NFS Shift 2 Unleashed!

Ok guys for those interested heres my benchmark + visual comparison with Shift 1 (Ferrari DLC hack+last patch+Forced AO in Nvidia Control Panel). The tests have been made with my desktop rig (see sig):

SHIFT 1 Screens (notice the Ferrari California, normally not available on pc...):
Settings: No Vsync,Maxed Out Details (8xAA/16xAF/all High) 1080p.
Fraps:
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
108, 1454, 74, 75, 74.278



SHIFT 2 Screens
Settings: No Vsync,Maxed Out Details (All High,AA High) 1080p.
Fraps:
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
12609, 157200, 68, 88, 80.210






So thats how it looks and runs compared to the first. Im pleased of the performance, but the game looks too similar to the first aside some nice corona/lens flare effects. GT5 althought utterly low res, still on his podium imho.

 

If you bought the PC Limited Edition version, the three exclusive, promised cars are available in the car lot for $0. Meaning, you have to buy them for $0 and they will be added to your garage.

Also, is anyone else getting the feeling that cars handle a bit to "floaty"? Some guy on another forum said the Lotus Elise handles like a 1968 Impala and I tried it and it's true. Feels like a damn boat around the corners.

 

Floating about cornes as a boat...sounds like a amreican car in generally-

 

Meh, been playing it for the last hour or so, aint got nothing on GT5.

Feels like Shift 1 with a few tweaks imo.

 

How's the vehicle handling compared to the first one? Is it much improved - as in the cars grip more to the ground and slide less?

 

I am having fun with this game. I race on elite mode with no assist and manual w/clutch. Cars seem to handle ok to me, It feels similar to forza 3. I never played shift 1 so I can't say how it compares to it. I'll try the lotus elise right now and see how it feels.

 

Im enjoying it alot actually, much more than the first.
A little advice: dont play it with the keyboard as car handling gets worse and innatural.
The game plays perfectly with a gamepad (xbox360 controller) or a good Wheel.

 

I am going to disagree, the lotus elise has some amazing cornering speed. I set some new personal lap time records with it.

 

What wheel do you have and what settings are you using? Maybe I'm not used to the default 360 degree steering lock, I'll try 240 degrees.

 

I was using a friends Fanatec 911 turbo s wheel and I copied these settings. YouTube - Need For Speed Shift 2 with Fanatec GT3 + Settings @ Nurburgring GP

I also used my xbox 360 controller for a bit and it felt good too. I did notice when I first started the game and assist were on with the lower difficulty setting I could not control my car at all.

 

I use a Logitech Driving Force GT and use the preset for the wheel in the game. After tweaking a few settings and setting the steering lock to 540 both in the Logitech software and in-game, it feels a lot better, but it still needs some tweaking.

However, I do feel as if the Force Feedback is far too weak in-game, sometimes the wheel feels too numb and soft compared to Shift 1. I have FF set to 100% in the settings. I was thinking of boosting the Force Feedback Force in the Logitech Software over 100% but I don't think it will help much, it's a game problem.

 

I don't think any game has anything on GT5 especially the load times. I gave up on the game, the challenges were fun though, must admit.

That's what I was afraid of that this was too close to Shift 1. I'll wait for the price to drop. Hopefully EA will have a sale on this and Crysis 2 in the next 6 months.

 

The loading times in Shift 2 are A LOT faster than Shift 1, by at least a quarter of the time. I think I just need to tweak the controls a bit more, but once I get it right, I think it will be one hell of a game, on par with GT5, of course, I can't really compared it to GT5 since I game on the PC and don't have a PS3. So without a doubt, Shift 2 is probably the best racing game on the PC unless you're into super-sims like iRacing.

 

Shift 2 is no where near on par with GT5.... you're right, you can't compare the two, as you don't have a PS3.

I don't play GT5 anymore though to be honest, well i do, i just buy cars and use the photomode/travel now to take realistic looking photos and play with them in photoshop, i still race occasionally. here is a couple examples of photos i've took:







Heres one i editied quite a bit, added rain effects in photoshop.



Evo mock ad:



Sorry for going off topic, just trying to point out how much GT5 is better looking, gameplay and pretty much everything else is over Shift 2.

Just my personal opinion.

 

Yes GT5 looks great.....especially when you Photoshop the images. But really though Shift looks as good or better than GT5.

