Need For Speed Shift>> Rp Time Attack Challenge @ Irwindale

This past June we set up a pre-release version of Need for Speed SHIFT at the hotel the Formula D teams were using, while competing in New Jersey. We invited most of the drifters and teams to try out the game and provide some feedback on the physics and the in-game driving experience.

It was pretty fun, especially as some of the Formula D drivers are pretty handy gamers. Top of the class was Darren McNamara…

… who set some blistering times in the Maseratti MC12 around the Nurburgring Nordeschleife.

The rest of the room had their eyes glued to the screen as the gaming session went on for a good 6 hours.

Both Tanner Foust and Tyler McQuarrie also showed some skills and put down some awesome lap times. As the day went on, people started to compete with each other for best time.

So this got me thinking… what if we turned this informal competition into something more serious?

So we pitched the idea of an Irwindale-based gaming competition to our friends at Royal Purple and they agreed to sponsor an event. Formula D also agreed to integrate the competition into the the proceedings at Irwindale so we're now set to go.

At 3PM this Thursday, the top Formula D gamers are going to meet up at the Need for Speed booth to hotlap the BMW M3 GT2 around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.

Then this Saturday, October 17th at 6:00 PM, immediately following the Top 32 tandem battles, the top three gamers from Thursday's qualifying round will drive the MC12 around the Nurburgring Nordeschleife. For me this is one of the biggest challenges of the game, especially with all the assists turned off, so we want to push the FD drivers and have them set these times in front of an audience. Royal Purple has put up a purse of $5000 USD for the winner so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. One person to beat will be Darren McNamara, but I know some of the other guys are already practicing!

Should be fun.

;Rod

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1

Got my copy today! I set a pathetic 0:57 @ Brands Hatch with the GT2 M3. Would've done harder, but I don't like the flappy paddles on my steering wheel and I wanted to get into the game. Try and record the races, there are plenty of USB to that white, red and yellow cables things so you can record the race straight through the tv.

2

This game is pretty weak. And i think its cause of all the hype about how it was supposed to be so good. I still know the whole time I'm play a NFS game. They had a lot of cool ideas, like the camera shaking and the tire smoke. but its still just an arcade game.



Only reason I would buy it would be so i could drift JR's mustang.



Dirt 2 is awesome. good driving physics.



Cant wait for Forza 3.



FD just needs to make their own game.

3

Video of the event please :-D

4

Ian I couldn't disagree with you more! Having sat with Tommy Milner and had him give feedback on how similar his car feels in our game to our it drives in real life, I don't think I can agree with your label that SHIFT is an arcade racer.



Sure there are other areas that it's fair to criticise in this game (too many bugs!), but in my books it's a great physics experience, especially now that I've been driving what the "other" game companies have on offer in their demos.

5

GTR is still more realistic :P



But Shift is a very good game an I like to play it very often!

@ Ian, you can't say that Shift is too arcady and than say that Dirt 2 has good physics!

6

Go Iracing or LFS. That is good simulations for computers where good steering wheels are available. The Xbox wheel is fantasticly bad.



After trying that, then compare to Shift. I'm sure Shift is better than most, but so far, NO game has ever felt right on an Xbox or playstation or whatever. Forza is utter SHITE along with Race Driver Grid, Dirt one and probably also two is shite, and Gran Tourismo fell off after number three. Can't say any of the NFS games so far have impressed me either, but at least they can be great fun.



Shift looks good enough to beat them all, but I won't believe it can be called a sim until I've tried.

7

Look we all know Grand Turismo is the best simulator ever made! (Insert flame posts now)

8

This game was far too hyped. When I gave it a try, I was extremely disappointed with the way the cars deal with inertia. They feel like they have 2 tonnes of lead strapped somewhere in the cockpit. It's hard to describe, but compared to other racing sims out there (and I play a few), the cars don't seem to settle into a corner confidently, the way deadzone was approached is neither realistic nor fun, and it seems like the cars rotate around a central axis rather than through all four wheels. I've had a play around with all the settings, and not much seems to help.

9

Sorry, i shouldn't have said its weak. It's a good game. Just saying it doesn't have quality physics as Grand Turismo and Forza. And yes. Dirt 2 probably isn't the best on its driving physics.



I just feel like i've been fed for a year now that this game is different from all the previous NFS games.



My favorite game is Forza. In Forza you can run back and forth on the tracks in any direction and you can actually tandem. NFS Shift is still a NFS game. just go forward and go as fast as you can and pull the e-brake to start a drift. It introduced a lot of cool features like the tire smoke and the camera shaking.



I haven't played NFS shift enough to get in a back and forth debate comparing it to other racing games.



Cant wait for NFS Shift Hot Pursuit!



And any driver is gonna say a video game with themselves in it is awesome.



The difference with this game (and all of the NFS games) and games like Forza is that people will play NFS for a solid week and then get bored and never play it again, where Forza, you can keep building all sorts of cars and actually drift with people forever... doesn't get boring.



I agree with Alphonso.



10

Sorry, i shouldn't have said its weak. It's a good game. Just saying it doesn't have quality physics as Grand Turismo and Forza. And yes. Dirt 2 probably isn't the best on its driving physics.



