NFS Shift 2: We won't add 1000 irrelevant cars

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 30 November, 2010

Lead designer Andy Tudor on creating a GT killer.

And all of a sudden the simulation racing genre is pretty competitive. Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 3 was released last year, Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5 launched last week, and next spring will see the game EA hopes will trump them both: Slightly Mad Studios' Shift 2: Unleashed.

But EA's ambitious expectation for the game is not headline-grabbing bravado. It's a desire born out of a frustration at Shift's "stamp collecting" rivals. Here, talking to Eurogamer, lead designer Andy Tudor reveals how Shift 2 will attempt to beat them all.

Eurogamer: When's it out?

Andy Tudor: Spring. Sorry to be vague, but it's spring at the moment.

Eurogamer: Define spring.

Andy Tudor: Bunny rabbits and... No, I'm not sure about the exact dates.

Eurogamer: How did it come about that you began work on this sequel?

Andy Tudor: We've got a long-term strategy that we want to make a competing, relevant sim game. Shift 1 was the first step towards that. If you look back over Need for Speed's history, maybe the early roots of that started in ProStreet, getting people who aren't used to circuits.

And then with Shift 1 we very deliberately said, 'We're on circuits now.' Shift 2 is an evolution of that, taking on the feedback from the community, feedback from critics, innovating in key areas and deliberately going after the sim category now the Need for Speed franchise is open to many types of game, like Hot Pursuit and World.

So we're very clearly going after the sim guys.

NFS Shift 2's reveal trailer was also included in copies of this month's Hot Pursuit.

Eurogamer: Did EA wait to see how the first game performed before asking you to do another one, or did you get the green light before it released?

Andy Tudor: Like many games, many movies and TV shows, we always knew we wanted to do another one. We had so many ideas. We always knew we wanted to add more features and innovate in new areas. Towards the end of Shift 1 we were starting to think of Shift 2.

There certainly wasn't a, 'Let's see how the sales figures go and then push out a sequel,' because it's not that type of game. We clearly innovated in key areas in Shift 1 on the core experience of driving, making it visceral, making it fun and accessible, XP and precision versus aggression.

This time around we wanted to streamline, innovate and take that core experience to the next level.

Eurogamer: Eurogamer interviewed EA driving and shooting boss Patrick Solderlund recently, and he said his vision for the Shift series is for it to be the market leader in the authentic sim category and beat Gran Turismo and Forza at their own game. As the creator of Shift, how do you do that?

Andy Tudor: Those two games are on pedestals at the moment. When we're thinking about what we want to do in this game, it's not a numbers game. We're not going to add a thousand irrelevant cars. Both those games, to me, are almost like encyclopaedias. You've got a thousand cars, a thousand tracks, whatever, and basically the game is about earning cash to get another car, earning cash to get another car. It's like a grind. It's almost like stamp collecting.

That's not where the fun is. The fun is behind the wheel, feeling you're on the edge, pushing it to the limit, putting in the cars that are relevant and cool to drive, allowing you to completely customise those from factory to the works level we had in Shift 1, and giving you the chance to then play against your friends in a social way.

1

This is a game. Not an encyclopaedia.

Taking Autolog, which is present in Hot Pursuit, to the next level, adding more features and making the core gameplay really fun as opposed to just adding five variations of the 1986 Toyota Corolla or something like that.

From what we've found, most people have 10-15 cars in their garage anyway. They have the first car they ever buy in career, they have a car they potentially own, a Ford Focus or a Golf or something like that, and then whatever game you talk about, whether it's got classes like Forza or licences like GT or tiers like Shift 1, people usually get a car from each tier or each category in the game. And then they get their dream car, the car they've always wanted, a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or a Porsche. That's seven right there.

Then, generally, people fill out the rest with cars they want to try out, like a Dodge Challenger, that they may not have access to. So people have 10-15 cars anyway. They certainly don't fill their garage up with every single car there is in the game – all 500 of them.

