Dave wrote:So far the twitchiness has depended on the type of car. I just can't get a handle on the BMW 1-series or M3, they oversteer like crazy at corner entry, apex, and exit. The corner entry problem might be a braking issue and I might just have to bite the bullet and turn on ABS like I had to do with Forza.
I drove the Falken Mustang and while it was twitchy, it wasn't nearly as bad as the M3.
But the Audi R8? Silky smooth, fast, balanced, and amazingly fun to drive.
So it sounds as if a car's tendency to fishtail in NFS Shift is heavily dependent on its drive train since the BMW 1 series/M3 and Mustangs are all rear-wheel drive cars while the Audi R8 is an all-wheel drive car. Is this accurate?
There's definitely a difference, and the BMW's oversteer was much more pronounced than the Mustang's--I could keep the Mustang under control getting to the apex for the most part.
I need to try out more of the 'loaner' cars (as the game calls them) in the single race mode to see if it is something inherent in the BMW handling model vs. all RWD cars. I've also driven an Elise (or is it an Exige?) in one of the World Challenge races and it was also not nearly as twitchy, but obviously it is ME-RWD vs. FE-RWD.
thanks for the detailed analysis of the 3 games, Terry. Exactly what I was looking for
I am intrigued by Shift, as Race 360 was a little too bland and sim for me.
Grid, I like, but I can handle something that has a blend of arcade & sim, as long as I can adjust all the sliders to my liking.
Sounds like I better Gamefly this one to be sure. It really takes a lot for me to just go and outright buy a game these days
The game launches here on Friday, I've got £40 I was intending to save and if anyone posts to say they've got the controller twitchiness sorted out, I'll be forced to call them a bastard and buy this instead. It sounds much more entertaining than I was expecting it to be.
Went home at lunch and tried some career mode with the controller. I'm only driving the Chevy Cobalt, but it's perfectly driveable and not twitchy at all after tinkering with the controls. I think what people may be screwing up with is that it's "sim-lite", meaning you never really want to totally release the throttle. If you let the throttle go, the weight shifts forward and it gets ass-happy. Once I stopped doing that (which was tough considering it feels so arcade-like overall with the cornering), it became a very believable, fun racer--much like PGR4.
My settings that I ran with that worked for me were:
I am not seeing the twitchiness much at all. I use the standard controller and think the control is sublime. I did try some races from the chase view and it was very very twitchy from that camera. However, from the bonnet and cockpit cams I think it feels absolutely great with the controller. I do not use a wheel, so maybe I just have a different standard of what is twitchy and what is not compared to wheel users.
Fellas, if you are into driving games and not OCD about perfect sim physics then just go f***in buy this game. It's great fun. Who would have ever thought a NFS game would be like this?
Thanks to a $10 rewards zone coupon and a $10 gift card from my Batman purchase I was able to pick this one up for $40. I didn't get a chance to play much but I did like what I played. I only messed around with the initial slider lap and the first race after that. I was told I needed full assists and medium difficulty. I was surprised it gave me the benefit of the doubt and suggested medium when easy peasy would likely suit me better.
I didn't find it to be that twitchy but the car I was driving wasn't a beast or anything. The cockpit view is outstanding and the graphics are pretty damn good too. I had some fun and can't wait to take a spin with the more impressive cars in the lineup.
I am a patient boy.
I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait.
My time is water down a drain.
So any multiplayer reviews yet? You guys are making it very hard to resist picking it up, but my experience with Race Pro makes me hesitant. Seems the same number of completely opposite opinions who and where you read.
toonarmy wrote:Fellas, if you are into driving games and not OCD about perfect sim physics then just go f***in buy this game. It's great fun. Who would have ever thought a NFS game would be like this?
Yeah, the game is a blast to play. Period. You get points for driving clean...you get points for driving rough. Awesome concept that you can advance your career without being perfect. This game adapted the Al Davis philosophy...just win baby!
Visceral. That's a perfect word for this game, Terry. I think it's realism lies more in the experience rather than simply the handling. Too many 'sims' sacrifice the visceral 'feel' of racing for proper lines, proper tire wear, proper this, proper that. I have never felt like I was driving a real car on the edge of control before Shift. Now the pucker factor is through the roof, and I'm still on tier one cars.
