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Need for Speed Shift – Another Interview

Posted on April 15th, 2009 in Need for Speed Shift – 11 Comments

Need for Speed Shift producer Jesse Abney has answered some questions on the series newest title, giving out some interesting new info.

A recent preview in German Gamestar magazine suggested that Shift has physics comparable to Race Driver GRID, even though Slightly Mad Studios promised a real simulation. Some of you suggested that Gamestar might have tested the game on the wrong settings, a theory that may be backed up by Abney’s statements:

Will there be separate modes to appeal to those who want absolute realism and those who want something easier?
The design intent for SHIFT is to keep the game accessible to everyone but to also provide flexibility to keep the most expert players challenged. Difficulty presets, an adaptive gameplay system, as well as individual driving options will provide more complex customization.

The interview also includes a statement on the rather controversial damage iusse, pretty much confirming what was said in the Gamestar preview – Damage seems to be used more for dramatic effects and will have little impact on the way your car handles.

If the car gets say a puncture can we limp to the pit and fix it?
This is a traditional design challenge – how to balance realism with fun as they’re usually opposing forces when dealing with this disconnect in video game driving. Too many people are punished in pure simulators. The design intent in SHIFT is to keep the game fun but also provide flexibility to keep the most expert players challenged. Difficulty presets, an adaptive gameplay system, as well as individual driving options will provide more complex customization.

The full interview can be found here and includes other interesting info on tuning, drifting and NOS which is promised to “operate like in professional racing” (?)

In related news, Gametrailers user -Runner- has taken the time to anlayse the first Shift teaser that was released some weeks ago, pointing out some of the seen features.


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  • Scalage

    The producer just repeats his answers :roll:

  • Octavarium

    Cue scores of people complaining about… SHOCK a game designed to appeal to the general public as oppossed to a tiny segment like us who want realism with no sacrifices.

    This is pulling no punches, its an arcade game – bottom line. If you want simulation, buy something else – we already have plenty of options!!

  • lovretta

    “Will Drift be available as a race event in SHIFT?

    Yes, Drift is a key aspect to our career event structure and is supported by the physics engine.”

    I’ll repeat these un.convincing words “…is supported by physics engine”

    WHat should this mean??
    Drifting is about skill, not separate “driftey” physics engine :D :D

  • navalhawkeye

    “how to balance realism with fun as they’re usually opposing forces”

    That is interesting. I usually think of it the other way around.

  • UncleChuckle

    Still maintain they need to remove the “F” from the title of this game to give it a more appropriate and accurate name.

    Octavarium: You’re right, but the thing is recent NFS games haven’t even been any good at arcade racing. The likes of Burnout do it far better.

    navalhawkeye: Sad isn’t it. In my experience everyone who has tried arcade nonsense then tried proper racing physics had greatly enjoyed it. Plus if you turn on all the driver aids in most sims and the experience is similar to arcade.

    “Too many people are punished in pure simulators.”

    What a bunch of horse manure.

  • Westy

    It would not take much effort for a large games company to implement a PRO mode that is more a real world simulation that really requires a steering wheel in fact you would make out that its a huge achievement to Evan be able to race in the pro mode (do a deal to get some coppies of the game as a bundle with a FFB wheel).

    you could allso incorporate the whole fact that it has this pro mode into the marketing and get some real world drivers to endorse it.

    Thay have already made it clear that this game is going for a market of people who “think” they are playing a Sim game ala forza/PGR/GTR, why not exploit that to the full especially as they are developing other driving games that target the rest of the market

    Why not go all out with this one and really Target a new revenue stream of sim racers as well as the existing forza,pgr,gtr.

    A pro mode would additionally increase the longevity of the product as arcade/core gamers would want to progress to the hard core mode to complete the game as well as make the product viable to Sim racers.

    The most expensive aspect of making this game is the marketing that they will throw behind it second to that will be the cost involved in developing the games engine once you have them its nothing to add a simulation mode its highly likely that the games physics engine will be more than capable to support a decent sim mode and if not it would be fudgeable to get it to the standard of LFS,Rfactor,RBR.

    why a company would not attempted to tap an existing proven market at minimal cost/risk is unknown to me. you could evan just employ a bunch of RFC modders to over see it and make sure it was implemented well.

    The sim community is dying for a game that supports jump in online play along side a solid physics exsperance. LFS almost had this but then it seemed to die out. The closest thing we have now is R factor centrals Race.me competitions where not only can you jump in and play but you can win prize money. I would recommend GTR evo but the public servers are full of crashers and if you want to race with more than 5 people your out of luck , that is unless you enjoy racing Minnnie’s.

  • Maddmatt

    Some of these comments scream of people who can’t read or just enjoy bashing.

    “This is pulling no punches, its an arcade game – bottom line. If you want simulation, buy something else – we already have plenty of options!!”
    That is the complete opposite of what the developers said and what SMS has done in the past.
    Plenty of options? Yea right. They are mostly dated looking games and the physics have plenty of room for improvement. Sorry but the options right now suck, in my opinion at least.

    Nice that two of my questions made it there. Hope the simulation mode is as good as they claim, might just be a good sim.

  • mikem

    I’m sold- any game that antagonizes the “sim” crowd is ok in my book. As long as it looks better than iRacing (which isn’t hard to do) and won’t turn me into a bitter old simmer, I’m all for it.

  • Sensekhmet

    Westy:
    The closest thing we have now is R factor centrals Race.me competitions where not only can you jump in and play but you can win prize money.

    Thing is, you need to pay (OK, so it’s 1$, but still) to get involved and that is technically impossible for some people.

  • Westy

    You have to pay , but if your Evan just an average racer it is more than likely that you will win your money back + a profit.

    The events are once every 2 weeks and they are limited to 150 people each. currently 75 of those people ether win 25 win there entry fee back the rest win there entry fee back + a profit.

    So not only can you enjoy well moderated servers with competitive jump in racing you get payed a small amount for doing it. Sumone i know has won over £140 in the least 3 months on it. At least 25% of the people who have taken part have profited over £5 since the events started.

  • HoW Monty

    :roll: Imagine a company looking to maximise profit. I am sure that Shift will be great fun for the majority of people who enjoy driving games. I hope it’s somewhere between GRID and Forza.

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