In a somewhat surprising move, EA has released the PC demo version of their recently-released Need for Speed Shift title today.
The demo is 1.1GB in size and lets players drive on the fictional London track and Spa Francorchamps. Cars include the Nissan GT-R, the BMW M3, a Lotus, a Dodge Viper as well as an unlockable Pagani Zonda.
Console users have to wait a little longer as EA has announced to release the Xbox 360 demo on October 2nd while the Playstation 3 version will be released a day earlier on October 1st.
Download Need for Speed Shift PC Demo Here – Mirror 1
kill4f00d
September 18th, 2009 at 17:33
Completely unexpected! I’m so happy though. I’m crossing my fingers that my MacBook Pro can handle it well. It has the 9600M GT in it so I probably just have to turn down the resolution to play at full settings.
Floptickle
September 18th, 2009 at 17:59
Well, I played it at medium-high, and it looks stunning!
kapten_zoom
September 18th, 2009 at 18:19
Indeed unexpected!
Running to my gamecomputer ^^
pisaric
September 18th, 2009 at 18:26
It doesn’t want to install on my computer,at the end of installation it says that I miss the CRC file and group 5.Do I have to download all three mirrors?
GT VIRUS
September 18th, 2009 at 18:33
mirror 3 doesnt seem to work :( the file given is only 250mb
pisaric
September 18th, 2009 at 18:39
Oh now I see I have to download mirror 1,I was downloading mirror 2 just 250mb it should be 1.1GB…
goggo1peter
September 18th, 2009 at 20:02
game crashed when starting to race . I ve got a ATI 4890 with last driver
Very disappointing
MrCobbs
September 18th, 2009 at 20:28
Yeah, Mirror 3 not working :(
GT VIRUS
September 18th, 2009 at 21:02
well that was a dissapointment. It was just like grid to me really. Spa was very unrealistic, strange camber appeared all over the track, elevations were exgagerated, the lines of the track dont feel right, and its not even the 07 layout!
Controls werent fun imo. with the g25 it felt horrible, the car kept wondering over the track, and i never felt in control. Same problem as GRID.
Graphics are good, but they are hidden behind the filters, if the filters could be taken off, it would be the 2nd best looking racing game on PC (behind, amazingly, burnout paradise)
Floptickle
September 18th, 2009 at 21:18
Well, I tried the demo and it didn’t feel too good. So I thought, “awww maaan”, and then I went out to buy it, and it’s much better! Still not 100% sim but there’s a big difference :)
homerfreak
September 18th, 2009 at 21:37
So the full version has a better handling model than the demo? I already heard that the PS3-version has better physics than the one of the PC-demo, if also the real PC-version has better physics it would be great =)
BSR-WiX
September 18th, 2009 at 21:38
i Like the game… but i should not use the word “Sim” thats like calling my grandmother sexy.
For me Gran turismo still rules as far as an arcade racer with acceptable physics is concerned.
mike
September 18th, 2009 at 22:04
cant really test when two problems appear
massive deadzone with the G25.
and crashes randomly with ATI card.
Mee
September 18th, 2009 at 22:12
You can easily decrease the deadzones in the options, so just set it to 0% instead of complaining here…
kill4f00d
September 18th, 2009 at 22:12
I thought a Geforce 9600M GT would get me decent frames per second. There is no profile for Need for Speed Shift in the Nvidia Control Panel, so I assume Nvidia has to optimize its drivers. I feel like I’m getting around 30 fps in the cockpit view. Outside views run smoother though.
steve30x
September 18th, 2009 at 22:23
The Physics in the demo are bad. The full game has much better physics.
sediol
September 18th, 2009 at 22:30
Now I’ve got the same problem after I restarted the game. Always CTD at that point.
(At first it ran – though with low FPS because of the ATI bug.)
BTW, is there a way to deactivate the blurred cockpit? I found that awful.
mike
September 18th, 2009 at 22:33
thats funny you think I didnt try that already
there is a thread on racesimcentral with people having the same problem with G25
steve30x
September 18th, 2009 at 22:47
I have no problem with my G25 in Shift. Except for the FFB not being very good.