The graphics are good, but nowhere near DiRT 2. But they're whipping by so fast while being strapped in that metal missile, hanging on for dear life, you'd be kinda hard pressed to notice...
DChaps wrote:So any multiplayer reviews yet? You guys are making it very hard to resist picking it up, but my experience with Race Pro makes me hesitant. Seems the same number of completely opposite opinions who and where you read.
Don if you have any interest in console multiplayer try Dirt 2 it is awesome. Only tried Shift a few times last night and had some problems. That could be due to release day issues or a sign of EA's well known crappy servers. Shift is great offline, but between the two Dirt 2 is better online and in single player.
About 45 minutes in, and I can see why reactions are wildly mixed. It's the driving model--it's simply unique.
Typically there is sim, which requires punishing precision (a la Race Pro), and there is arcade, with super grip and/or full speed sliding and lots of banging. Shift falls into a range smack-dab into the middle of these genres like I've never seen before. Calling it either is simply not accurate.
After the initial test it recommended medium AI difficulty and experienced driving model. The only change I manually made was changing to full damage (which is VERY forgiving--twice in the same race I had crashes that would be terminal damage in Dirt and the car was just fine after). The controls definitely feel a bit twitchy at first and your car slides and gets away from you very easily--definitely more easily than a game like Race Pro with a slower vehicle. The thing is, your slide is neither a high-speed arcade-style slide that you desire in a corner, nor is it a Race Pro dead-man-walking slide. You can easily recover from it, and indeed want to be on the verge of going into it at all times, but push it too far and you are bleeding seconds.
This game requires you to drive on the edge at all times to be fast, much more so than a typical sim. At the same time, if you drive it like Grid (with assists on) or a typical arcade game and swerve and slide all over the place, you will be very slow and won't win.
It's a totally different mix and I'm not sure how many conclusions I can reach yet. Only time will tell about replayability and how rewarding this driving model is, but hopefully the pre-release boasts about the physics under the hood means the system is quite sophisticated and will give the game a long shelf-life.
This game is sounding more and more like it's destined for the bargain bin within 6-8 months for lack of identity. I'll pick it up for sure just holding off from reading Toons comments and the proverbial price drop.
You guys are tempting me! I'm trying to decide if I want to trade some stuff in to get it.
But I already have Forza 3 pre-ordered, and I still play Race Pro (with all of the add-ons for it, I do like that one!), so I'll probably hold off.
Plus I just picked up a used copy of Section 8 yesterday and have been playing that (very cool game btw). I'll hold off for now and see how your impressions hold up. (I know, famous last words...)
One tip that falls into the Mr. Obvious category--be sure to have enough tire for the car's power. Turns out that was one of the major problems with the BMW, in an effort to spend as little money on upgrades as possible I had tuned the car to pump 600+ HP on the standard tires. Guess that explains losing grip on full power in third gear. Now that I have the tier 3 tire upgrade the car isn't nearly as out of control...shocking.
I really disagree with the quote above. Pure arcade racers usually get dull fairly quickly for me. I actually appreciate games like Dirt 2 and Shift, where there is some semblance of a sim, yet the game is also more forgiving than a pure sim. Obviously a lot of companies feel the same way since many of the big racing games that came out over the past two years have offered up hybrid type games that are part arcade and part sim. I am pretty sure the reviewer does not understand that the majority of gamers actually ARE satisfied with the game for the very reason that there is a large segment of gamers that like this approach to a racing game. If they didn't, then companies would not be releasing them regularly.
Is there anyway to remove upgrades? I have upgraded myself into a corner. Went to Tier 2 and bought the Porche Cayman and at first I couldn't win with it so I upgraded everything on it and now I can't control the car at all. It is so much faster than everyone else, but I can't keep it in the road, not even on a straightaway. I feel like I have screwed myself completely.
This is one bizarre-ass incoherent crazy game. I've certainly never driven anything like it before. It's like the game is trying to be everything at once. Like, you're approaching a corner, and the best tactic in this game might be to slow on entry, nail the apex, and accelerate smoothly out... so you can line up a sweet crash into two opponents who you can send flipping into the side barriers. And you'll get points for all of it.