I just feel like i've been fed for a year now that this game is different from all the previous NFS games.



My favorite game is Forza. In Forza you can run back and forth on the tracks in any direction and you can actually tandem. NFS Shift is still a NFS game. just go forward and go as fast as you can and pull the e-brake to start a drift. It introduced a lot of cool features like the tire smoke and the camera shaking.



I haven't played NFS shift enough to get in a back and forth debate comparing it to other racing games.



Cant wait for NFS Shift Hot Pursuit!



And any driver is gonna say a video game with themselves in it is awesome.



The difference with this game (and all of the NFS games) and games like Forza is that people will play NFS for a solid week and then get bored and never play it again, where Forza, you can keep building all sorts of cars and actually drift with people forever... doesn't get boring.



I agree with Alphonso.



11

Rod Chong, I just came up with a great idea. Instead of trying to have professional drivers vouch for your product, why don't you patch it so that the customers who BUY it actually have a reason to? No one gives a damn how great Tommy Milner thinks your game is, but we do give a damn if WE think it sucks because we're the ones you're trying to sell it to, not Tommy Milner or any of the other drivers EA has been trying to exploit for their massive and very misleading marketing campaign.



This is part of the reason why Forza and Gran Turismo are such successful franchises. They don't need professional racing drivers to vouch for the product because the game vouches for itself. We don't care if you think its a not an arcade racer. Your opinion on the matter means nothing to us, and by ignoring legitimate concerns from fans who feel they were ripped off or mislead you're just making more of us want to abandon the NFS franchise completely. Pull your head out of your ass at SMS and EA and LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS THINK.



As for me, actions speak louder than words, and I already decided not to buy Shift. I decided I'm putting that money towards Forza 3, where the developers aren't trying to mislead me and sell me a broken product. Sorry, but I'm not going to support a devloper or publisher who refuses to listen to their customers. And believe me Rod, I'm not the only one making that same decision.

12

Im happy for you EAGames.. But Polyphony had the greatest driving game of all time.



But in all seriousness.. i wonder if theyll experience any bugs in the game? Maybe choosing Irwindale was a good idea, after all.. its Spa that has the bouncing bug.

13

IRONFIST that's all in the works and they are listening believe me... Please see this link here to tell the development team your thoughts.



http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/310751.page">forum.ea.com/.../310751.page



I am ONLY talking about the physics here, not the marketing, nor the customer relations, or the bug fixing etc. They are very different topics.



 

14

I can't stand how people criticize everything to do with gaming. I am a huge Gran Turismo fan but I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with NFS:Shift. This is the first NFS I have bought since NFS:U and am very happy to see the direction NFS and EA are taking the franchise. Keep up the great work!

15

@Rod Chong



I understand what you're saying, and I have already voiced my thoughts on the official forum. Perhaps the physics are good underneath all the bugs, but I can't agree with you on it yet. I can see potential with the physics engine, but as it stands after the first patch, it still feels very uncontrolled, unbalanced, and unpredictable. Seems the biggest problem with the physics is the fact that the car never feels connected to me because my controller inputs are delayed for a fraction of a second. Its the same story on both the PC and my Xbox. It's very easy to tell that there is something fishy about the physics. Compare it to Race On from SimBin. Race On uses nearly the same physics engine (gMotor) as NFS: Shift, yet its nearly a thousand times more playable. There is no lag on controller input and there are no handling surprises like you get with Shift.

To prove my point that Shift has some serious flaws in its physics code, fire up Shift and pick a Murcielago, upgrade everything and Works convert it. Increase the downforce a bit and take it out on a straight section of the Nurburgring. I can't remember the exact top speed, but its well under 200mph, the car is CONSTANTLY sparking and dragging the undercarriage along the pavement, and you can't even get the car fast enough to make it into 6th gear. How can we believe that this game has racing simulator physics when something this silly happens? The idea is that the physics code should react realistically to changes in the cars parameters, but the idea of a Murcielago having so much downforce that it drags the undercarriage on the ground at 150mph is so far fetched you'd expect it to be science fiction or a joke. This is why we don't believe the physics of the game to be realistic or at level where it could be called a simulation, because that simply wouldn't happen in real life unless you put wings from an airliner upside down on the top of the car.



What bothers me even more than the silly physics is the fact that this game has SO MUCH potential to be incredible that its not even funny. Aside from the crazy camera shake and DOF effects, it is a graphical masterpiece. The art and audio teams for Shift are so on the ball its almost scary, they really did an excellent job. Shift wants to be a great simulator and it should be, but it was rushed out the door several months before it was finished and EA expects us to shell out $50-60 for it. Not happening, not yet at least. If you want to do yourself and all of us a favor, then you should put the guys who wrote the physics code in direct contact with some of us through e-mail. There are plenty of us who would like to give the guys some constructive feedback to make this sim what it needs to be, including me. The forums are a good place for posting bugs, but in my experience forums are not the route for getting to the team that is actually working on the game. They have PR guys to handle the forums, and I get the impression that they don't understand how we feel because a lot of our thoughts get lost in a sea of dumb comments and suggestions.