 

Hahahahaha, that's hilarious. Glad I wasn't the only one who was chuckling at the comparison to photoshopped images.

 

Shift 2 looks great, at least when I can get the anti-aliasing working right...

 

The first two Subaru photos are not photoshopped at all, they are direct from the Photomode in GT5.

The Evo one is not photoshopped either, well it is, but only the text.

 

GT5 has good car models but they don't have good damage at all. Also the car sounds in GT5 are pitiful. Also can't customize cars like you can in shift 2/forza. GT5's strong points for me are physics and car models.

 

After a little wheel tweaking, the cars handle MUCH better. There's still a few bugs here and there and some crashes and some cars handle wonky for some reason, but otherwise, it's shaping up to be a really fun game!

Autolog is AWESOME! It keeps you constantly competing to see who can get the fastest lap times in EVERY mode and the online races are fun. Although, there is some ramming present...LOL.

 

Can you explain Autolog?

I bought NFS Hot Pursuit both for the 360 and PC and don't pay attention to Autolog. Is Autolog like a Facebook wannabe?

 

i don't use the Autolog .. but it give nice infos

 

Photomode, might as well be called photoshop mode. If you are going to compare to Shift 2, then compare with in game footage, not photomode. I'm sure if EA cared, they could have done the same that would beat GT5 using the PC's GPU over the wimpy PS3 hardware.

Actually no need. The high res, 1080p pictures I've seen online already of in game footage look better than your super glossy, plastic looking cars. GT5 suffers what many car simulator games have, glossy plastic looking cars, which is not photorealistic at all.

 

Finally got shift 2 today on PS3 because of lack of controll to PC. It seems nothing have changed in the graphic department compared to shift 1, but the cars maybe looks abit better.

 

Exactly, you said it yourself, IF EA CARED, they don't care, all they care about is money.

Photomode is in game footage....... yea the ps3's hardware is not great, but what they have done with GT5 in the time they took to make is outstanding, the poly and details of the cars are alot better than shift 2.

I wouldn't say they were that glossy plastic looking, maybe it's your eyes?

The pictures you've seen? so you haven't actually played Shift 2?.....

This one is isn't glossy looking thats for sure:











The pictures speak for themselves.

I played Shift 2 once, didn't like it, the cars handing feels exactly the same as before, all they have done is added a few lighting effects lens flare and blur, but that's just my opinion.

 

But I can't play Grand Turismo 5 on the PC, so Shift 2 is the best right now, on the PC. I don't even know why we're talking GT5...

 

QFT !!!

Can someone explain Autolog?

 

Yeah i did go off topic a bit.

 

It's basically a social networking feature that is built into the game. For example, whenever you complete a race, it automatically compares your lap times with any friends you may have. It's cool to see what kind of lap times they've been able to pull off and with what kind of cars.

You can also invite each other into online games, share screenshots, replays and post on each others "wall".

No problem. PC Shift 2 players are encountering quite a few problems. From graphics bugs, to input lag, to weird force feedback and some things which just feel rather unpolished and unfinished. I'd advice anyone to refrain from buying Shift 2 until a couple patches down the road.

Crysis 2 and now Shift 2, man I've been in for a let down in terms of botched/unpolished/unfinished PC game launches...shame.

 

So if anyone is interested, I finally got my DFGT working great with Shift 2 and I am having a blast with the game now that most of the input and FFB issues have been resolved. So intense!

 

Epic overtake
YouTube - Shift 2 Cool Overtake



By the way I found this mini mod that improves the handling. Tested it on my xbox360 controller and it's definitely better than before even when my framerate is high.
Here it is: NoGripRacing :: NFS Shift 2 Downloads - minimod

Here is a very minimal tyre mod which gives more reactive handling, without being intrusive. It contains two things:
- a .dll file which helps reducing controller input lag we have when framerate is low. This one should work with any wheel.
- modified tyres

It does not change grip levels, it does not change FFB, just makes the in-game steering react quicker to controller, and the tyres react quicker to steering.
As a result, it kills most of the floating some cars have on my computer, and the tyres are less forgiving as they reach their limit quicker.
AI seems to cope very well with it, and I have good driving sensations with it. Maybe you will feel the same.

Download link here. Hope you enjoy!

 

is it me or nobody plays this game online. I was trying to find a match and only found 2 matches with 2-3 players each one.