It's a different way of thinking, basically. We want to take those guys on. We want to make a more authentic experience. We've put in a new elite handling model and given you more access over deadzone, sensitivity, steering aids, break assists, all that kind of stuff, to allow you to dial in the experience you want.

We all come from different backgrounds. You may love muscle cars and might think Burnout is the best game in the world. I may like Japanese tuner cars, and may think Hot Pursuit is the best game in the world. We have very different views on racing, so we want to make sure everyone is able to get the experience they want from it.

Eurogamer: Slightly Mad Studios is an independent developer. I know Patrick has a vision of this series that extends far into the future. Are you happy to exclusively develop Shift now, or are you available to create other games?

Andy Tudor: I can't comment on that. It would be nice to... No I'm not going to comment on that. I certainly don't want that on tape!

Eurogamer: So if I asked you if Microsoft has been in touch about Project Gotham Racing, would you be able to comment?

Andy Tudor: Nope, certainly not. I'm not being a d***, but no we can't comment. I'll get a kicking if I talk about that stuff. So no, sorry.

Eurogamer: What was the main complaint by fans of the first game?

Andy Tudor: Shift 1 was the only Need for Speed game out that particular year. There was Nitro on the Wii, and World was in beta at that time. It was the only PC, 360, PS3 Need for Speed game that particular year.

Therefore, the whole game design, the whole ethos, was about that evolution towards getting people onto purely circuits and getting used to circuit racing, but then also making sure what we call the heartland guys, who are the diehard guys who love Need for Speed – they've bought every single one every single year, they all have very strong opinions about whether Undercover was the best game, or whether ProStreet was the best game, or whether Porsche Unleashed was the best game – making sure those guys are happy as well.

If you look back at the design for Shift 1, there are very specific things in there to appeal to both types of gamer. Precision versus aggression XP, for example. Precision drivers are the more sim guys. Aggressive drivers are the more action-orientated audience. That's common throughout the entire career.

2

No news on Need for Speed: Gotham.

Looking back, it did us well. It allowed us to keep a broad appeal and make sure all different types of people could play the game. But with Hot Pursuit out this year, the action section is already covered, so we can very definitely go after the sim guys. The feedback we were getting was, we'd like more abilities to change the handling model, and specific cars they wanted. Why is this famous track location not in the game? Things like that.

The whole ethos for Shift 2 is improving and streamlining. People thought stars were a great idea in Shift 1, but when you look at it, the total thing of stars and currency and XP and precision versus aggression, there were too many currencies in the game. So we're streamlining that kind of thing.

We're making the rivals more important. They were fictional in the first game. Now we've got all the team Need for Speed drivers as rivals in this game. The Need for Speed community has been around for years and years and years, and they're the most vocal racing fans out there.

And with the inclusion of SpeedHunters.com, which is a huge website that captures car culture and what's going on right now, we've got feedback from those guys as well, like what people really want to see. We're trying to add that's tuff into Shift 2 to make it a more authentic experience.

Andy Tudor is Shift 2 lead designer at Slightly Mad Studios.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • kangarootoo #1 1 year ago

    Quite critical of the competition, especially in the first half of the interview.

    That sort of thing can come back to bite you on the bum, and going up against two well established games is no easy task (especially given the somewhat checkered background of the NFS series).

    I wish them well - I'm just saying that quiet humility is the path I prefer, let your results speak for you.


    Edit: "I'm just saying that quiet humility is the path I prefer" - correction, I mean elsewhere. There is nothing quiet or humble about me on here, clearly. Call it my outlet if you will.
    Edited by kangarootoo at 30/11/10 @ 17:15

  • AidyD #2 1 year ago

    Opposed to ridiculous 'WELL DONE AWESOME YOU RANKED UP A LEVEL' FIREWORKS COOL GUITAR RIFF SLAPPING YOU IN FACE at the end of every. Frickin. Race.

