Hey guys I'm going to interrupt my planned Nissan showcase article to answer some of your specific questions about SHIFT2 UNLEASHED.

Of course, it's impossible to answer every single comment that you guys and girls have thrown our way, but we endeavored a broad range of questions to give you a deeper understanding of the game. Let's get started!


Speedster502 said:

"It looks great so far, the only thing that could make me completely sold is if you could show a full lap from the interior view of the car. So far everything looks much improved from Shift"

Speedster502, Charles Kha and I thought this was a great idea! We recently had Tommy Milner at our EA Canada studios here in Vancouver and took the time to film him driving around Bathurst and Laguna Seca. We'll have this video online within a week or two, and it will give you a better sense of the new physics developments SMS have produced for S2U. Tommy did these laps with a G25 wheel/pedal combo with no driving assists.



thelolbus said:

"I wish this could be realistic, I mean like live for speed realistic, gt legends realistic, that kind of realism, but it just won't happen with nfs and I'm not getting my hopes up anytime soon."

An interesting comment... What you may not realize here is that I was the designer and producer of GT Legends and most of the key Slightly Mad Studios crew who made SHIFT2 UNLEASHED also created GT Legends too. For us, S2U is a massive leap forward from this old PC sim racer.



TheOnig said:

"And please.... next time use real gamers as testers! I know these drivers does give some use full information. but i guess you guys can achieve allot more if you had some "game tester experts" (read sim racers) also to give you guys feedback. "

I can assure you that we had a wide range of sim racers play the game at least once a week. We ran test after test, week in and week out for months. It's normal procedure when creating games.



Rook said:

"A couple questions though: how realistic is tire wear? Do different pressures and compounds impact tire life.

A good question Rook. I went to SMS' physics guru Doug Arnao to get the answer here. He said:

Tire wear (along with heat) is modeled and is pretty realistic. Safe to say you'll know you've abused your tyres. For pressures, they affect the tyre spring rate, and the across the tread heating, so ultimately will affect life of the tire.

BTW the SMS crew were quite impressed when we created the above screen shot as it captures the real time 3D tire deformation modeling in game. Pretty cool!...

dave said:

"Just wondering why if this is a racing game with rl based race tracks ,why is 90% of the content is production cars that wouldn't be allowed on track in any kind of sanctioned race.

Looking at your bio and the types of racing you list as what you follow DTM, WRC, FIA GT, LMES, ALMS, Super GT, Le Mans, WTCC, F1 etc why not just made a racing game based of real series. Hell Nordschleife 24hr race would fill out most of the car list."

Hmmm... a challenging question this. I'd say that in the design of S2U, building and tuning your own cars is almost as important as racing them. We've created a customization system which allows you to rebuild just about any production model in to a full fledged race, drift or time attack car. You'll be able to get creative and make some exciting and perhaps unusual race cars.

But I get the point that at there's something special about driving purebred, real life race cars which is why we've got the full grid of FIA GT1 World Championship and GT3 European Championship machines. Almost every single car which raced in both championships is included in SHIFT2 UNLEASHED.

These are some of the ultimate production based GT racers on the planet and I hope you enjoy driving these cars as much as I do.

Of course we've included a few GT2s too such as Tommy Milner's 2010 BMW M3 GT



RobbyLotusV8 said:

So... is there anything but Japanese cars in this game?

Robby I've put this gallery of images together just to give you a bigger picture of some of the cars which ship with the game. I hope you like what you see!



Mike Crocker said:

Fantastic... Now, is this going to be a sim-style or will it have the arcade-styled handling?

Mike S2U is firmly in the simulation style of physics. We've layered in a full ensemble of driving aids to make the game accessible to different skill levels, but at the base of it all, we've focused on the direct experience of realism, especially the feelings of danger, speed and intensity. I should point out that this is a different sense of immersion (superior IMO) than some of the more mathematical focused simulations engines but the difficultly level is similar.

