USA NFS-Shift guineau pigs required

Come on, the US release will be two days ahead of Europe's, so we're relying on
someone to part with the cash and beta-test this for us next week.

<Lord Kitchener>Your Newgroup Needs You!</Lord Kitchener>

Early volunteers will get free access to the newsgroup for the next three months,
two laser-scanned replies, and the opportunity to take part in the Pro Posting
series alongside people who've written on real paper with real pens!

Go on, you know you want to... even though I've cancelled my pre-order since the
demo was abandoned and a flood of marketing hype washed away my initial hopes.

There is still a spark of enthusiasm remaining somewhere in my cynical old
sim-heart, but I'm buggered if I'm going to hand over any cash before some
trustworthy opinions are posted. I am, however, quite happy to watch someone else
gamble with their wages. :->

Andrew McP

> Come on, the US release will be two days ahead of Europe's, so we're relying on
> someone to part with the cash and beta-test this for us next week.

I plan on buying NFS Shift as soon as it shows up at the local retail stores
(I live in the USA). Two days won't give me much time to find out much about the
game though. Usually I wait for others to offer feedback about the cars, bugs,
and quirks.

The game includes Nordschleife, which I will report on as soon as I can. This
will be the third game that has Nordschleife? (GPL, GTR Evolution, and now
NFS Shift).

If there is some type of career mode "strategy" where early choices are made with
insufficient information from the game, I'll try to create a walkthrough as
I've done with previous NFS games.

Also I'm still using my twin joystick setup, so I won't be able to offer any
opinions on the force feedback in the game.

Lastly think of it this way. You get an entire racing game for the cost of 2
tracks in iRacing.

(jeffareid) wrote:

> The game includes Nordschleife

I must admit that this is a big draw. Any sim which takes the time to model the
Ring must have its heart in the right place, surely?

As for an in-depth review... I think most of us can tell a decently modelled sim
within a few minutes of climbing into the cockpit by now. :-)

Mind you, with joystick control you might have trouble getting a real feel for the
driving model. I guess only time will tell.

> You get an entire racing game for the cost of 2 tracks in iRacing.

Given the financial incontinence I now suffer thanks to iRacing breaking down my
resistance levels, I will probably crack anyway; no doubt ending up paying over the
odds to download it from directtodrive.co.uk in a fit of impatience. But I like to
pretend I still have some self-control. :->

Andrew McP

(Andrew MacPherson) wrote in
:

> Come on, the US release will be two days ahead of Europe's, so we're
> relying on someone to part with the cash and beta-test this for us next
> week.
>
> <Lord Kitchener>Your Newgroup Needs You!</Lord Kitchener>
>
> Early volunteers will get free access to the newsgroup for the next
> three months, two laser-scanned replies, and the opportunity to take
> part in the Pro Posting series alongside people who've written on real
> paper with real pens!
>
> Go on, you know you want to... even though I've cancelled my pre-order
> since the demo was abandoned and a flood of marketing hype washed away
> my initial hopes.
>
> There is still a spark of enthusiasm remaining somewhere in my cynical
> old sim-heart, but I'm buggered if I'm going to hand over any cash
> before some trustworthy opinions are posted. I am, however, quite happy
> to watch someone else gamble with their wages. :->
>
Well the last NFS I played was Porsche Unleashed/2000. By then I
recognized their business model: *great* graphics, good sound and *just*
enough reality to keep the hard core gamers interested. Then next game a
*bit* more reality to keep them coming back. Repeated endlessly.

> As for an in-depth review

IGN did a review, 9.0 out of 10, but noted that the same wasn't
sim-oriented

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/102/1023568p1.html

> Well the last NFS I played was Porsche Unleashed/2000.
> their business model: *great* graphics, good sound and *just*
> enough reality to keep the hard core gamers interested. Then
> next game a *bit* more reality to keep them coming back.

The reality goes up and down from game to game. In Porsche
Unleashed, the 911 turbos could pull 3 g's in turns. How far
overboard this was is more obvious from an external view:

http://rcgldr.net/nfs5/n5cswz.wmv

NFS2 in simulation mode was reasonably realistic with it's
long braking zones.