Spaceman
September 18th, 2009 at 23:12
Blimey some folk!
I have the full game so cannot comment on the demo but I’ll bet my bottom dollar it’s the same ,just folk being thick.
In the control options choose Logitech G25. There should be a choice for sequential or H-Gate. It’s sorts all the controls out for you. Just need to tweak steering sensitivity and full lock.
Been playing it for 2 days now with G25 with physics set to pro. H-gate on and clutch off and the game is excellent.
What people tend to forget this being a Need for Speed title and not GTR3 is the cars under steer heavily on turn in until you start to spend alot of money upgrading your car. This is the only area you can alter the feel of the car. There are no setups to play with.
Not every game has to match i-racing or netkar for physics. Need for Speed may fall just short but its a damn good attempt and a good deal better than previous entries. Remember Need for Speed Porsche? Sure it wasn’t a full blown sim but it looked and felt great for the time. That’s how shift is today.
Drop the console snobbery and go and have a laugh with a corking great game I say.
F1Racer
September 18th, 2009 at 23:13
I can attest to the G25 feeling like it still has a deadzone even when set to 0 in options. Also the FFB is very weak.
Howie47
September 18th, 2009 at 23:14
I don’t know about the demo. But I got my G25 set up in the full version. It feels just as good as any Sim out their.
ATI is supposably fixing their drivers for this game.
Howie47
September 18th, 2009 at 23:17
In the full version, at first my FF was so strong I couldn’t steer the car good enough to race. I now have it set at 7 in game. With other in game settings.
moppenheimer
September 18th, 2009 at 23:32
there is still a deadzone even when set at zero
Spaceman
September 18th, 2009 at 23:38
Not for me. You have the latest Logitech drivers installed with the allow game to override settings checked?
Maybe your G25 is one of the earlier makes. The ones with the terribly clicky h-gates.
jux
September 18th, 2009 at 23:39
That’s not true. There are many setup options in the game: toe-in, tire pressures, anti-roll bars, etc.
Of course, none of those really matter that much since the handling of the cars is nowhere near realistic and the steering is close to atrocious.
Howie47
September 18th, 2009 at 23:54
That is totally bogus. Set-up options, (most) are only available after upgrades!
The cars are very very realistic. My only physics criticism would be a little to much lateral grip. But the cars drive beautiful. More then 15 years Sim racing here. I have no agenda. If God had the game made just for me. I
wouldn’t care.
MadCat360
September 19th, 2009 at 00:01
The steering had some pretty bad delay so I couldn’t really play it that well.
Howie47
September 19th, 2009 at 00:15
One important piece of knowledge. The steering lock in the tunning section (full game) maybe backwards! Turning it to a lower setting will actually give you less oversteer. A higher setting more. Just a tip.
UncleChuckle
September 19th, 2009 at 00:17
Friend of mine downloaded it and the demo won’t even work. Menu won’t draw properly. This is on an nVidia card.
So there’s a few sim folk saying “it’s not bad” and the rest are saying its shite.
Foolish of me to expect there to be consensus once the game was released.
Howie: Perhaps he did.
Uff
September 19th, 2009 at 00:26
I’m enjoying this demo a lot, with my DF GT.
I tried a couple of races with these settings: 1920×1080, AA 2x, AF 8x, no v-sync, no blur, the rest on high (E8400, 4 Gb DDR2 800, Win Xp, 8800 GTS 512) and Fraps gave me these values:
2009-09-18 23:39:30 – shiftdemo
Frames: 10119 – Time: 217711ms – Avg: 46.479 – Min: 29 – Max: 60
Not bad, after all. :)
The demo is quite frustrating, as you have to configure everything again everytime you load it, but a part for that detail I’m really having fun driving around London with the Elise. Tomorrow I’ll try some other cars too!
Gaiajohan
September 19th, 2009 at 00:52
The longer you play it, the more you enjoy it. As long you got yer settings right
Spaceman
September 19th, 2009 at 01:04
Yeah just found those options in the garage section. Game just gets better and better.
BUT!
You do need to play with steering to get a good feel.
Have the G25 set at
560 degrees
NFS ingame menus
50% steering sensitivity.