  • EGoode #3 1 year ago

    Actually a massive part of why GT fans still by GT (5) is precisely because it's the ONLY racing series that you are almost guaranteed to find your own real life or own real life (realistic) dream car in to play with (for example cheaper/older japanese sports/performance cars).

    I love exotics as much as anyone and yes we need them too, but too many racing games are ONLY about supercars and/or the latest performance cars and leave out many classic/fun/dream cars. GT5 is the only game right now that has my 5 favourite cars of all time in (the ones I have owned, can own or will own one day). Most games, prob inc shift 2, will omit nearly all of those 5 and unless it's an amazing racing game will just be another in the sea of racers.

    Maybe cos it's made by a game developer for racing game fans rather than a car nut for car nuts. That's why GT still has fans and something these arrogant f-heads fail to realise. We want lots of cars, we want 'our' real life cars (if they are at least a little sporty, not all our real life econo-boxes of course).

    Still this game looks good, hope it's as good as they are mouthing off it's going to be.

  • Ryze #4 1 year ago

    brake.

  • linea #5 1 year ago

    As long as the selection of cars is well-considered then I agree, a smaller (say 50) car list is absolutely fine. Ideally focussing on more interesting and older cars as frankly they're generally cooler-looking and also (if chosen well) it's possible to drive them without crashing every 5 seconds. Personally I think that's a better way to make the game accessible than to compromise with too many assists.

    A good, meaty selection of courses is far more important I reckon.

    But over all that- the handling has to be absolutely right. Compromise that and there's no sale, and on that score Shift has a lot of catching up to do.

    Edit: that's not an implied criticism of the Forza/GT 'lots of cars' model. Love both those games- it's just that I'd be happy with a game with fewer cars if they absolutely nailed those cars and had a good selection of tracks.
    Edited by linea at 30/11/10 @ 19:16

  • Geordiemp #6 1 year ago

    If Criterion games were saying such stufff, might be interesting...

    But WHO are these guys again, and was there last game relevent to anything, never heard of them...

    best keep quiet sunny...

  • UncleLou #7 1 year ago

    If Shift is anything to go by, they're not even in the same genre as GT/Forza. Shift wasn't even a pseudo-sim, it was a pure aracde game.

  • kendoji #8 1 year ago

    Only 10 - 15 cars in your garage? When you get a car for every event you win? I wonder if this guy has actually played Forza or Gran Turismo.

  • SYS64738 #9 1 year ago

    When I read 'ProStreet' I had to raise an eyebrow..

    Also I'm not sure what this guy has against choice - 1000 cars may be excessive but I don't like the way he tries to tell us how many cars HE thinks is enough for US. Probably just excuses for not being able to come up with the same amount of vehicles as the competition come spring...

  • Machetazo #10 1 year ago

    Come back once you have something to show, then try to surpass the peers of the genre. You won't do so, through words, alone.

    He should probably try playing the games he's criticising, too, if that's the impression he draws of the point of Gran Turismo (and, probably Forza, but I haven't played recent editions of that, extensively). Page 1's unpleasantly tainted in a rinse of "eau de PR", but there's a little to inspire interest on P.2 You can't really criticise aspiration, and, I'm not about to start.
    Edited by Machetazo at 30/11/10 @ 17:48

  • Snuffb0t #11 1 year ago

    "And all of a sudden the simulation racing genre is pretty competitive."

    3 games of the same genre in 18 months, not exactly what I'd call tight.

  • Skurmedel #12 1 year ago

    Question is, will it have 200 splendid cars?

  • dsmx #13 1 year ago

    I think he misses the point of GT to be honest, polyphony are basically going for the ultimate car encyclopaedia.

  • b00n #14 1 year ago

    Just fix the handling...Shift was truly miserable in that regard, whether looking at it as a sim (which it clearly wasn't) or arcade. Couldn't play it for longer than about 3 minutes before shutting it down.