Like I've written a few times, SHIFT2 UNLEASHED creates the experience of sitting in the seat of a race, time attack or drift car. This is how we all drive cars in real life and this is the area that we've really focused on.

I should also add that both steering wheel and game pad controllers are offered along with a full range of adjustments so you can get the game to drive exactly how you want.



SteveT said:

Will this game be able to use the full 900 degrees of steering on the logitech wheels?

Absolutely yes and it works beautifully. The in-cockpit animations are perfectly sync'd to what the player is doing, so when using 900 degrees you'll see the animated hands properly shifting position on the wheel to turn it beyond the standard angles.

There are also different wheel tuning options for drifting so you can get a different set up working for sliding

Douglas Burns said:

DLC though? Need some more oldschool cars!

Hi Douglas. We have not announced our DLC plans just yet, but I can say that we have some amazing addons almost ready to go for SHIFT2 UNLEASHED. I can't say much more right now other than you will be VERY pleased when the first package is announced.



Monty said:

ARE STEERING WHEELS SUPPORTED (for Xbox 360) ???? If so, WHICH KIND (for Xbox 360) ?? If not, count on me not buying the game. You can't make a "realistic" game and heavily rely on the use of gamepads.

Hi Monty. Of course steering wheels are supported for PS3, PC and X360.

PS3 supported wheels:

Nascar Racing Wheel
Logitech Driving Force
Logitech Driving Force EX
Logitech Driving Force Pro
Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
Logitech G27 Racing Wheel – full support for all buttons
Logitech Driving Force GT
Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S (and similar models)
Thurstmaster F430 FFB
Thurstmaster RGT FFB Clutch

X360 supported wheels:

Microsoft Force Feedback Wheel and compatible wheels (eg, Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S and similar, Logitech DriveFX, etc).

PC

Logitech G27 Racing Wheel – full support for all buttons
Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
Logitech Driving Force GT
Logitech Formula Force EX
Logitech Driving Force
Logitech Driving Force EX
Logitech Driving Force RX
Logitech Driving Force Pro
Logitech MOMO Force
Logitech MOMO Racing
Thrustmaster RGT FFB Pro Clutch
Thrustmaster Ferrari GT Experience
Thrustmaster Ferrari 430
Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S (and similar models)



Max Schrepfer said:

Are there going to be any roads in the game like the Wangan circuit in GT5 or Touge courses like Fujimi Kaido in Forza 3? I know that you guys are focused on race track experience, but it would be really cool to see some street courses as well?

Max, the tracks which ship with the game are a mix between real world and fictional road courses. S2U features a several city courses including some new maps based in Shanghai (above) and Miami. We also have some amazing new racing modes slated for DLC which we'll reveal in due course that I'm particularly excited about. I'm pretty sure Max you will be too.



Darve said:

So how does the painting work? Pre-determined liveries or what?

Hi Darve. Each car comes with a group of preset race liveries along with a set of preset colours. Additionally, one can paint the car or the individual body parts with a full range of custom colours and paint types including Gloss, Metallic, Candy, Pearlescent, Chrome, Matte and Flip (twin colour).

You can also make your own custom race livery too. And YES the logos and layouts can be mirrored from one side of the car to the other along with new controls for sizing and placement. You can also determine if the stickers/vinyls are matte or gloss finished for tone on tone effects.



David said:

Does the game feature the ability to remove certain body aero parts eg stock spoilers? I'm looking at you S15.

Hi there. We know that wing deletes are important for proper drift style so some versions of the the S13 and S14 kits have had their rear wings deleted already. But the circuit oriented aero packages for the most part are all about downforce and lots of it.

Rook said:

Since we're berating you with questions, here's mine: What are the endurance races going to be like, if there are any?

In the S2U career mode there's an Endurance Branch where you'll race at Road America, Brno, Mount Panorama, Suzuka, Spa, and the infamous Nordschleife.The Spa endurance race is run at night whereas the Nordschleife event is split over two sessions. The first session is at day and the second session is at night, with the finishing positions of the first session determining the grid positions for the second session.

