NFS Shift 2 Unleashed - Details

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If Shift 2 is real, I hope they stick with the arcadey-sim type physics because NFS will never be able to go full sim with GT5 blocking it (unless they abandon us PS3 users :P )

NFS is the entry level racinbg game you play and gives you joy, I want to get NFS; Shift but I'm saving up for GT5 and NFS: HP so don't currently have the money.

They should get some ideas of Grid (24h race).
 
Wasn't sure where to place this thread and if there was already a thread on the same topic. But I was browsing the NFS website (looking for information on HP actually) and stumbled across this.

Trailer



Details

The sequel to the critically acclaimed Need for Speed SHIFT™ returns to the track to deliver the most physical racing experience to date with SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED™ Experience racing evolved and unleash your inner driver

Spring 2011

Feel what the Driver’s Battle is actually like in an unparalleled racing experience that captures the physicality and brutality of being behind the wheel going 200mph. Frighteningly authentic physics and degradation of tracks and cars, thrilling night racing, and an eye-watering sense of speed combined with the all-new helmet camera puts you right in the heart in the action. Feel every scrape, bump, and burn out in an all-out fight to the finish line. SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED™ sets the bar for realistic racing and gives all the excitement and exhilaration of race day in a groundbreaking authentic experience.

Next Level of Immersion

Unprecedented first-person racing realism puts you right in the drivers’ seat to experience in-cockpit vibrations, realistic driver head movements and the impact of every dizzying crash.

True Realistic Racing

SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED redefines the racing simulator genre by delivering authentic and true-to-life, dynamic crash physics, plus insanely detailed real-world cars, drivers and tracks.

Change the game with Autolog

Take your game play further than ever before with the revolutionary Autolog system that lets you connect and share virtually every aspect of your racing career – status, pictures, videos and more - online with your friends. Get new challenges based on your friends’ in-game activity and amp up the competition both offline and online.

Amazing Career Depth and Variety

Choose the path that fits your own personal racing style, unlock new experiences and challenge the world’s best drivers in multiple disciplines while on your way to becoming the FIA GT1 World and GT3 European Champions.

Customize for the show or customize to win

Turn the world’s most elite high-performance cars into something truly your own with almost limitless options for customization from engine to body, suspension and much more.

Spring 2011

606x340_FMV_GT1_02_0.jpg


Source: http://www.needforspeed.com/game/shift-2-unleashed

Whilst I bought the previous Shift I didn't particularly enjoy it, however the inclusion of both the FIA GT1 and the FIA GT3 has got me interested again. Also by the looks of it (from the image) the game also looks to include the European Drift Championship.

Anyway, discuss!
 
It really reminded me of the first Grid trailer(s)... if we would actually get decent physics, Shift 2 would be definitely something, I'm looking forward to. But I won't need it, since we get GT5 before... ;) Anyway, looks interesting. But I hope it's not Shift with more licensed cars, some more tracks, night racing and a more shaky cam. I want to have improved physics :)
 
Looks like that trailer was hinting at an in-helmet cam (Bit at the end)

Also, finally rollover. It was so strange in the first SHIFT that your car was glued to the road.
 
evilfoxhound
Looks like that trailer was hinting at an in-helmet cam (Bit at the end)

Also, finally rollover. It was so strange in the first SHIFT that your car was glued to the road.
Click to expand...

There was rollover in the first one, it was just a bit of a pain to pull off....the best way of seeing was watching the AI bombard one another.
 
EnragedEric13
The track looked almost like Spa to me cause the hill looked similar to Eau Rogue to me. Anyone know if it was Spa or another track?
Click to expand...

It was Spa.

And thanks mods for merging the threads, didn't realise there was another one at the time of me posting.
 
Looks awesome! And I'm glad to see Black Box not Zombified. Instead, it'll be Slightly Mad Studios that will be making the game which is good, since they made the first Shift.

I hope the damage is like they show, that'd be awesome. And the FIA license is promising...maybe the Ascari KZ1 will make an appearance.
 
