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(More customer reviews)Just to give you some background on me (so you can take what I say with a grain of salt, depending on what you're looking for from this game) I mostly play racing games that lean far more toward the simulator side (modified versions of GTR2, GTR Evo/Race 07, rFactor, Richard Burns Rally). I have a G25 steering wheel and have my pedals & shifter mounted on stands to more accurately place them where they would be in a car. I'll spend hours trying to whittle away seconds from a lap time. So imagine how excited I was after seeing the technology video on Shift 2.
Out of the box, the game was nearly unplayable on the PC. What it feels like to me is that the game was probably ported to PC, then given a quick slap of force feedback (FFB) that isn't anywhere near being well tuned, in order to get the games released at the same time on all platforms. I say this because I don't believe the physics are entirely to blame here, but after playing other sims and then playing this one, you literally don't get any feedback about what the car is doing other than the resistance of a turn or hitting the wall & other cars (you can't tell what the tires are doing, nor the springs, or how the weight of the car is shifting). In a good racing sim, you can feel when your car starts losing traction in a turn, allowing you to make corrections (letting off the gas, etc). But in Shift 2 it is really hard for me to tell what the chassis is doing. The opening part of the game has you drive a Nissan GT-R (an advanced AWD vehicle) around a small course, and you pretty much can't drive it aggressively from the get-go because you can't feel what the car is doing. It misleads you into believing you're going to make a corner, and then the car slides out sideways without notice (you can't feel anything, you just see it happening). Anyone who has played GTR2/Evo/rFactor will know what I'm talking about. You can jump between various styles of cars in those sims and if you're an experienced driver you can adjust to the new car within a few turns just because you can feel what the car likes & doesn't like, the FFB programming in those sims is that good. It's not like that at all in Shift 2. Switching from the GT-R to the Alfa Romeo (first car you are awarded in the game) wasn't much of a difference in feel at all. Even after purchasing chassis parts & new tires, it felt the same and I never felt confident of what the car was capable or not capable of. You'll basically just end up learning your acceptable corner speeds and the best driving line without feeling what the car is doing, which entirely detracts from what a simulation is about. I make this distinction only because EA made such a huge deal about how realistic this game was going to be. And for someone who is all about the driving aspect of the game, you're going to feel like something is missing. That connection between man and machine. It's more like being a witness to some very pretty graphics.
Private parties (modders) have already made a couple of mods to fix some of the issues in this game. There's a fix to make the sidewalls of the tires stiffer so the reaction to turning is improved (feels less mushy), and I think there's a mod to remove some of the effects of colliding with other objects that cause the lag issue. But this game feels like it's unfinished, if only because of the sub-par FFB. The game looks brilliant with the graphics cranked (better have a fast rig) and the car selection is very nice and highly varied, without having too many cars that nobody will ever touch. Some of the new effects are nice, like the inside-helmet view, the look-to-apex function (which takes some getting used to, since I use TrackIR in other sims, and Shift 2 doesn't support TrackIR [but there is a mod for TrackIR support already too]). Hopefully EA patches this game soon. It really is a solid 4 or 5-star game, marred by very poor feedback support. Heck, if you're going to play it on PC with a gamepad you might really like this game. It is definitely fun (FFB issues aside) and looks great, it just needs some TLC from EA to make it more of a complete offering for people who drive with a steering wheel setup and take their racing games seriously (again, I only mention this because EA made much ado about how realistic this game was going to be).
EDIT - Okay, 1 week and a lot of forum research later, I'm starting to get this dialed in with my G25 wheel. First of all, you need the latest Logitech Profiler software, and you'll need to set the spring effect strength and damper effect strength to about 40% or so (more or less to suit your taste). Most sims don't use these effects, so we tend to set them both to 0%, but EA built their FFB around the use of these two effects, as well as the FFB strength (which I have at 113% currently). I am using 362 degrees of rotation in the Profiler software (not the full 900 like I have in my other sims), and I have the Profiler set up to launch off of the Shift 2 executable (you can do this under Edit -> Properties in the Profiler software). In-game, I have the wheel set to 50% sensitivity with 360 degrees of steering lock. You can widen these figures if you like (460-540 or so) but for some reason it feels really loose to do so in this particular game, and you may be turning the wheel excessively. Now, with these settings in a stock vehicle, it still probably won't feel quite right. That's because you still need to go into each and every car you own in-game and adjust the steering lock in the car's tuning settings itself. Each car will be at default 20 steering lock, and most need to be lowered (for instance, I'm using 18 on the Lotus Elise 111). Plus, the feel of the cars gets proportionally better if you buy better tires & suspension and adjust them halfway decent. It's a shame that EA didn't make it simpler to just hook up your wheel and go, but at least we are figuring this stuff out. I feel like it has seriously marred what could have been a great launch for this game on PC. Also, EA has confirmed that they are coming out with a patch that will eliminate some of the lag in steering response, but I'm not sure when that will be. But the way I have it set up now is miles better than it was when I first started playing it, and I'm really starting to enjoy it as much as I'd originally hoped...
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Shift 2 - Unleashed Shift 2 Unleashed is a multiplayer Simulation Racer for play on PC. Follow-up game to 2009's Need For Speed: Shift, Shift 2 Unleashed leaves the traditional arcade racing associations of the Need For Speed franchise far behind as it immerses the player in an unprecedented level of realistic racing scenarios and functionality. Features include: improved first person perspective via the all-new helmet cam; access to real-world drivers, tracks, and cars; a deep Career Mode; 1-12 online multiplayer support; extensive car customization; and Autolog social networking functionality.
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