I might risk a lot by saying this but...

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I know it's propably quite dangerous to say this on these forums, but nevertheless I thought I'd add my two cents here by saying that I think Shift 2 is the best racing game of this generation. Now before the flamewar starts, allow me a breather to argument on my propably quite surprising statement.

- Shift 2 isn't the most realistic racer, I know. It's physics are often called wonky, which I think isn't doing the game justice. While they might not be realistic, they work for me, they work on my DFGT (haven't got any problems with the so-called lag), and I know how to handle my cars very well. In fact, I like these physics for it's accesibility while not feeling arcadish.

-Shift 2 isn't the prettiest game, by far. GT5 and Forza are both prettier in the graphics department, but Shift 2 feels much grittier, much more alive than either of those two games.

-The track selection is through the roof if you ask me! I've never seen such a great pack of tracks in any game, ever (except maybe GT4).

-The car selection, while by far not as vast as GT5's or Forza's, is great. The cars I want to see are there. Plus the ability to customize them on the outside and INSIDE (learn from this PD!) gives almost unlimited replayability.

- The AI is great in my opinion. They put up a fight, and sometimes they are aggressive, but I haven't noticed them being overly so (not like in Shift 1 or Grid, the latter which makes me think it's more destruction derby than serious racing sometimes). They are aware of your presence, they drive strategically and in most cases also clean. Never is the game unfair.

- It's career mode is awesome, constantly giving you something new while being pretty beefy in it's own right. If you add the Standing Mile and Legends events, it becomes even bigger and it's longetivity is even better!

- The customization aspect, while being brought up before, has to be brought up again, along with the tuning. It feels complete. It feels awesome taking a stock car and customizing it until it becomes a truly raw racing machine!

- Last but not least: the experience of racing. This is where nothing beats Shift 2, if you ask me. The thrill of driving the game, because of it's physics, it's visual effects in cockpit view, the distorted sound of the engines roaring (subwoofer highly recommended!). The package feels complete and totally awesome. Realistic? No, propably not. Fun? Hell yes!

And to me, the fun is where it's all about. Shift 2 feels complete, looks and sounds great, and plays like something I've never played before. I've had the game for over a year now, and I'm still hooked. The driving experience is something nobody can touch these days, and for me, that's saying something.

So PD and Turn 10, step up your game in the FUN department!

Sorry for the long post but I had to say this!
 
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I don't believe so, but that's my opinion. I glad SOMEONE likes it, I was starting to wonder, but I'll stick with GRID.
 
Only problems with shift 2 are it's physics. Too arcadey for me personally. There's also a huge bug. My game which I had 78% trophies, was level 20 is now useless. I have all my cash still and my cars. The DLC tracks are also locked again. I can only do the first race. So the only cars I can race are the Leon and whatever else was allowed. Golf maybe? Been along time since I played it. The thing that annoys me most is that EA knew about this glitch because it was happening in Shift 1. But did they fix it? Nope. So my recommendation is to back it up often.
 
Hopefully future racing games adopt the helmet cam since it is the best view of driving ever put in a game.
 
I do agree that the feel of racing is best in Shift 2, it does feel more alive. FM and GT are great games but they feel um, dead.

For me I enjoyed Shift 1 more than FM3, not a better game just more enjoyable. Shift 2's impossible to drift(mode) with a wheel took some fun out of it.
 
UH havent played shift 2..
it wasnt on my radar of " cool " games..

for me Forza is in third ...

GRID is in second (too bad they took the online away ... damm hackers)

... and of course TTrophy is #1.. hah

GT5 #1... :D
 
To the OP - all excellent points except for one biggy that ruins it totally - input lag on my PS3 (using DS3). It's almost tragic - the game is so near brilliance but stuffs up the most critical thing in a racing game, steering. Yes, the 1.02 patch reduced the lag, but there's still way too much for precise control.
 
Yes, the 1.02 patch reduced the lag, but there's still way too much for precise control.

I have no problem with the input lag, had the game for over a year now. I know it's there, but I'm not aware of it anymore. I guess with some practise it becomes less obvious and much less of a problem.

The drifting is indeed near impossible, I tend to avoid it like the plague and focus on the racing parts instead.
 
Just brought out NFS Shift 2 for the first time in months to see if anything had changed. Nope - it's still IMHO a game that's brilliant in so many ways wrecked by steering lag. It's OK in steady-state in corners, but if you have to suddenly swerve the whole thing goes to cr@p.
 
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=7565092#post7565092

I posted my settings and a couple of tunes a while ago. The settings radically changed the game for me and sorting out the steering lock and caster angle really improved the steering.

Keep going with the drifting - the shelbys are great for drifting especially the one in the legends pack. There is a sweet spot where the drift keeps on going - its like nearly half throttle/half turn once you throw the backend out.

Hope these improve the game. I'm in agreement with the OP on every point.👍
 
Just brought out NFS Shift 2 for the first time in months to see if anything had changed. Nope - it's still IMHO a game that's brilliant in so many ways wrecked by steering lag. It's OK in steady-state in corners, but if you have to suddenly swerve the whole thing goes to cr@p.

Yup, I can cope with the lag on 3/4 of the cars by driving pin point accurate. It gets harder tio that with the faster cars though. Real shame
 
I'm going to buy either Shift 1 or Shift 2 soon. Should I buy Shift 1 for better graphics or buy Shift 2 for the improvements over the first.
 