40% full lock
Gives me a good feel
Thinking that 100% Sensitivity and a lower lock will give me that linear feel I want.
FooAtari
September 19th, 2009 at 01:38
While I didn’t think demo was bad, it wasn’t good enough to make me buy it either
The cars in the demo all suffer ridiculous over-steer. The controls are very twitchy and the cars feel like they are “floating” or on ice. Didn’t feel like they had any weight or connection with the road. Overall I got a very similar vibe as GRID. I would have to agree with the reviews that stated Shift could not be considered sim like. However it wasn’t much good as an arcade racer either.
And I’ll pretend that I didn’t push a car into the air and drive under it when I tapped it in the rear…
I have about 15 sims and high qualtiy mods installed on my PC, don’t really have time for average stuff like this.
F1Racer
September 19th, 2009 at 01:42
ok after a bit more fiddling I improved my G25 feeling. Stuck the Profiler overall strength to 120, let the game override the settings if it wanted to (Logitech Profiler V5.2).
Much better feeling in game now. Also I use 360′ of steering. 900 is mental and with 360 I can keep my hands on the wheel a la F1.
oh and I like the small heat haze effect around my cars exhaust and rear end that I saw on the grid in the Donnington replay.
vik15
September 19th, 2009 at 03:02
After all those nice videos I am amazed how bad the game actually looks. Once you stop your car and look around closely everything are so comics-like and toy. Awful trees, awful walls, the grass coloured like being photographed in February or from a kind of old synthetic carpet, the skys are low res. Cockprit looks also like a toy made of a cheap plastic. Annoying lens,b&w and cocpit blur effects. The only good texture is the asphalt surface but looks too perfect and unnatural.
I actually was so surprised that had to check I set everything on max several times. The game visually is so much behind of what I already accustomed to see on my PC: Crysis, ARMA2 etc. iRacing looks better also on high settings.
A nice thing visually is the reflective car body but also made too perfect for being realistic.
Howie47
September 19th, 2009 at 03:13
I happen to be quite aware that the world is divided into the pessimist and the optimist camps, those who can enjoy something and those who can’t enjoy anything, and since misery loves company. The later do all they can to keep the former from finding their joy. Tootalue
DevonK
September 19th, 2009 at 03:48
This demo is hilarious. I have of course never driven a totally hammered car before, but I imagine this what it must be like, as it wanders all over the road until it fishtails out of control. Makes NFS: Porsche seem like a pro sim. (And I have tried various G25 sensitivity settings, makes very little difference).
All the money burned to create those flashy cutscenes would have been better spent making the cars driveable.
r8response
September 19th, 2009 at 04:02
If your demo is crashing, try turning the shadows OFF completely.
beep
September 19th, 2009 at 04:04
Hi guys :)
Check this topic out:
http://www.racingfr.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32439
It will help you adjusting FFB feel as it is similar to SimBin’s sims FFB config.
Gaiajohan
September 19th, 2009 at 04:07
Must be something between monitor and chair. The car is perfectly controllable.
F1Racer
September 19th, 2009 at 12:02
Huh??
Considering the cars aren’t real, how do you spend more money to make the cars more driveable ?
Its like saying “Look guys, I`ll give you some more money if you change the way we were going to do the physics.”
N0body Of The Goat
September 19th, 2009 at 13:44
Surprisingly fun demo! Not played enough yet to decide, but might be tempted to buy for some light hearted racing with what I think is an improvement over the outdated gmotor2 visuals…
DevonK
September 19th, 2009 at 15:30
Umm…Gee I don’t know – maybe by spending the money that went to hiring folks to do flashy cutscenes on further work improving the car physics and handling??
DevonK
September 19th, 2009 at 15:36
If you are talking about the demo, driven with all aids off – you must be driving it too slowly. I’m talking about its behaviour near the limit. Most of the folks who have tested this demo out agree – from a sim perspective it’s a bad joke. The car yo-yos side to side with no steering input at all, and there is a 30 degree steering dead zone even when it’s set to zero in the game settings. Any production car that had these characteristics would be subject to immediate recall and the manufacturer would be facing big lawsuits.