  • adamantium #15 1 year ago

    "We're not going to add a thousand irrelevant cars."

    I really like this guy and strongly agree. I very much enjoyed shift and am looking forward to the sequel. Loved the cockpit view from the original and thought the sense of speed was phenomenal.

  • Progguitarist #16 1 year ago

    We're not going to add 1000 irrelevant cars...We will however, add irrelevant words to the games title.

  • coojam #17 1 year ago

    Amazing they didn't mention Grid, considering how much of it they copied in style, direction, environments and vehicle selection. Just make sure the sequel has a flashback/rewind feature please!

  • Zephro #18 1 year ago

    ALso for those saying "what have they done" "what do they know". Slightly Mad are made up of ex Blimey! Games talent who worked on GTR, GTR2 and GT Legends, which probably ARE the best simulation racing games ever made.

    I agree with the interview really. I don't want 1000 cars, maybe 40-50 will do. What I DO want is this: brilliant handling, physics, the ability to create my own custom races, full race weekends with qualifying etc and most importantly I want a GOOD list of race tracks for once. GT and Forza fail most those tests except for handling/physics.

    I want a game that doesn't just have Suzuka and Laguna Seca oh and the Nordshlife AGAIN. I want to see Monza, Imola, Zanendorf, Zolder, Hockenheim, the AI ring, Oscherslaben, Donnington Park, Mondello Park, Watkins Glen. etc. etc. etc.

    Car Porn isn't for me, but track porn is.

  • byakuya83 #19 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • DrStrangelove #20 1 year ago

    Make a decent sim and I'll buy it.

    But you won't. You would need to dump everything that's arcadey about it, which you clearly won't do.

    The trailer is telling a lot already, it's just about giving you a maximum sense of terror. What sim racer would be impressed by that? Is this a driving sim or a crashing sim?

    And if you say Shift 1 was great, then I guess I don't have to expect a lot.
    Edited by DrStrangelove at 30/11/10 @ 19:46

  • Paul_cz #21 1 year ago

    To be honest, driving Zonda in Shift is more exhilirating, addicting and FUN than driving any car in any other racing game I have played, incl. GT5.
    Really looking forward to Shift 2.

  • funkateer #22 1 year ago

    To me, the fun in GT is actually behind the wheel, fiddling with the set-up and beating my best lap with sweat dripping from my palms. This is where GT really shines.
    Unlike NFS:Shift I'd say, which gave you a nice sense of speed but the handling was everything but realistic.

    Nevertheless, maybe the sequel will be better there.

  • funkateer #23 1 year ago

    One example in GT5 that shows that this guy doesn't really 'get' it: The Top Gear challenge with the VW buses. Yes, a VW bus is not relevant in racing, but driving one across the track in a an actual race still requires some real driving skills and is quite a challenge. GT5 conveys that quite well.

    And what is a 'relevant car' in motor sports anyway? A Bugatti Veyron? As far as I know, they're hardly ever used in a race, so one could argue it isn't relevant at all. An MX5? Not exactly fast, but they're the most used cars in motor sports, so I'd say it is. Even a Suzuki Swift is raced more than a Veyron, Ferrari or whatever.

    Setting a great time with something serious like a Ferrari is *really hard* and frustrating for an untrained driver, and it's similarly hard in a sim like GT5 (or Forza for that matter). NFS isn't about that, not even Shift; it's about the thrills of driving a fast car, but not necessarily in a realistic way. Nothing wrong with that.

    So my guess is that NFS:S2 will not compete with GT and Forza at all, because it's just a different thing.
    Unless Shift 2 will go more towards GT/Forza, but after reading this interview I doubt it.

  • makeamazing #24 1 year ago

    I think there is space in the car market for many different types of games. GT has some good points and some bad points, but people are buying it for a reason, dont mock those reasons as they are potential customers, find out the things that you can replicate in your own game easily and dont trash talk a game that is selling by the bucket load... its common sense really.

