Bigpower

I got this on Friday and have been through all different thoughts.

Booting it up gave the usual great NFS intro however this time using real game footage video rather than the usual 'made for vid' style.

I started the career option and went through the Tier 1 cars setlling on an S2000 and started the first race. My initial thoughts were the graphics were good but the controls using my wheel were pretty weird. Very tail happy and odd steering.

Given time and progressing the career mode opens normal races, best lap, drift and some invitational events where you get to use cars from the game.

Anyway with some fiddling of the wheel options I've managed to make it much better and it's transformed the game. The two things that really make this game are the sounds and the interior view.

To start with sounds the engine noises are just incredible and no other console game has come close. The howl of a vtec, the haunting sounds of the v10 lambos and the mclaren f1 is sensational. Tyre noise is incredible and so in the environment eg going under bridges etc. It truly sounds fantastic.

Next the interior view, following on from the recent games a full cockpit is provided (lhd for a lot of cars) and changes if you modify it but it's at speed subtle things happen like the blurring of the gauges and dials and momentary black and White when hitting barriers very hard.

Overall it's handling and realism is more similar to Grid and PGR but it's so much more fun and varied. Although Forza will undoubtably be more realistic, for real thrills you can't go wrong with this. Get it and crank your speakers up !!!!!

I would agree with you about the sounds Gareth they are very good but I still find the physics of it quite weird. When I first started playing it I thought the driving style i.e. the tail kicking out at the slightest hint of movement on the steering wheel, was terrible but once you get used to it, it gets a lot more bareable. I must admit that once you get to tier 3 and can "works" prep your car it is a lot more useable, and then tier 4 seems slightly better still but I don't know if that is just my imagination

I too am sure Forza 3 will be more realistic but for the time being this is plenty good enough to keep me going

I'll save my pennies then....I'm still hoping GTmight even have some fun injected into it.

I haven't had a proper play on it yet but the graphics and sound from what I have seen are superb I was going to have ago tonight but Ronin has been on the telly.

Rob S wrote:I'll save my pennies then....I'm still hoping GTmight even have some fun injected into it.

Surely you arent talking about Gran Turismo ?!!!!? Supposedly out in december ? Not heard too much about it but I hope the AI is fixed plus the damage is properly modelled. There are vids out there but slamming into a wall about over 100 mph would make more than a dent in the wing and the bonnet flap up lol. That said I will watch with interest and probably end up getting

On NFS shift I do find the tail happy in the game more on the S2000 than any other car and a bit odd but as you say it tends to be the early tiers rather than the later ones. Driven a Mclaren F1 and that seems really planted, still getting over how good that sounds.
I wouldnt say the handling is any odder than Grid or PGR, they both seemed to understeer with every car.

Not seeing this as a long term game like Forza but its certainly enough to keep me busy at the moment and has injected some clever initiatives into the game. Although I reckon when Forza and GT come out I will be wanting a game that has the sounds of NFS Shift, the realism and handling of Forza3 and the graphics of GT

A slight aside but I had a few moments on Burnout Paradise (ooo, check my out and how up to date I am) last week and I loved it. Huge fun dicking about in cars. No angle grinders though (boo)

Got this game on friday, havent played it much over the weekend but will have another crack at it tonight.

Hopefully i can get the G25 race wheel to work well with it, as i tried with the normal controller and wasn't to impressed with the way the cars handle.. Although the post above about it working well with the wheel having tweeked the settings fills me with a little hope...

The graphics are fantastic, and the gameplay is pretty good too, the in-car views are something special, that combined with the decent noise models does make the game that one bit better.. a vast improvement over previous NFS games..

Has anyone tried the invite only Veyron race... i cant do that at all... car is silly fast..

James_s wrote:
Has anyone tried the invite only Veyron race... i cant do that at all... car is silly fast..

I know what you mean James. How mental is that?????? It's bad enough getting the lesser cars round the ring let alone the Veyron that just likes to fly off at every corner lol

Yeah agreed the Veyron is insane !! Personally prefer the Mclaren F1 !

Like i said in another thread game sounds and graphics good but game control poor,also took me 3 days to complete ok thats not complete every race but you dont have to to unlock the last tier.
O and its pritty faced paced lol.
Will all have to get online and have a few races...