USA NFS-Shift guineau pigs required

On Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:34 +0100 (BST),
(Andrew MacPherson) wrote:

(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.

It indeed looks great! But those AI cars.... The thing I liked about
GPL was the fact I had to improve to beat the AI. I don't like those
games where you adjust the speed of the AI to your own skill, taking
away the challenge. (And I really hate those games where the AI slows
down so you can keep up).

Cheers!

Remco

no@email (Remco Moedt) wrote:

> It indeed looks great!

Yes, but I just lost my nerve and tried to cancel... too many people (including
those playing the pirate PC version) are reporting disappointment. While it's
always important to take first impressions with a pinch of salt, there are too many
people saying negative things to make me comfortable. At least one patch may be
required to make this worth buying.

However my credit card has already been charged this morning. Too late! :-/

Oh well, it's only costing me a few pounds more than the WRS alpha, so I can hardly
complain. If nothing else it will be a very pretty distraction when I get a bad
attack of iRacing withdrawal. :-)

Andrew McP

"Andrew MacPherson" > wrote in message
...
> no@email (Remco Moedt) wrote:
>
>> It indeed looks great!
>
> Yes, but I just lost my nerve and tried to cancel... too many people
> (including
> those playing the pirate PC version) are reporting disappointment. While
> it's
> always important to take first impressions with a pinch of salt, there are
> too many
> people saying negative things to make me comfortable. At least one patch
> may be
> required to make this worth buying.
>
> However my credit card has already been charged this morning. Too late!
> :-/
>
> Oh well, it's only costing me a few pounds more than the WRS alpha, so I
> can hardly
> complain. If nothing else it will be a very pretty distraction when I get
> a bad
> attack of iRacing withdrawal. :-)
>
> Andrew McP

For all the money spent on all these multiple other titles you could just
run iRacing. I gave up on buying the "console racing title of the week" for
that reason, $60 a pop for a game that usually disappoints.

(schooner) wrote:

> For all the money spent on all these multiple other titles you
> could just run iRacing.

In the end it's not money (and never was really) which keeps me out of iRacing,
it's the non-stop seriousness of it all (ignoring the cash-generating,
one-size-fits-all, weekly fun races). I enjoy that for a while, but it always ends
up feeling like work after a few weeks. And I really, *really* do get bugged by a
significant proportion of the iRacing community. I know I could ignore them, but
watching the RSC forum helps remind me I'm not really an iRacing kind of guy. :-)

I still love the core sim, I just dislike the service and many of the attitudes it
encourages. That hasn't changed... though the service is, slowly, becoming less
regimented and more flexible. At this rate it may even be in a format I can really
enjoy properly within, what, three years? :-)

I don't plan on returning for another month until the start of next season. I hope
there will be a few rich guys around prepared to host some short races in the
Lotus79 and/or IndyCars. The proper races will always be too long for my comfort (I
have no sponsorship to flash across TV screens for an hour or more ;-) but in
theory the mix of oval and road races ought to be right up my street.

Anyway, as I said, it's not about money. I run sims instead of a real car, and even
iRacing is a lot cheaper than a real vehicle. So I'm happy to do a little
experimenting as I look for something to try and supply the thrill the Skip Barber
gives me, without the hair shirt iRacing makes me wear in order to drive it.

Andrew McP... still loving, and still hating iRacing :-)

"Andrew MacPherson" > wrote in message
...
> (schooner) wrote:
>
>> For all the money spent on all these multiple other titles you
>> could just run iRacing.
>
> In the end it's not money (and never was really) which keeps me out of
> iRacing,
> it's the non-stop seriousness of it all (ignoring the cash-generating,
> one-size-fits-all, weekly fun races). I enjoy that for a while, but it
> always ends
> up feeling like work after a few weeks. And I really, *really* do get
> bugged by a
> significant proportion of the iRacing community. I know I could ignore
> them, but
> watching the RSC forum helps remind me I'm not really an iRacing kind of
> guy. :-)
>
> I still love the core sim, I just dislike the service and many of the
> attitudes it
> encourages. That hasn't changed... though the service is, slowly, becoming
> less
> regimented and more flexible. At this rate it may even be in a format I
> can really
> enjoy properly within, what, three years? :-)
>
> I don't plan on returning for another month until the start of next
> season. I hope
> there will be a few rich guys around prepared to host some short races in
> the
> Lotus79 and/or IndyCars. The proper races will always be too long for my
> comfort (I
> have no sponsorship to flash across TV screens for an hour or more ;-) but
> in
> theory the mix of oval and road races ought to be right up my street.
>
> Anyway, as I said, it's not about money. I run sims instead of a real car,
> and even
> iRacing is a lot cheaper than a real vehicle. So I'm happy to do a little
> experimenting as I look for something to try and supply the thrill the
> Skip Barber
> gives me, without the hair shirt iRacing makes me wear in order to drive
> it.
>
> Andrew McP... still loving, and still hating iRacing :-)

Ah well there are lots of iRacing haters for various reasons, same can be
said for any sime or game. If you hate it then I would just move on, just
found it odd you mention iRacing in almsot every post so figured you were
still interested in it.