I'm going to buy either Shift 1 or Shift 2 soon. Should I buy Shift 1 for better graphics or buy Shift 2 for the improvements over the first.

I'd go for the second. IMHO drives just as fine as the first, and has more features. Graphics? I honestly think 2 has the better graphics but I haven't compared them in a while so I could be wrong...
 
I watched a comparison video, it showed that Shift 2 has slightly better textures but it's very grey compared to Shift 1 and it has more vision blur. The sound is much better though.
 
Not really read the thread, but I'll chip in my 2 cents anyway:

My opinion: Shift 2 WOULD be the best racing game of this generation...IF it wasn't a Need for Speed game.

Basically what I mean by that is that everything I hate about the game and lets it down is to do with it being a Need for Speed game, and it having this really immature attitude to crashes, explosions, slo-mo, pounding music, annoying guys going 'yo maan' in your face every five seconds, every crash being reduced to slow-motion barrel rolls and epic shakey-cam, etc etc. :yuck: :dunce: It's the same immaturity that blighted ProStreet. Carbon and Most Wanted could get away with it as they're street racing games, so they come more with the territory. But when Shift 2 is trying to sell itself as a hardcore sim racer, it just comes across as immature and a bit sad. :grumpy: :dunce:

There's other niggles too that aren't really related to the NFS side of things: the fact that so many of the career mode events force you to use a loaner car (why?! I have my own car, I want to build and race my own car as much as possible, why keep putting me in other cars every 5 minutes?!) and the fictional tracks being a bit frustrating to drive - no real flow to them. But these are minor flaws.

So it's not perfect. But other than those silly hangups, it's a GREAT game. I've really warmed to it. I feel more adrenaline pumping during races than I ever have with GT5. I hated the AI at first but have come to enjoy their over-aggressive nature. I much prefer them being aggressive and going for gaps that aren't there, and contact, and touching, and swerving, over GT5's blithering idiot AI who just WON'T go up the inside of you even if you pull over and read a book at the side of the road :grumpy:

The selection of cars is great, real up to the minute stuff (you listening PD? No point updating your extensive GTR collection if there's real-world racing cars we want that just aren't there), and the Works add-on is great - reminds me of the old Race Modifications in GT2. The Legends DLC pack is awesome also, really great to be able to drive those legendary cars in a modern sim-racer :)

The physics are also pretty good, and are as close to the uncompromising reality of the PC sim-racers I've played as I've ever had on a console game. I did have steering lag/understeer problems when I first started playing, but I didn't really tweak my steering wheel settings - I just generally adjusted my driving style and also lowered the tyre pressures on my car setups. Turn-in was much easier after that as a general rule of thumb. For some reason the stock setups have the tire pressures way too high, hence the understeer.

So overall, yeah I basically agree with the OP - it's a fantastic game, and I really enjoy it. Just tainted somewhat by it being a NFS game and it still having that kinda immature Fast and Furious attitude hanging around that isn't really needed. But hey I guess most people just ignore that, and so do I - it's brilliant otherwise 👍
 
My opinion: Shift 2 WOULD be the best racing game of this generation...IF it wasn't a Need for Speed game.

Um... Shift 2 is hardly a NFS game even tho it has the NFS name on it. It's so much not a NFS game that the PS Store has it under S instead of N.

I never consider the 1st Shift a NFS game either. IMO NFS is a street racing series not a track racing series.

Now Shift 2 would be an amazing game if more then a handful of cars could actually be driven without it sliding all over.
 
For me Shift 2 is a best racing game if they can fix the slow-responsiveness steering on PS3.

I hope when Pcars out for PS3, the slow-responsiveness steering problem will totally eliminated (because it is from same developer, right?)
 
Spoil-t
Um... Shift 2 is hardly a NFS game even tho it has the NFS name on it. It's so much not a NFS game that the PS Store has it under S instead of N.

I never consider the 1st Shift a NFS game either. IMO NFS is a street racing series not a track racing series.

Now Shift 2 would be an amazing game if more then a handful of cars could actually be driven without it sliding all over.

It actually doesn't carry the Need For Speed name at all, it's officially known as Shift 2 Unleashed when the previous game was called Need For Speed: Shift.

Personally I preferred Shift 1, I've only played a little of Shift 2 but I'm going to try out the PC physics and tyre mods before continuing... I had to stop because I was trying to drive it like any other racing game but was failing hard, no fault of my own of course!
 
Pcars is no where close to Shift Series...

The game is just astonshing..

Physics are awsome, better then Shift
 
Agree for the lively feeling of the game. But the physics are really too bad, car handling is really too unpredictable. On the other hand, GT5 has lots of issues, being too polished for instance, too perfect, not enough racing action feeling... Still, I can play it for hours andd not being bored. I can also not play it for months and won't miss it. So which one is the best? None of them, all have their own qualities and flaws, that's why you got to play them all and be happy with the diversity they offer. And by the way, my fav game at the moment is real racing 2 on ipad, def. worth the experience for 1/10th of the price of theses blockbusters.
 
On second thought... played again, got clipped on the finishing line by useless opponent, lost a 20 laps beautifully managed race... go back to GT5. And wait for Real Racing 3... hoppefully EA won't play their I empty your wallet with in game have to buy credits if you want to finish the game... or I will be back to GT5 again. Never been desapointed so far.
 
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