16

@2292445148



People criticize everything that has to do with everything. That's part of doing business. If you bought a TV and it didn't turn on when you brought it home, you would be pretty irritated. You might not ever buy a product from that manufacturer again, especially if they ignored you when you asked for a replacement. There are some people who are okay with throwing their money away, and you're probably one of them, but most of us out here in the real world don't care to throw our hard-earned money away, so thats why we criticize things.

17

Ironfist have you tried the work around to completely reset the setup with the car when you convert it to Works? I've heard this fixes some issues.



the SMS crew are normally physics masters as their lead guy did physics for Grand Prix Legends, GTR, GT Legends and the EA ISI F1 games... so I'm not sure what could be the main issue here.



I do agree with you there is an incredible amount of potential within the Shift engine, it's a total reset for the NFS brand. Remember this is V1.0... it's a totally new game engine so it is a little rough around the edges but when you look at SMS's track record in making quality games, I'm sure we'll a lot of elements get sorted out. They do read Speedhunters after all.



And I do know where you are coming from and do make a point of telling the EA Executives your feedback!

18

Just because you guys cant play the game right means that the game is weak or arcade-y. As much as i love forza i cant help but commend the good stuff about shift. the physics and graphics is quite a feat. Although more work can still be done.



To the noobs who dont know shit setting up a car properly go ahead and play you so called "racing games". If you guys cant play the game without driving aids, then stick with the easier settings. Sucks for you guys that you can't really play the game properly. I still lvoe forza but this Shift is quite an experience on gaming.

19

I agree with alot of whats being said on both sides of this agruement. But after simply playing the demo for this game on Xbox marketplace I strongly disagree with anyone who beleives that NFS Shift even comes close to being in the same league as the other console simulators. It has a place in the market but I dont think (the topic of this discusion) the physics are anywhere near Forza 3s and Gran Turismos. The game still feels like an arcade game through and through, which isnt bad. And to tell you the truth, if Forza 3 wasnt right around the corner I'd cop NFS Shift simply because its fun. But not because the physics are superior to any of its console competitors. Forza is never and will never be better then Gran Turismo, its simply something to play while waiting for Polyphony to finish the king of console racing sims. And to tell you the truth if Gran Turismos came out as frequent as Forzas do, Forza would have been left in the dust years ago. Some people love NFS Shift though and i love that simply because if people arent out there dropping the $60 for this game i wont be reading Speedhunters every day, AND I ENJOY READING SPEEDHUNTERS EVERYDAY!



I'm really wondering why this FD competetion isnt FD driver VS the general public, if you want to sell games that makes why more sense to me.



@2292445148 We criticize because this is America.

20

Exhibit this is the internet actually (which exists all over the world)... and it's quite normal in this environment for there to be a lot of criticism left right and center.... not a problem!

21

I got you Rod, so are you gunna let me enter the competition? If I win I'll buy you a copy of Forza 3 and preorder you Gran Turismo 5.

22

Although in the photos, everyone is playing the game with gamepad, the best way, perhaps the only way to experience SHIFT is with a good force feedback steering wheel. That pretty much negate the 360 version unless you can afford a Fanatec wheel (which I heard isn't compatible with the game). My recommendation and the wheel I happen to be using with my PS3 version is the Logitech G25. Still, I wouldn't classify SHIFT as a driving sim but more in line with racing sim. But the feel of the cars with the proper wheel can be quite astonishing- not only do you get the lateral weight transfer, but you also feel the g-force(s) when you go up or down. On track like the Nordschleife, the game just sings. Speaking of Tommy Milner, SHIFT's version of the BMW M3 GT2 is very good especially the sound which is perhaps the highmark of this game and it put a lot of the more serious sim to shame. And as a footnote: if you yearn to do a virtual Porsche 911 GT2 vs Nissan R35 GTR shootout at the 'Ring, there's no other game that would allow you to do so (Forza 3 will be without the R35 while GT5 is Porsche-less). Just tonight I did mine: Porsche 7:48.070 and the R35, 7:47.330. I love this game.

23

Hey Rod, you guys should let media compete! hahahaha



See ya soon buddy!

24

@JoshHerron I AGREE! What's up Rod are ya scared we might school one or two of the FD drivers? jokes jokes...

25

i enjoy the game, i think there is a lot of room for improvement ( but what game doesn't ).



I'm a GT fan, probably would be a forza fan too, if it was not on xbox. I'm getting to like NFS:Shift and dirt2 they are awesome with steering wheels! ... woohooo, this is a great time for racing on consoles :)

26

Basically. what it comes down to is...



Its a good game, but its still just a NFS game. Not going to pay $65 for any game i'll get bored of playing after 3 days.

27

@ Mike M. How do you feel g-forces through a steering wheel? haha. Wouldnt that be reactive forces/ feeback coming from the wheel/suspesion because of the bumps/dips on the road? Any racing sim, driving sim cannot replicate real life driving/racing, because g-force will always be a missing in the equation.

28

Dang! $5000??????? :D Can we sign up earlier???

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