I personally can't be bothered wasting money and time tryign a different sim
every month, I'd sooner stick with one and work within it as it grows, but
to each their own, everyone wants different things out of it.

(schooner) wrote:

> I personally can't be bothered wasting money and time tryign a
> different sim every month

Neither can I. :-) After GPL split into lots of mods, and other sims came along to
spoil the 1967 party, I slowly fell out of love with simming. I bought a lot of
sims, but never settled into any of them.

At least iRacing got me interested again, so I'm grateful for that. But I suspect
that this may be my inner child's last attempt to get back into simming. Part of me
is very tempted to sell the gaming rig & G25 and forget gaming altogether. But it's
hard to do that when I know I enjoy iRacing, yet can't live (for long) with its
inflexibility.... or the stream of tempting distractions they keep adding to dilute
the (admittedly growing) user pool.

All the more reason to walk away for good really, but some people just don't know
when they're beaten. I will no doubt still be here in two year's time having the
same, tediously repetitive thoughts. Still, it's cheaper than therapy. ;-)

Andrew McP

On Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:19 +0100 (BST),
(Andrew MacPherson) wrote:

>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 just played it for a couple of hours and Shift has a lot of pros and
cons.

- The menu navigation SUCKS, no mouse support, to switch between
racing series you have to press.. 8. Makes no sense at all.

- Loading is irritating. In the first 2 series (haven't unlocked the
3rd and 4th series) the races are very short, 2 or 3 laps, so I spent
a lot of time looking at the loading screens.

- AI SUUUUUUUUUCKS

On the other hand..

- Engine sounds are bloody amazing. In fact, best ones I ever heard in
a sim.

- Driving model is fantastic. When I first got on in the S2000 in
Brands.. sliding all over the place while keeping in control,
fantastic.

- Sense of speed is perfect. I love the blurry effect. At high speed
the road remains sharp while the dashboard becomes blurry and is
shaking all over the place. For me it works, totally immersive.

NFS Shift is a strange combination. A sim with a GTR-like driving
model combined with the very arcade NFS experience. Earning stickers,
badges doesn't really do it for me. I do hope that Shift will bring
the experience of simracing to a big crowd but I'm affraid it's gonna
be a huge commercial failure, expecially when I read the general
comments on gaming forums, where people are complaining that there are
no police chases in Shift.

I don't think Shift will last 5 years like GPL did for me, but hell,
I'm having great fun with it while it lasts. Let's hope the online
community will keep Shift interesting in the long run.

Andre - Damn, been a long time since I posted here

(Andre Warringa) wrote:

> - The menu navigation SUCKS, no mouse support

I read that elsewhere and nearly blew a fuse. It really is inexcusable. I suspect
they ran out of time to finish the PC version off and left 'optional' stuff like
this until last.

> - Loading is irritating.

With graphics which looks that good, this is perhaps not surprising. but it's still
annoying in any game/sim.

> - AI SUUUUUUUUUCKS

That's another real problem. I like LFS, but stopped running it because the AI bugs
the cr*p out of me.

> - Engine sounds are bloody amazing.

GTR2 still sounds superb, so it's nice to see that they didn't forget how important
this is for immersion... and grin-factor. :-)

The WRS demo I've been pointing people at has a pretty impressive engine sound.

> - Driving model is fantastic.

Ok, that's the only thing which really matters. I feel less like cutting my wrists
now. ;-)

> - Sense of speed is perfect. I love the blurry effect.

Interesting. Watching a movie is different to actually doing the driving, so I will
be interested to see if I find it as annoying as I thought I would.

> NFS Shift is a strange combination. A sim with a GTR-like driving
> model combined with the very arcade NFS experience.

Hopefully the PC version will be hackable to open it up in some way, avoiding the
career/badge stuff.

> I do hope that Shift will bring the experience of simracing
> to a big crowd but I'm affraid it's gonna be a huge commercial
> failure, expecially when I read the general comments on gaming forums

Yes, it is a concern that they may have over-estimated the appetite for a more
serious 'flavour' to the NFS brand. I did a lot of reading yesterday and it was
hard to find much to be optimistic about. Only time will tell if EA stick with this
experiment.

Thanks for the report Andre. I appreciate it.

Andrew McP

(Andrew MacPherson) wrote:

> There is still a spark of enthusiasm remaining somewhere in my
> cynical old sim-heart

Especially after watching this...

http://vimeo.com/6606607

....which I found on the LFS forums. Put the movie into fullscreen and just watch
and listen. Even if it's not a perfect sim, it's hard not to smile when seeing some
of these movies.

Andrew McP

Another video, duel view, Zonda R at Willow Springs:

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