These are all designed to last around 45 minutes in a car like Tommy Milner's BMW M3 GT ALMS. Stamina and concentration will be needed to set competitive Autolog times with your friends here.

In Online Events you can create Endurance events of 25 laps (ie.. 30-45 mins duration dependant on location/car selection)

In Quick Events though you can increase this all the way to 99 laps if you have enough time and energy drinks!



Darve said:

Are all the cars left hand drive?

Absolutely not. The cars are a mix of LHD and RHD depending on what the original reference car was.

Our S13 is a LHD USDM model whereas the S14 is a RHD UK spec 200SX. The S15, R32 and R34 are of course RHD JDM models. Interestingly we have both LHD and RHD R35s shipping with SHIFT2 UNLEASHED. The GT1 spec R35 is a RHD car of course



KB said:

how did u get the job u have ? id love to get into designing cars and the physics/graphics behind them.. i spend most of my time drawing them.

Hi there, that's exactly how I got started too! I used to do nothing but draw and paint cars day in and day out.

I got going in the game industry over ten years ago when I started modding the PC sim game SCGT. I co-founded a mod group called Virtua_LM and we built a few well known mods including Prototype-C for F1CS. After this mod was released, myself and few of my crew were headhunted by the game company Simbin to produce the PC sim racer GT Legends.

In 2006 I joined EA to work on the Need for Speed franchise and its since then that things have been moving quite quickly!
Most people I know got their start in gaming by either taking a game design course or computer programming. Others got their in by becoming game testers and worked their way up through the ranks as assistant producers or designers. Some (like me) learned their craft in the film industry or computer animation houses. There are many ways in, it's just a matter of staying focused, keeping your eyes the horizon and never, ever giving up on your dreams and passion (as corny as that sounds!).



MX5r said:

I've been playing driving games for longer than I really want to think about and the problem that every 'sim' game has is a feeling of cronic understeer, no bite from the front end. The current Forza 3 is a great example of this, as much as it looks great it's no fun having to bring the car to a near halt to negotiate every corner. Resonsive turn in and cornering fast differentiates a car that's fun to drive from one that isn't and the same applies to a gaming experience. Gran Turismo got progressively less fun from through the first 3 games as they tried to increase the realism. F1 2010 feels good but as it's F1 there's no yaw and no slide. I can kind of see what you were going for with NFS Shift but it didn't really work and I'm not exited by this helmet cam either, there was never an issue with the view - it's ALL about the physics.

MX5r I couldn't have said it better myself. For the S2U physics model you are constantly dancing with the limit of adhesion and have the ability to control the angle of the car with a combination of throttle and steering inputs. It's quite an active experience that personally speaking is rather challenging and satisfying to drive. Again to the doubters: it's a bit leap forward from Shift1 and has stepped away from any sense of arcadeness.



FG2_FrAn said:

As I stated previously...the team has done a GREAT job with these graphics. Work packages are drool worthy. My only small concern is....will we be able to toy around with wheel setups on cars without the works package. As far as width, offset and diameter?

Hi there.Once you upgrade your car to works, it automatically puts slicks on the cars and resizes the width and offset to perfectly match the race chassis setup. Within this you can still change the rim diameter though. Rim sizes are limited to what is available in real life too.

Prior to the works upgrade you have full freedom to change rims and play with three types of tire compounds up to a semi-slick option. The track tires are matched to slightly wider rims too, but the main change you can make to the rims is an adjustment in diameter. Front/rear rims types and size can also be changed independently for those who want a drift style machine or staggered setups.



ky said:

Does this game support 2-player split screen?

Sorry no it doesn't. The game fully supports Autolog and online multiplaye with up to 12 cars racing at once.




rubberduck said:

Is this going to be a racing game or a blinky - blanky - shiny -cooly - stupid drifting game? Of course, it's nice to modify your car appereance with stickers, and it's even better when there are plenty stickers to choose from, but it's more or less useless when the vinyl - editor isn't reworked HEAVILY (without making it uncomfortable like in ProStreet). Furthermore, it's nice to have all these setup options (and a instant - check - function!), but then there must be a introduction on how every option actualy affects your car.