NFS8 - Underground 2 is the only NFS game where throttle induced
oversteer and spins can occur. You can bounce off walls rather
than slow down, otherwise another one of the more realistic NFS
games.

The recent games:

NFS9-10 - Most Wanted - Carbon - over the top power and grip, but not
that much more than an NFS5 type game.

NFS11 - ProStreet - Power and grip of the top cars far exceed anything
resembling a car.

NFS12 - Undercover - Even more power and grip with the top cars. More
like a swoop racing game than a car racing game.

NFS - Shift - Power and grip reduced back to near realisic levels.

NFS - World Online - haven't heard what's going on with this game based
on combining cars and tracks from Most Wanted and Carbon.

> * Head-physics is the key difference point to other titles

Although there's no cockpit view, an old (2003) budget game, Ford Racing 2, had
a good implemenation of head movement, or at least car movement. The
horizon tilts in response to corners, and you can see suspension reaction
in the view.

http://rcgldr.net/fr2/fr2stk.wmv

http://rcgldr.net/fr2/fr2mst.wmv

(Andrew MacPherson) wrote:

> There is still a spark of enthusiasm remaining somewhere
> in my cynical old sim-heart, but I'm buggered if I'm going
> to hand over any cash before some trustworthy opinions are posted.

Actually I just renewed my pre-order. I may end up disappointed, but I've been
liking some of the fairly balanced reviews coming out. I'm not expecting miracles,
but as the post-iRacing tension steadily eases from my system, I'm ready for some
good old fashioned fun.

Besides, how can any sim enthusiast fail to buy a product which has the 'Ring in it?
I'll be straight there as soon as someone posts a crack for all that career
structure bollox. :-)

Andrew McP

> beta-test

Not really sure yet. I use two joysticks for gaming, left is throttle
and brake, right is steer, similar to "classic" style radio control
transmitters. These are not force feedback controllers.

I turned off motion blur, but I'm still getting some of those effects.
I turned off steering assists, but I still see steering inputs that
that don't match mine, but it's difficult to tell if the car is
being affected by those in car view steering movements.

I used a generic trainer to boost my cash to 10,000,000 at the start
of the game. Started with the 350z and did all the upgrades
(stage 1 at the start) that I could. The car ends up overpowered,
spinning the tires even with traction control set to low (didn't try
high).

I'm not sure which fully upgraded cars will end up being the fastest.
Will need to wait for feedback from online players in the near future
to get this sorted out.

At this point all I can do is offer this replay I made of the first
event that uses Nordschleife, only in this case it's just a part of
that track, using a Lotus Elise in an "invitational event" where you
run a fixed setup car. I got as close as I could to the lead car at
the start so you can see the "blur" effect on other cars at speed.
I haven't figured out how to turn this off.

http://rcgldr.net/nfss/nsnrdlte.wmv

(jeffareid) wrote:

> http://rcgldr.net/nfss/nsnrdlte.wmv

Thanks Jeff. When I read your post my gut reaction said cancel the pre-order. When
I saw your movie I decided I have to have this whether it turns out to be a turkey
or not. It looks amazing... except, as you say, for that blur. On other cars at
speed it is absolutely *horrible*, and I'm not convinced about it anywhere else
either. When I glance down at the instruments of in the mirrors (as I frequently do)
I don't want to be thinking WTF?

Maybe you get used to it in time, but I suspect it'll always be more of a
distraction than an aid... ie encouraging you to focus on the track ahead. I
suppose in a way it duplicates the real world effects of extreme vibration, but...
I dunno.

Anyway, thanks for the report and especially for the movie. It's definitely the
best movie from Shift that I've seen.

Andrew McP

(Andrew MacPherson) wrote:

> When I saw your movie I decided I have to have this whether
> it turns out to be a turkey or not.

There's some very different views being posted on http://www.virtualr.net/

Some seem to love it, lots seem to hate it. If I had any sense I'd cancel and wait
for the dust to settle. But the 'Ring does look amazing... apart, obviously, from
the silly advertising banners.

Andrew McP