F1Racer
September 19th, 2009 at 16:03
Nope, still doesn’t work.
First you are assuming that people were outsourced to come in and make the ‘flashy cutscenes’ rather than it be in-house with people who are specialised in video work.
Then you either suggest that they should have instead outsourced the physics to people outside of SMS or had the people who worked on the videos do physics instead assuming they have extensive knowledge of that too.
I’m guessing what you mean is you would rather have had more concentration done on the physics and less so on the videos. I think we can all agree on that.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way as you have all depts working 9-5 on their own area of expertise. You dont say get rid of 1 or 2 graphics/video people and hire more physics people.
Shift is not about us. Its not coded for the sim community and the fact that some people don’t get that and are criticising it for not being a sim they are used to is quite silly.
Skazz
September 19th, 2009 at 16:54
I’ve seen more people mentioning this behaviour on the threads about the full game. Apparently some suffer from it (particularly if they have different make pedals with their wheel). I personally don’t. The steering responds with the slightest movement off-centre. [G25 wheel, 5.01 drivers]
There must be quite some bugs in the PC code, since quite a few people are suffering from this. But please believe that not everyone has this issue. Some are actually finding it very driveable, hence the conflicting statements.
F1Racer
September 19th, 2009 at 17:40
I’ve experienced a little of what DevonK has mentioned. Cars seemingly go into a neverending fish-tail with you correcting left to right for a good 200 metres up the track (or until it snowballs and you spin).
The deadzone at centre was there for me too but since I adjusted my settings it seems ok now.
I use the G25 with very latest Logitech Profiler (V5.02.116) and have the settings at..
120%,0%,0%,100%,358degrees.
All boxes ticked except combined pedals. Tick to ‘Allow game to adjust settings.’
In game, I have 0% steering deadzone, 50% sensitivity and 0% speed steering sensitivity. Force-feedback is set to 10.
Oh and for the record my acceleration sensitivity is 20% and braking sens. is 30%.
gbracer
September 19th, 2009 at 17:52
I downloaded the demo directly from the NFS site, not any mirrored ones. I too was weaving all over the place with my G25. Immediately disliked. Could never find where to allow use of H-shifter, then read in the readme file that the demo has the G27 in the compatability list but NOT the G25!
Whoops! Just saw G25 in the list. Not sorted alphabetically. My mistake.
Raikku
September 19th, 2009 at 19:10
F..ckin demo quitted working, now if I try to start it it just flashes briefly on the screen and thats it.
Sensekhmet
September 22nd, 2009 at 23:47
Since I still don’t have the full version of Shift, I got pissed and downloaded the demo.
First, it runs 100% trouble free, which makes me very happy.
Second, controls do feel somewhat numb… (DFGT) takes some time getting used to.
Third, f**k me sideways… this game is FUN!!!
Yeah, so maybe it’s not a full on sim but I do not care. It keeps me on the edge of my seat. One of the things that make me a poor sim racer is that I lose my concentration a lot. This might be caused by the fact I race in real life: compared to how exciting it is, all modern sims (didn’t play iRacing, but I expect it’s pretty much the same)are goddamn SNOOZE FESTS. Shift isn’t. I actually found myself cringing when I took the Blanchimont in the Zonda. For the first time in PC gaming I experienced a very real ‘oh-god-I’m-gonna-die-but-I’ll-keep-it-flat-out-regardless’ feeling I got a few times during my racing exploits. It’s fear mixed with maniacal, suicidal joy, that ‘yeah, bring it! bring IIIIIIT!!!’ feeling. You sweat, your testes get sucked up into your abdomen, your hair stands on end but still you grin, your eyes bulge and your foot tries to put the gas pedal through the floor boards. Not even Richard Burns Rally gave me that (it only gives fear, and lots of it).
Drawbacks? The audio does seem to have a lot of distortion. The graphics somehow seem to look not as good as in the previews. The AI are, well… mad. You cannot trust them. But I think it actually adds to the pure madness that Shift seems to be about.
They should of called it Need for Speed Frantic or Need for Speed Madness.
I think Jeremy Clarksson would like this game. ;)