder the game (after hearing reviewers talk about 'great physics')

[Rai06]

Update

 

Linky

 

 

Another story of " pay for a DLC to activate cars in your folder all along"..makes me sick. First they shipped half games, and made us pay more for the DLC. Now they do this. -.-

[superhyper]

...would you prefer playing online and seeing just "default cars" when people have DLC cars than have the files and see their rides as well? And if it bothers you so much to pay for stuff on the disc, crack it yourself.

[Ryzza5]

The comments appear to indicate that those cars are an April Fools joke

[T3hReaper91]

They have already announced a legends pack

 

Need for Speed Shift 2 Sim Racing News

 

The 1 thing that annoys me the most about this game is not the physics actually its the AI =/

[Ryzza5]

Yeah - they are pretty ruthless (guess it's revenge for all the past NFS games where we let em have it) :p

 

I did find however that changing the Difficulty from Hard to Medium made the AI more aware of where you were going and would give you a bit more space, while remaining pretty competitive still. Maybe give it a go.

 

 

That Legends pack looks great - I will be super upset if we don't get it on PC. The drag races don't appeal to me that much.

[T3hReaper91]

Yeah - they are pretty ruthless (guess it's revenge for all the past NFS games where we let em have it) :p

 

I did find however that changing the Difficulty from Hard to Medium made the AI more aware of where you were going and would give you a bit more space, while remaining pretty competitive still. Maybe give it a go.

 

 

That Legends pack looks great - I will be super upset if we don't get it on PC. The drag races don't appeal to me that much.

 

Im finding Hard are slow let alone medium =/ But yeah they have no clue of where i am or nothing im going past on the inside and they will just ram me into the barrier.

 

On another note:

 

[pyrre]

To me the AI has been awesome, they haven't really rammed me at all and seem to be aware of me just fine (have it on hard). TBH I find it to be one of the best AI's in a racing game. it does feel a bit too easy though in most races.

[The Compensator]

I have it and must say it is awesome game! The best part of Shift2 is tuning, car list and physics. And there is a circuit from my country: Brno! :D

Awesome game, I can't find english words for it :lol:

 

There is my video. Sorry for quality and my driving style, that was my 1st attempt on Shift :o

 

:pf:

[Ryzza5]

Nice driving on that first lap, Adam. I did a quick race with one of the bonus VIP fast cars around the Riviera track and binned it pretty bad - wasn't used to the speed. So far my favourite car (now that I've sorted the settings) is the Porsche GT3 RS. Can be twitchy under braking but good fun to drive.

[T3hReaper91]

Nice driving on that first lap, Adam. I did a quick race with one of the bonus VIP fast cars around the Riviera track and binned it pretty bad - wasn't used to the speed. So far my favourite car (now that I've sorted the settings) is the Porsche GT3 RS. Can be twitchy under braking but good fun to drive.

 

Im uploading more atm of the M1 Procar & Veyron, Been trying to get one of the Pagani but the Ai keeps messing me up big time lol.

 

Thanks anyway.

[Ryzza5]

 

I thought the end of this Time Elimination race was a bit funny :p

[GhostPL]

Good game, better than the first one, BUT:

 

The graphics are good... when you have a good machine, they didn't optimized it very well.

 

Drift. The physics themselves are good, but they only count points for drift angle (like, why?), also when you have to drift for more than 3 mins, the tires are so hot, the car spins out whenever you push the gas pedal.

 

They are advertising themselves too much, e.g. you can't skip the intro, until all the logos appear and disappear, that's annoying.

 

And the instructor (formula D guy) is irritating, I liked the guy in the first one more.

 

Besides that, the game is very good, much better physics, more tracks, more cars, the retros and all that makes me forget about the bad stuff.

 

If you are not bothered reading, besides some few annoying things, game is good. IMO

[T3hReaper91]

Nice video again Ryzza! Looks like its running pretty smooth on your PC did u have to tweak settings much??

 

Another video from me:

[The Compensator]

Nice vids, guys! Hey Ryzza, is Jeff K. in the white SL65? I hate him, couldn't beat him in Lexus IS-F :lol:

[pyrre]

I'm waiting for some Ati miracle performance patch so I could put some serious effort in this game.

 

Have you tried older Catalyst drivers (like way older)? I went from the newest 11.3's to 10.8's (yes August 2010 drivers :lol:), as suggested in another forum and got a 10-20 fps boost. :)

[Rai06]

Keep getting major frame rate drops. Amazing game, though can't play as well as I'd like to. AND, anyway to use the photomode on a lappy? Can't rotate the camera without a numpad. -.-

 

Anyway to use a mouse?

[T3hReaper91]

Have you tried older Catalyst drivers (like way older)? I went from the newest 11.3's to 10.8's (yes August 2010 drivers :lol:), as suggested in another forum and got a 10-20 fps boost. :)

 

I went up to 11.3 from an older version and it runs smoother! Just turn off AA in game and set it up in Catalyst menu's and looks the same but alot better performance! Thats what ive got running in my videos i have posted.

[Ryzza5]

No graphics issues here - everything is maxed out at 1080p. 60FPS cap normally, and 30FPS cap when recording.