Hmm... Don't know what to think of this game. I did not care much for shift. I did see it had some good real world tracks but never managed to get far enough into the game to see them. The handling was just awful imo. I even got the patch that is supposed to make it handle better and while there was some improvement it still left much to be desired. I've tried it 3 or 4 times and only managed to get up to the second tier before I quit due to the poor handling of the cars.

So unless the new one is much more realistic than the last one I will not be wasting my money on it. In fact when I think back the last NFS that felt anywhere close to realistic was Porsche Unleased and that was 10 years ago. Everything since has been to arcade like to suit me though I did enjoy Underground 2 and Carbon enough to play them all the way though. I did not like Pro Street but still went all the way through it as well. Shift on the other hand just does not do it for me.
 
Roadhog, I am perfectly willing to walk you through what the PU engine does vs Shift. PU was pretty much dead meat even for SCGT, which is kind of like Shift's great-grandad with about 1/4 the physics properties :)
 
I don't know about what properties may be in shift but I do know that the cars do not handle anywhere near as realisticly as they do in PU. I have played both games recently with the game pad and with the wheel PU is great Shift blows. If it does in fact have more advanced physics then they need some serious adjustments.

Keep in mind I am talking PC versions on both of these games. I always get PC version over console if available.

Edit: In PU for example the cars would lean and slide a lot in the corners just as one would expect from the old rear engine rwd cars. Shift feels like there is glue on the front tires and grease on the rear ones. I have intentionally hit corners far to fast in shift and the result was always the same. Front sticks, rear comes out, drift around corner and keep going. PU and other more realistic games would skid the front tires and you would go off the road every time under the same conditions just as you would in a real car.
 
Well, there are some small things that influence how much turn in you can get away with how fast in PU, like front downforce being totally nonexistent (drag only) as compared to rear :)
 
Yep, that is truly an idiotic interview to give to a games journalist - see "Me and the Wii". Automatically gets interpreted as:

""better" physics"

and

"if it had "better" physics then I would like it more"

Which is not actually what he's going into with this, he's a producer. Shipping the entire game so that it controlled in the same way as Drift mode might have been more accurate but given the absolute howls of discontent from people who couldn't handle that unassisted I'm not sure that's where he's going with it :)

I definitely agree that they will look into the two areas of "things we make easy in physics" and "things we make easy in controller settings" and the overlap between the two in the sequel, though. That's more what he seems to be getting at to me.
 
boxox
Well, there are some small things that influence how much turn in you can get away with how fast in PU, like front downforce being totally nonexistent (drag only) as compared to rear :)
Click to expand...

Yes many of the cars only had downforce for the rear. This is after all where it is really needed on a rear engine rwd car. I can't remember for sure but it seems like the GT1 and 935 may have had front/rear adjustable. Even if it was not adjustable that does not mean it is non existant.

Anyway my point was/is that after driving the two games I come away feeling that PU is more true to life than any NFS ever made and Shift is one of the worst. Take from that what you will. Personally I have driven tons of racing games as well as 100s of real cars. I know how they should feel and Shift doesn't cut it.
 
No, what I'm talking about is that it is totally non-functional in the physics engine period :)

What do you do when someone who has played a lot more racing games than you, and written a significantly non-zero amount of racing games - and driven, and actually raced competitively - more cars than you disagrees? Does this work like testing who has the hardest conker? Because that would be awesome.
 
This would make a nice compliment to GT5 to anyone with PS3. I hated most of the production cars in SHIFT 1 (except the Porsches) because none of them felt quite realistic. However the GT-class race cars- the BMW M3 GT2, 911 RSR and the Audi R8 LMS felt quite good. You get a great sense of grip from the front tires and aggressive feel that only a race would give. The Aston Martin DBR9 and the Maserati MC-12 didn't quite match the feel of the lesser powered GT2-class cars. Somehow it felt as if the physics couldn't quite handle the higher power GT1 cars and these two cars were gripping corners as if on rail.

