Shift 2: Who's playing? What are your thoughts?

[dpodblood]

If you are using the wheel, the game has an underlying engine that is simply amazing for a multi-platform sim.
It requires getting your fingers a little dirty though.

If you are on PC, there are a few minimods that change some underlying variables that help make the game feel a little closer to that of a simulation title.

Most importantly, you absolutely HAVE TO enter the Tuning section. The default ride setups are junk, absolutely shitty. You change those, the game is going to feel almost 100% different.

This game is still no iRacing or other hardcore sim, but it's an entertaining racing title that absolutely blows everything else away in terms of visuals and overall experience. Speed feels like mindblowing speed, nighttime is terrifying, and once customized it bit, it's entertaining and to me, feels like a Forza or GT.

I am curious; what settings do you typically change on your car? I find on every car just changing the tire pressure and the toe in/out settings just a bit makes them a lot easier to drive. By default almost every car is way to slippery.

 

[shortylickens]

Is the gameplay better or worse than Hot Pursuit?
Cuz that one made me wanna give up racing for good.

 

[dpodblood]

It's completely different from Hot Pursuit. Other than the fact that they both have cars they aren't really comparable.

 

[destrekor]

My problem with the helmet cam is the fixed look to apex.
In Race you can adjust the level of look to apex, but in NFS Shift it just feels like the view is all over the place and it's difficult to know where you are going and becomes distracting.
Having an adjustment level for helmet cam would be really nice.

Yep, until there is a mod that drastically reduces look-to-apex (but not entirely cuts it out from helmet view), I will continue to use the regular cockpit camera. A mild look-to-apex is nice, but between the major camera movements in the helmet cam, plus some other weird issues, it just feels so off. Steering feels like shit, delayed, and I feel a loss of information coming from the wheel, etc etc.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Everyone seems to be comparing it to GT4/Forza, so my question is, how does it compare to Shift? I absolutely loved Shift, and while I don't just want more of the same, will I enjoy Shift 2?

BTW I won't be buying for a while, these guys are absolutely dicking over international customers. $80USD on Steam. Ridiculous.

 

[Lonyo]

Everyone seems to be comparing it to GT4/Forza, so my question is, how does it compare to Shift? I absolutely loved Shift, and while I don't just want more of the same, will I enjoy Shift 2?

BTW I won't be buying for a while, these guys are absolutely dicking over international customers. $80USD on Steam. Ridiculous.

Have you tried non-Steam sources?
The EA store in Europe has it for 40 euros vs 50 euros on Steam, don't know about other currencies, or if they even have a store in NZ(?).

And if you don't want to buy non-Steam games then that's your issue. Obviously you don't care that much about the pricing structure if you are willing to use it when the prices go down

 

[Farmer]

I am curious; what settings do you typically change on your car? I find on every car just changing the tire pressure and the toe in/out settings just a bit makes them a lot easier to drive. By default almost every car is way to slippery.

If you're on PC, I suggest you install the "minimod," which changes some of the parameters governing the handling physics.

The default tune on most cars has way too high tire pressure (I normally set it to 30-40, I'm assuming the unit is PSI) and extremely low spring rate (stiffen up your springs). It would also be advisable to adjust your dampers.

Steering lock is one way to adjust responsiveness of steering.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

The EA store in Europe has it for 40 euros vs 50 euros on Steam, don't know about other currencies, or if they even have a store in NZ(?).

I'd prefer it on Steam. I have so many games to play at the moment that I don't mind waiting. But I do think it's kind of rude to charge international customers more just because the exchange rate happens to be favourable to us right now. Prices sure as hell don't go down when the exchange rate is bad.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

As someone who already owns and enjoys Dirt 2 what is the comparison between this game and Shift 2?

 

[destrekor]

Everyone seems to be comparing it to GT4/Forza, so my question is, how does it compare to Shift? I absolutely loved Shift, and while I don't just want more of the same, will I enjoy Shift 2?

BTW I won't be buying for a while, these guys are absolutely dicking over international customers. $80USD on Steam. Ridiculous.

Isn't that what it costs in stores for you too?
Or has that changed, considering our dollar has been falling?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Isn't that what it costs in stores for you too?
Or has that changed, considering our dollar has been falling?

Our store prices haven't changed (in fact, they've gone up slightly) despite the significantly more favourable exchange rate. It's bullshit.

 

[shortylickens]

I think I'll wait. Or play the original since its only 13 bucks.

 

[GoStumpy]

Is it required to have a kick-ass machine to have this game even playable?

I'm running a Sempron 3400+ 1.9ghz, 2gb ram, and a Zotac GeForce GT220 1GB video card, and I'm getting average 12.8FPS with all details at lowest and 1280x800 resolution... Not really playable...

 

[AstroManLuca]

Your CPU actually doesn't meet the minimum requirements for the game (Core 2 Duo/Athlon X2 or better). A lot of games these days are optimized for at least two cores, so if you have a single core processor you'll have some trouble with a lot of them.

That said, your graphics card, while being officially supported, is also pretty weak and you'll probably need to upgrade that as well if you want to play the game effectively. And it wouldn't hurt to have more RAM.

 

[shortylickens]

Is it required to have a kick-ass machine to have this game even playable?

I'm running a Sempron 3400+ 1.9ghz, 2gb ram, and a Zotac GeForce GT220 1GB video card, and I'm getting average 12.8FPS with all details at lowest and 1280x800 resolution... Not really playable...

Your system may technically meet the minimum requirements, but I've noticed those specifications are usually only to get the game running, not to run it well. You need a much faster dual core CPU, probably a better video card, a little more RAM (depending on your OS) and if you hear lots of hard drive swapping, either a Solid State Drive, or a faster hard drive.
Download HD Tune http://www.hdtune.com/
And tell me what your average transfer rate is.

 

[GoStumpy]

There's the output

I suppose it's my processor then, considering min and maximum detail is barely different, the processor just can't run the core of the game, let alone the graphics

Oh well, new computer is being built, just slowly due to everything being paycheque to paycheque (Going for an i3-2100, GT560ti, 8gb ram)

 

[shortylickens]

Hmm, I'm averaging 120 MB a second. See if you can enable UDMA mode 6 on your drive, if not, consider upgrading some day. It makes game loading faster and is also a little boost for virtual memory.

 

[GoStumpy]

I should be playing Shift2 on my new rig by the end of the week, really looking forward to it!!