 

There's quite a few people playing online, you just have to keep refreshing the server browser. A lot of times when you only find a couple of open lobbies there are quite a few other ones with races in progress so if you wait a few minutes they'll be more lobbies to choose from.

Although, I can't help but thinking that there is somewhat of a lack of people playing online, a lot of Germans too who don't speak English.

 

Now this is an epic overtake.

YouTube - EPIC OVERTAKE - SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED? - ll-FooFighter-ll

 

Ha, I know that corner! Everyone always takes it more slowly than required.

 

I see that Patch 1.01 is out. Do you Shift 2 players found the game easy to play with keyboard or does this really require a wheel or a controller?

 

I could never play a racing game with a keyboard. You should at least use a gamepad but preferably a wheel.

 

I used keyboard fine with Shift 1 and Dirt 2. I'd rather keep to that. But I hear Shift 2 is more simulator than Shift 1 was.

 

Anyone having problem logging onto auto log? When I try to, it give me this error message saiding "cannot log onto auto log server." I turn off firewall and anti virus still no luck.

 

Patch 1.01 improved the handling situation greatly and removed all input lag. It's like a whole new game after patch 1.01.

Autolog is working fine for me.

I'm having a great time racing online and tuning cars offline, I barely have 25% of the career done cause I find online racing much funner. I just wish you would get more cash for racing online.

 

Sorry to revive this topic, but has anybody got the AA in the game to work properly? I have all the patches and DLC, and have been googling Shift 2 profiles for Nvidia Inspector...nothing works. Meanwhile, Shift 1 works perfectly on default settings...it's really aggravating.

 

Had NFS: Shift 2 and removed it from my NP8130. I found the physics even after the fix to be too floaty and the story mode to be too detrimental from the gameplay. I ultimately went out and started getting the "RACE" series from Simbin, and while it may have the graphics of rFactor (ie: old)... I found the gameplay and physics to be much closer to reality. If NFS: Shift 2 had a bit less "floaty / rewards for powerslides" and a bit more handling / turning brutality that i was expecting, I probably would have kept it. Also, the "story mode" turned me off.

Wish Forza would come to PC tho

Jason

 

SMS abandoned Shift 2: Unleashed after the first couple of patches even though the game still has A LOT of bugs and issues. I'm not sure if I will ever buy another NFS game again if this is how the developers/EA are going to treat the customer.

When Shift 2 works, it's work's great. It's a lot of fun, but when it decides to be troublesome (which is often), it's a pain. I wish Forza would come to PC too, but that's never gonna happen. It's a console system seller for MS. Anyone know of any racing games due out on the PC any time soon that might be any good?

 

rFactor 2 is in the works, and SMS is doing a "we did it our way" project called "Project C.A.R.S" @ WMDPORTAL. It's a pre-alpha, but a one-shot 10euro payment gets you a build per month; 25euro is weekly build. Although some of the tracks look destitute of the audience, crowd, scenery, etc., it's not even in alpha stage. From what I've read, the physics, the cars, etc., got the treatment they deserved and EA is OUT of it. The screenshots, the detail, etc., make me want to see this project see completion... it has the potential to be "PC FORZA" if it's done right.

Jason

 

Why did SMS abandon shift 2 / EA?

 

Theres the community patch, anyway. Its on his 1.06 revision and actually it fixes alots of things, making the game really enjoyable.
And imho its one of the finest NFS to date, ireally like it alot.

 

where is the community patch?

 

EA basically made them give up on Shift 2 but it's also there fault for not fighting enough to at least fix the game before ditching it.

The community patch is great, but it really only fixes inconsistencies and incorrect stats for cars. It does nothing to improve the stability or general buginess of the game. The game still crashes and bugs out like hell.

NoGripRacing :: Home

 

Mate, i never experienced any crashes with this game, probably one of the most stable i ever played. And ive logged in almost 200 hours.
About the community patch, nope, it does fix also car handling, tyre simulation and grip, balance and centering, among other stuff. Check the change log.
Your mileage may differ tho, not all the systems are the same.

 

I use the PTMU mod, which corrects alot of the tire settings (there is some understeer, but the modder says that'll be fixed soon).

But I'm asking about the AA. Has anyone gotten it working perfectly?

Also, I'd love for Forza to come to PC...never going to happen. Instead, we get consolized ports...just look at things like the trees in Shift 1 vs Shift 2...