  • carlosdfn #25 1 year ago

    You know what Andy? Just because you're such a douche I'll never buy a NFS game again. Good developers that have confidence in their work let their games speak for themselves.It's not only the lack of respect for the competition, so much of what he said is just so wrong. You know you won't be able to offer as much content as GT5 and Forza 3 so you criticize their gameplay. Well, I got news for you buddy, GT5 may be a car encyclopedia but it's also a lot of fun to play, so yeah, it has the best of both worlds.
    They aren't mutually exclusive in case you didn't know. Loser.

  • joelstinton #26 1 year ago

    surely as a game about cars, every car is relevant.

    what gt5 gets so right, is that each car has some sort of driving identity to it, and learning some of the cars, and driving them is just a joy. Sure you can bypass these for the most parts and just drive F1's, Veyron's and Enzo's, BUT theres something good about having fun in a fiat 500.

    Sure you can go after the racing side of it, but computer A.i is never quite right, and with all car games having the same roster of supercars, whats the point?

  • NeoKenzi #27 1 year ago

    Shut the he'll up Andy... GT5 and Forza 3 Rock!!! NFS Shift was crap!

  • mikeck #28 1 year ago

    One example in GT5 that shows that this guy doesn't really 'get' it: The Top Gear challenge with the VW buses. Yes, a VW bus is not relevant in racing, but driving one across the track in a an actual race still requires some real driving skills and is quite a challenge. GT5 conveys that quite well.

    That's a fair point, however, ambling round the Top Gear track in a VW Samba van was boring as hell. I was looking forward to tearing round that track, but the first time you encounter it they are effectively sticking their fingers up at you by putting you in a van...may as well have made a walking simulater (I imagine you can race other vehicles on the Top Gear track at later stages, but for me it was just another sterile experience in GT5).
    Edited by mikeck at 30/11/10 @ 23:10

  • Keivz #29 1 year ago

    I loved Shift 1. I'm on my 2nd playthrough on the PC: 60fps-v locked-8xAA with perfect car models, the HUD off, and my favorite music in the background is gaming nirvana. The in game settings let you choose how 'sim like' you want it to be and if those aren't enough, the mods will surely satisfy. The game is said to have ~130 cars which is plenty. My only complaints were the lack of real world tracks (which they are remedying), the barebones presentation/menus, and all the trackside 'NFS bling' (which looks to be unchanged from the screenshots). Still, this & the Witcher 2 are my must haves for 2011.
    Edited by Keivz at 01/12/10 @ 01:30

  • Ryuzashi #30 1 year ago

    What a nub, So if we dont collect many cars, how come alot ppl buy all the extra cars DLC?

    I love testing diff cars and NFS never had much of a variety -.-

  • Master_Ted #31 1 year ago

    If you're going to TRY to be an alternative to forza and GT, then you need to realize that car porn is a big part of the games, and that it's maybe 50% on track, (and more realistic=better) and 50% buying/tuning/modding cars. forza and GT5 do both very, very well. sure, shift may be looking pretty good in the cockpit, but if it doesn't let me tune what I want, or cars I want (PROTIP4DEVS: they're mostly not the popular contemporary exotics already done in GT&F) then there is NO USE to the game.

  • funkateer #32 1 year ago

    "I imagine you can race other vehicles on the Top Gear track at later stages...."

    You can.... by winning the samba bus race! :)

  • TJP75 #33 1 year ago

    @Zephro
    You nailed the argument on the head.

    SMS are responsible for some of the best PC racing simulators ever created. Sadly, most people believe the racing simulation genre begins and ends with Forza and Gran Turismo. The problem with having X amount of vehicles is they will never be properly simulated as no one can test every car found in games like GT or Forza. This is part of the reason why iRacing has a small but highly accurate car roster & why premier PC developers like SimBin get access to data from the real race teams - it is the only way to accurately reflect the cars performance in a game.

