"Imagine Shift. Now take all the annoying features and push them to one side. Now take all the features you wanted to see and put them in. Got that image in your head?
Good, because its probably pretty close to what Shift 2 is.
We had access to the dev version of the game which meant we had all the stuff unlocked and lots of money so within 10 minutes I had recreated my real life car (albeit an M3 version) and was throwing my car at insane speeds around a track to get the tail out as much as possible. I wasn't happy though; the steering wasn't sharp enough and the rear wasn't locking up quick enough so I went into tuning, twiddled with sliders to slam my suspension, give myself more lock (a lot more) and give the LSD a 100% preload (ie, like its welded).
I went back on the track and soon was entering corners at lovely angles but there wasn't enough slip or smoke. A quick drop into tuning again and I had semi-slick tyres and back to the track. I may as well have turned off my rear view mirror as it was just smoke!
Now I took notes hurridely like at the World one so what follows is a dump of this, with the questions you guys asked answered (as best I could):
Customisation - a lot more vinyls (real world ones) along with the ability to mirror them.
Damage - Damage can either be off, visual or full on omfg-where-the-hell-did-my-wheels-go?! As in the trailer, bits of your car do come off and get trashed to the point that you can end up in a DNF state - I rolled at one point and lost my two front wheels, and was able to push the car a few feet painfully slowly before having to admit defeat and restarting. Also if you smash your headlights on a night course things get incredibly difficult.
Modes - along with the regular modes, there are two new ones - <1> and <2>. <1> pitches one player in a super fast car and the rest of the players in a slow car but puts the slow stock cars half the track ahead. This means the fast player has to burn his way to catch up and try and win. <2> is like the manufacturer showdown but this time its old cars against new. For example old 1970's Jags against their modern counterparts.
Online - Autolog has been referred to as Autolog 2.0. Its a lot more slick, can be accessed at any time by pressing select and can show your global standing, regional standing and standing amongst friends. If you beat a friends time, you gain bonus XP too. Mutliplayer has also been tweaked so that it monitors how you play... if you're forever ramming other players and pushing them off the track it starts to group you with other rammers in matchmaking. This means that the purists get to enjoy the game without hassle and the aggressive players dont have to worry about whining! Races and autolog are like HP though - kept per platform, no cross-info Im afraid.
Like HP, there is no planned DLC for PC users - you have been warned! The reason given was not because of piracy but because they just dont want to spend the resources into doing a half-assed attempt and instead want to focus on delivering perfect material for the consoles. - Been asked to ammend this - it is not right out the window and is still being investigated.
Cars - cars are no longer based on how common they are but instead on performance, ranked in classes similar to Forza (like A, B, C etc). All cars can receive the Works conversion too, though this is based on real life works conversions they have seen on each cars. The performance of the cars is also realistic - they are actually legal bound by the manufactures to keep them real. Handling is also perfect; although they have the cars realistically recreated, they have had the Team Need for Speed guys frequently test and correct the settings, from handling to viewpoints. Tyres also degrade over a race to simulate grip and temperature.
PC Users - Shift 2 is a lot more PC friendly for controls, and it can run on low specs like Hot Pursuit.
Tracks - Day, Dusk and Night on every track, and every event can be played on every track (though certain events alter the track to make it more practical). Debris on the track flies up as you drive over it and you see mud and stuff splatter your screen which is pretty awesome effect.
Events - You work your way up the ranks by doing what seasons you want to in each field (its not linear like Shift 1) with the top being GT1. The list is as follows:
1. Modern D
2/3. Hot Lap Gauntlet, Modern C Invitational
4/5. Modern C, Drift, The Eliminator
6/7. Retro, Hot Lap Gauntlet, Modern B Invitational
8/9. Modern B, Time Attack, Hot Lap Gauntlet
10/11. Muscle, The Eliminator, Modern A Invitational
12/13. Modern A, Endurance
14/15. FIA Gt3, Works
GT1.
Difficulty - You can start at Easy with everything from best line through to traction control on right up to Elite where its everything off and its insane. The AI is a lot more sensible and as the difficulty ramps up they play with more tactics. During the career mode you also develop rivalries with the certain drivers (as each NPC has a personality and monitors the way you play to react accordingly)."
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