JAGUAR1977:
Are sim racers really this ignorant and judgemental?

It looks like it. A shame, really, it was a very mature and sensible community once.

xilix:
Ian Bell has officially committed commercial suicide in the simulation community. When are people going to understand that we don’t want your watered down shite. Not a drop, sir.

Ian Bell’s new theme song: “Take the Money and Run,” by the Steve Miller Band.

:)

In other words, have you ever seen a motor race in which a collision with another car or a solid object hasn’t caused at least minor damage?

I didn’t think so, either.

simracerworld:
I don’t see how a lack of damage is a problem. If you drive right, you don’t crash, and if you don’t crash, damage doesn’t matter?

Knock me over with a feather: I’m shocked.

simracerworld:
I don’t see how a lack of damage is a problem. If you drive right, you don’t crash, and if you don’t crash, damage doesn’t matter?

Are you serious?

Still, I would have much rather heard the opposite in the preview.

Anyways, we’ll see. I’m still very hopeful. I do see a lot of this attitude people have mentioned, much like there is with iRacing, where the people who don’t like it for whatever reason seem to be hoping that it will fail. This doesn’t make any kind of sense except from a fanboy perspective (not to pick on any one sim, they all have their fanboys).

Mr. A:

Btw, Montoya, have you had any contact with SMS/EA about maybe getting to do a preview on NFS Shift here on VirtualR?

Highly unlikely, those preview versions are usually only given to big mainstream gaming sites/print magazines.

I doubt that they even care what a blog full of sim racers thinks of their product. I´m trying to get a review version though, that should be fun

Mr. A:
I’ve never believed that the presentation, game modes and so on would be anything but arcade style.
What I have been hoping (and still am) is that the physics and handling of the cars would be quite decent as long as you choose the simulation mode.

Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m hoping for. I have no delusions of this being some sort of hardcore racing sim.

Anyhoo, I searched for some recent previews and here’s a couple of quotes from just the first couple of articles which cropped up. They definitely paint a different picture.

“When it comes to the racing, SHIFT seems to handle the simulation element wisely; leaning towards the Race Pro level of realistic handling and driver demands, but without being as ruthless and punishing of your mistakes. We were still having to pick out the racing line and brake intelligently into corners (slow in, fast out, remember!), as pushing the car too hard will see you sliding uncontrollably off the track. However, it took us a lot less time to get to grips with SHIFT (it only took three or fours efforts to bag a top-three finish) as the cars certainly seem to stick to the track a whole lot better. This may not be quite as realistic as Race Pro but it makes it a lot more approachable for casual gamers, so as not to completely alienate the Need for Speed fans who have grown unfamiliar with the concept of braking for anything.”

“The game features 3 levels of difficulty; Novice, Normal and Pro, each iteration moving toward a more realistic simulation than the previous one, thereby catering for the casual, fun gamer to the hardcore racing fan who wants every twitch of that steering wheel to count.”

Impressions of a Eurogamer forumite who was invited to play the game:

“Because, to go back to really wanting to drive around Brands Hatch in a game – it was brilliant at creating sublime levels of authenticity in the driving model – Belting around Paddock gave that same sensation of realism as the first time you played it In TOCA, for example – requiring a balance of braking, direction and acceleration that differed by the car. I could see myself sinking Geoff Crammonds Formula One levels of practice into it, trying to get the angle of the highly bumpy, loose feeling Surtees corner just right.”

And so on…

I’m remaining optimistic largely because of the dev team that’s been put together, I think they deserve a little more credit. A team responsible for GT Legends and the GTR series, with the guy behind the Richard Burns Rally physics leading the physics/tire modelling, I just can’t see the end result being another GRID (aka Mario Kart).

JimmyB:
I just can’t help but feel that some of the sim community will be almost rejoicing if Shift turns out to be another GRID.

Reading most of the comments above, I think you are completely right, JimmyB.

Thanks Montoya for quoting this, it made my day :)

Well as stabiz and F1Racer said, no point in saying you’re shocked or similar. This never was intended to be for “sim” market.

What I have been hoping (and still am) is that the physics and handling of the cars would be quite decent as long as you choose the simulation mode.