Comments on: Shift Release, Trailer Shows Donnington

By: neems

neems — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:51:20 +0000

I must confess I am really enjoying Shift – or I would be, if i could get any sort of decent performance out of it. At the moment, it would appear that if you have a Radeon card, then you are screwed (my personal theory is that because the game uses PhysX, if you have a radeon it dumps the physics processing on to your cpu and maxes it out).

The cockpit view / driver cam is awesome though.

By: Kyr

Kyr — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:48:25 +0000

By the way, RPS guys, I love your new design :)

By: Kyr

Kyr — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:44:46 +0000

Well, it’s a ripoff from good racing games from past years – like GRID, Forza Motorsports – but it’s not the promised racing simulator. In fact, they did it even worse than ProStreet – a big disapointment for anyone who was waiting for rebirth of NFS. Anyone interested in “driving in circles” should go back to GRID on PC or Forza Motorsports 2 on 360 for simulation and fun. That’s “wot I think” :)
And to think what they’ve got in store for us in theirs NFS:Nitro… I’m already terrified.

By: plonk420

plonk420 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:40:28 +0000

it’s a pity Forza 2/3 isn’t out for PC. i want a sim on PC, but also eyecandy. didn’t really like the non-asphalt aspect of DiRT, and i didn’t really like the feel of GRID 1. i guess this will do. i just need a better video card, methinks ;) (am using a 3850 while i RMA my broken 4870 before selling it for an HD5000. 3850 is… not so good in this game.)

By: Adamos

Adamos — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:17:03 +0000

Finally after a long time that a decent need for speed is released. Like others i will still wait for dirt 2 and i will most likely buy this on bargain bin ( let alone a true race sim call me “race on” by simbin is coming)

By: Feintlocke

Feintlocke — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:01:32 +0000

I’ve got to say I’m really enjoying it, probably a good bit more than Mr Welsh over at Eurogamer. It seems the handling really irked him, while I’m finding the challenge of learning how to tease the triggers and analogue stick to be the most enjoyable part of the game. Comparisons to GRID don’t really work (they are sufficiently different and I will continue playing both).

You are almost forced to use the in car view because the handling has obviously been tweaked to feel responsive from that position. If you switch to the chase cam (how I will always play in GRID) the car swings about like a rabid ferret and the handling makes absaloutely no sense. It helps that the interior of the car looks fantastic and that your view of the road seems much larger than in other racing games.

The other big difference is the ever visible racing line, which changes colour when it thinks you’re going to take a corner too fast. The option to turn it off isn’t in the difficulty/driver aid panel which makes me think that when you do find out how to turn it off you aren’t playing the game as intended.

Religiously trying to stick to the racing line, taming the wily controls while finding avenues for clean overtakes all from the driver’s perspective is a far cry from how I drive in GRID and I heartily enjoy it. If the matchmaking pairs me up with drivers of similar driving style and difficulty settings then I’ll be playing this for a long while to come.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:45:00 +0000

I was very dissapointed in this game. I went in thinking it was going to be fairly realistic since it’s real cars on real tracks. After just a few hours of playing I don’t want to touch it again. It completely fails at simulation and is too frustrating to be a good arcade style racer. It seems like every time you touch the steering your rear wheels break loose. With some tweaking of the controls it becomes much more predictive but as far as I can tell with tier 1 and 2 cars if you have tier 2 upgrades it will become very hard to drive. I’m glad I only rented it… Can’t wait for Forza 3.

By: Vinraith

Vinraith — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:26:25 +0000

I have to agree. Then again, I think everything after Hot Pursuit 2 should have been called “Underground” without the NFS as well. We haven’t had something truly recognizable as an NFS title in a long, long time. I quite miss it. :(

By: Ginger Yellow

Ginger Yellow — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:24:53 +0000

Grid had debris, no?

By: Ginger Yellow

Ginger Yellow — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:23:42 +0000

Forza 2 does this really well. As one of the optional driver aids, it not only gives you a racing line, but colours it to show the appropriate speed. It is of course possible to do better yourself, but it’s great while you’re learning the course.

By: theSeekerr

theSeekerr — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:22:20 +0000

FORWARDS? More like SIDEWAYS….

By: nick

nick — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:59:10 +0000

Been to donington, and I actually recognise this track from the video, although it was somewhat wetter when I was there. Even so it was fun! Besides the painful sight of a DB9R getting smashed up a lil….

It would be interesting if a game like this introduced other environmental factors other than weather. Patches of oil and gravel and debris on the track are common in real racing, and I think it would be a nice element to perhaps mix things up a bit