    As for most games needing more tracks than cars, I couldn't agree more! One thing that is so noticable in all racing games is the lack of tracks, Shift 2 is said to have double the amount of the first game, including Bathurst and Suzuka so lets hope it's true.
    Edited by TJP75 at 01/12/10 @ 08:29

  • 43n1m4 #34 1 year ago

    Well, all the best of luck to them. If they can manage to make a more immersive career and a more focused effort on their selection of cars, then there's definitely room on my shelf for them as well. I don't expect them to do better per se than Forza or GT - but I expect them make their game different.

  • DAN.E.B #35 1 year ago

    I hate it when the term ----- killer is used
    it always blows up in there face just shut up and make the game!
    Oh and I wont be buying it! ive only bought one need for speed and that was made by criterion.

  • Eighthours #36 1 year ago

    Good luck to the Shift guys. More competition in this genre can only be a good thing, particularly from people with new ideas.

    We've put in a new elite handling model

    This is the most important bit. Great news, as the handling in the original wasn't good at all (weirdly).

    The key to this game could well be Autolog. Based on how it works in NFS:HP, it should be even better in a circuit racer. Should be a massive sense of competition between online friends. Can't wait. If Slightly Mad can sort the handling problems from the first game, I'm all over this.

  • Eighthours #37 1 year ago

    Oh, and I was intrigued by the thinly veiled references to them rebooting PGR...

  • smoothpete #38 1 year ago

    He missed a Leslie Nielsen gag there

    "Eurogamer: Define spring."

    "It's the season after winter when the flowers come out and lambs are born, but that's not important right now"

  • 00.00.01 #39 1 year ago

    @mikeck 30/11/10 @ 23:09
    Get gold in the first race in top gear special event (VW 'Samba', the wee vans) to unlock the top gear track in practice and arcade mode.

  • davidov92 #40 1 year ago

    Good, they lost me with this interview.

    By far the most negative commercial they could've created.

    -Too few cars. Bad selection. If they want to win they'll have to be at least on the same level as Forza 3. I mean, have some daily drivers in there too. Track racing isn't all about GT cars and that s**t. People do take their Clios and shiz out for a spin during the weekends, you know...not to mention a Veyron is anything but relevant to racing.
    -No anti-cheat protection online whatsoever, so basically you have leaderboards with people finishing races in under 1 second.
    -Too few tracks.
    -TOO FRIGGIN' FLASHY.
    -Precision vs. aggression thing is rubbish. Even the aggro drivers end up being precision drivers towards level 15, so why the hell bother ?

    I've got a shizload more to complaint about not just Shift, but NFS in general. Also, scrap the friggin' consoles too, they're the cancer killing gaming.

  • omniscient #41 1 year ago

    need for speed shift suffered from and Identity crisis lets hope that what they say is true, which is that they'll focus on the experience on the track and not just behind the wheel.
    Edited by omniscient at 01/12/10 @ 10:54

  • mfnick #42 1 year ago

    I really cant wait for SHIFT 2. I loved the first & it from the look & sound of thinbgs so far, 2 should be a huge improvement to an already brillianty game. But this guy seriously needs to shut up. He's just coming off as a right arrogant twat.

    Also slagging off the competition like this - especially when dealing with such well loved franchises - could really come back hard on him.

  • lasersrule #43 1 year ago

    All that matters to me is redefining the singleplayer career path. GT5 and Forza are both awesome sims, but their game structures are terrible (especially Forza 3).

    And the limited car roster worked great for PGR3, I thought.

  • Hei #44 1 year ago

    These guys are so much trolling, for a pseudo sim

  • RobTheBuilder #45 1 year ago

    EGoode - I agree but it's the 'five variations of the 2006 Toyota Corrolla' that is the issue, not the appearance of the car in the first place.

  • Lunastra78 #46 1 year ago

    I quite liked Shift. Enough to Platinum it actually. But can it compete against GT5 as a simulator? No.