Each setup option has an explanation to go with it so you can learn how to setup your suspension geometry, shocks, diffs etc etc. There are many, many ways to work on your car's setups so we've tried to make this as accessible as possible by explaining every single detail in the menus.




rubberduck said:

And again, i'm wondering if this game really focusses on being a racing game. If there is a career mode i hope there are more options to develope a real own "driving - style". No big - banger - GT - pilot can be a adequate drifter at the same time. Maybe he even doesn't want to be one?

So, all in all: Please do not advertise a "non plus ultra racing simulation" when it's only a bloated customisation toolbox for all the "Street Style" guys out there, which has the opportunity to race your street machine (with added aero parts to make it look cooler and faster) on a real race track while all the people who hoped for improvements in track racing with real track racing cars being dissapointed when spotting two to three BMWs, 2 Audis, 2 Porsche but 20 different specs per model of all the Nissan Silvia, Mazda here, Honda there and other cars motorsport people don't even know...

If you have zero interest in drifting then that's totally cool. The career is non-linear and isn't gated in a way that you HAVE to drift in order to proceed up to end-goal of winning the FIA GT1 World Championship.

I hope Mr. Rubberduck that you'll see here that this game has a wide range of cars on offer. Yes we've tried to reflect aspects drift culture in S2U but GT racing comprises a big chunk of the game too.

Shift 2 Unleashed : Nos premières impressions

Posté le 09. mars, 2011 par EnFonde6


Shift 2 Unleashed était jouable sur un stand du salon de Genève, c’était l’occasion pour nous d’avoir un premier contact avec le jeu.
C’était sur le stand Seat qu’avec gamelle71 nous avons découvert une borne de jeu très peu mise en valeur du prochain Shift 2 Unleashed. Nous avons donc essayé rapidement le jeu, sur une version Playstation 3 avec une manette.
Commençons par l’aspect technique du jeu. Nous n’avons vu qu’un seul circuit durant notre court essai, le Nurburgring Nordschleife ainsi qu’une seule voiture, la BMW 135i. Le tout nous est apparu de bonne facture, avec une modélisation de la voiture de qualité ainsi que des environnements plutôt réussis. En revanche, le circuit en lui-même apparait loin du réalisme de celui de Gran Turismo 5 avec une piste bien trop large ainsi qu’un environnement assez fantaisiste. Enfin, les temps de chargement nous ont semblés extraordinairement longs, mais nous ne savons pas si le jeu demande une installation qui n’aurait pas été faite ou bien si c’était bien une version définitive du jeu.
Du côté de l’ambiance, c’est en revanche une réussite. La vue du casque est assurément très immersive puisque l’on ressent à la fois les mouvements de caisse et les accélérations tandis que l’impression de vitesse est assez fantastique. De plus, le son du moteur de notre vaillante 135i nous a semblé convainquant tout comme l’IA qui apparait assez humaine dans son comportement.

Mais venons-en au point central : la physique du jeu. Et c’est très franchement une grosse déception… En effet, pour faire simple, à la manette et sur la version que nous avons essayé, c’était quasiment injouable. La direction était bien trop sensible, au point qu’il semblait même difficile de rouler droit, alors qu’en virage il était impossible d’avoir une trajectoire propre. Seul point positif, la voiture ne semblait pas souffrir du phénomène de rebondissement du premier Shift.
Toutefois, précisons qu’un menu pour régler la sensibilité des commandes existe bien, mais qu’il ne semble accessible qu’au menu principal (à vérifier quand même…) et nous n’avons pas eut le temps de faire ces réglages.
Nous aurions aimé tester une borne équipée du volant car a la vue des dernières vidéos du net le jeu semblait plus maniable avec celui ci que durant notre cour essai