If the game carries most of the real life track from SHIFT- Road America, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Nurburgring and add to it the GT1 World Championship tracks- Brno, Nurburgring GP and few more, it will be the de facto racing game on both consoles.


HBR-Roadhog
I don't know about what properties may be in shift but I do know that the cars do not handle anywhere near as realisticly as they do in PU. I have played both games recently with the game pad and with the wheel PU is great Shift blows. If it does in fact have more advanced physics then they need some serious adjustments.
Click to expand...

I love Porsche Unleashed and similarly, was playing the PC version. I was also using a wheel, a non FFB Logitech Wingman Formula. At the same time I was also slowly getting acquainted with the best PC sim at the time, Grand Prix Legend (GPL). As good as PU was, against the ancient GPL, it was no match. And despite my misgivings about SHIFT's physics and especially how production cars feel in the game, I wouldn't go as far as to say its physics is inferior to that of an arcade game released almost 10 years ago.

Most of the problem with SHIFT's physics rested in how it was finally implemented and interpreted. You can feel that the basic physics including the tire modeling are pretty advanced which isn't surprising considering two of the most well known names in driving sims are responsible for its physics: Eero Piitulainen (physics programmer for Richard Burns Rally) and Doug Arnao (Simbin's GTR series). As EA Europe and driver extraordinaire, Patrick Soderlund, pointed out , the final game received a modification to its physics code. Although it sounds like a lame excuse especially considering SHIFT's multi physics option but if it was true, I can't imagine how incredibly compromised the final physics might've been compared to the original.

Still, I'm looking forward to the game simply because I love GTR2 and while GTR3 might be the better option, I'm afraid my ancient macbook pro (2.2 GHz and 128mb Nvidia 8600GT) just doesn't cut it.
 
mykem
I love Porsche Unleashed and similarly, was playing the PC version. I was also using a wheel, a non FFB Logitech Wingman Formula. At the same time I was also slowly getting acquainted with the best PC sim at the time, Grand Prix Legend (GPL). As good as PU was, against the ancient GPL, it was no match. And despite my misgivings about SHIFT's physics and especially how production cars feel in the game, I wouldn't go as far as to say its physics is inferior to that of an arcade game released almost 10 years ago.

Most of the problem with SHIFT's physics rested in how it was finally implemented and interpreted. You can feel that the basic physics including the tire modeling are pretty advanced which isn't surprising considering two of the most well known names in driving sims are responsible for its physics: Eero Piitulainen (physics programmer for Richard Burns Rally) and Doug Arnao (Simbin's GTR series). As EA Europe and driver extraordinaire, Patrick Soderlund, pointed out , the final game received a modification to its physics code. Although it sounds like a lame excuse especially considering SHIFT's multi physics option but if it was true, I can't imagine how incredibly compromised the final physics might've been compared to the original.
Click to expand...

It is hard to write about it without droning on at length, but, the main thing that influenced the final feel of the game was disabling damage and limiting it only to minor aero damage. A great deal of the physics model depends on keeping you out of certain areas by making it hurt the car in some way. If you turn off damage and failures it will - very accurately! - simulate an invincible car. If you can't degrade your tyres there is nothing to stop you from sitting right on peak slip all the time and sliding around the corner. If you can't damage suspension there is nothing stopping you from dropping the car to the lowest viable point and getting huge downforce advantage for little risk. If you can't kill the engine or clutch then there is nothing stopping you from using the engine as an invincible engine brake.

So a great deal of physics behavior switches from something that would be perfectly accurate, if you could do it once, or with the car falling apart long before the finish line, to something that is perfectly viable to do all of the time.
 
Spring 2011 is great news even if its up to 6 months away......

Very excited about this. My hopes are they remove the NFS vibe from the game and just make a sim racer that doesn't have to appeal to just casuals by nerfing the handling.
 
^ Total agreement! I´m actually now looking forward to this more than GT5, wich seems to be a dissapointment on very many levels.

I was however put off the first Shift by the bonkers physics, wich made the Porsches undrivable. Hopefully any similar nags has been ironed out.
 

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