    Actually I would say GRID is a far more likely competitor for Shift. Those two games consist of much the same aesthetics, vehicles and game modes.

  • specular #47 1 year ago

    They should drop the NFS prefix, especially now that Criterion has rocked our faces off with Hot Pursuit.
    I kinda agree with him about the number of cars though, but on the other hand people will be playing GT and FM for months, years... so let's make it something like 200 cars.
    Strong agreement about the number of tracks in racing games. Need more.

  • Wyrm #48 1 year ago

    Normal cars = good.

    I find it far more enjoyable driving the regular cars in GT than suped-up, tacky monstrosities reserved for Le Mans etc.

    Also, choice = good.

  • kangarootoo #49 1 year ago

    @TJP75

    "& why premier PC developers like SimBin get access to data from the real race teams - it is the only way to accurately reflect the cars performance in a game."

    Do you not think the guys at Polyphony get access to all the real life data they could possibly want? Nobody in games dev has stronger and more wideranging ties with the car industry at large (I'm not bigging them up, I'm not a car sim fan, and not remotely interested in playing GT - I just like facts though, and you seem to want to surreptitiously turn this into a PC vs consoles thing).

  • admj83 #50 1 year ago

    you want to create a gt killer in 1.5 year! funny!!

  • dirtyvu #51 1 year ago

    LOL. love it when a guy doesn't mince words. oh so true about too much grinding in racing games, especially the GT series. mocking GT was awfully fun to this guy. 1000 cars = stamp collecting. grinding is the same reason why I hate FF.

  • Puppaz #52 1 year ago

    Slagging off another game can be risky, especially when its so popular. To me this guy just comes off sounding like he doesn't understand why people love the GT series, which is fair enough, but may have the reverse effect that he's looking for.
    Saying "OMG we're not going to have virtually any cars, or tracks, its all about the racing. But umm... not the cars or tracks. It'll be a sim, but just... without cars or tracks." doesn't fill me with confidence for a "sim"

    Having said that though, maybe he just wants to appear to be filling a space in the market for those who don't like the GT games.
    Edited by Puppaz at 04/12/10 @ 20:02

  • bf #53 1 year ago

    I liked Shift but if they want the sim crowd, the real sim crowd, then they have some way to go. I hope streamlining of the rewards system means proper race rules that gives a black flag instead of points for running other drivers of track. After that we have full length races, wear and tear, pit stops, damage and failures, full racing weekends and so forth and so on.
    For those willing the filed of sim racing is vast wide open and void of competition.
    Edited by bf at 04/12/10 @ 21:54

  • feinry #54 1 year ago

    reading "That's not where the fun is." from a lead designer is shocking. That demonstrates inability to understand most players. I am not looking forward to Shift2. I liked the presentation of Shift 1, and certainly their HUD and camera work. I didn't play enough to realize they had so many currencies though. And it's surprising they realize they were too many after releasing the game!

  • Soton4084 #55 1 year ago

    As much as I think GT5 is a brilliant game, I wish they had not wasted time on a Prius and camper vans...

  • RKOwned #56 1 year ago

    snap

  • layleeloo #57 1 year ago

    If one game didn't deserve a sequel if was this laughable atrocity

  • Mydoom #58 1 year ago

    evertime i hear or read the words need for speed shift i just wont to teabag that crap.the best N4S where 1 2 and 3 the rest where pretty dull boring.

    there is only one racing sim game i play or would buy and thats is Gran turismo i only play the best or wont the best content on my ps3.

  • king26 #59 1 year ago

    i for one will not be getting thias as I have over a thousand cars to get through!!!

  • TJP75 #60 1 year ago

    @kangarootoo

    I'm not interested in the wankfest that is PC vs Console debate. I was pointing out that Slightly Mad Studios before their renaming were responsible for 3 of the most respected PC racing simulations & have the talent to make a game as good, if not better, than anything else on the market.

    PC sim racers are quite probably the hardest gamers to please!