Don't get me wrong, there are some seriously frustrating parts - but the good news is the AI actually "tries" if you aren't bashing everyone. Also, when you first play, there is a test lap that sets up your brake assist, steering assist, etc. I use the "experienced" setting since it gets rid of the aids, but keeps ABS and traction control.

Definitely play some of the early races over and over to get used to your car's dynamics. Also, I HIGHLY recommend the Escort Cosworth as your first car. It's dope...

 

It's a lot different from the old games, that's for sure! I picked it up yesterday an went for a few races. What it weird, is that the sound is seriously lagging sometimes and the exhaust note feels like it cannot keep up. Anybody experience that too?

Driving is quite different and I find it way too easy to start oversteering. I had a go in the Ford Focus ST and that thing was like driving with the rear wheels on ice! Although it's fwd lol.

I had to do 25 tries (literally) to be able to do an event where you choose between Ford GT or Corvette SRT10. The Ford was nuts! With no acceleration input and the tiniest steering it started to widly oversteer! I really hope that won't be the same for the coming faster cars you unlock. Otherwise I'll just stay tooling around with my S3 and RS4

Def worth to play in the meantime waiting for GT5, but I would say Grid is so much better and easier when driving.

 

Very tempting. I will wait until the Tokyo Gameshow which is next week to decide whether or not I want to wait out for GT5.

 

I picked this up last night... Unfortunately I worked late and had to work out so I only had about 45 minutes to play the game.

Pregame- The game data loader takes FOREVER! I started installing the game data and ate dinner, finished at around 76% loaded.

Starting the game- You do a first qualifying race before you even hit a menu (besides start carreer), I ran Experienced as well and finished 4th place. It was surprisingly difficult to get through the crowd, and I had to restart a few times because the opponents kept spinning me out in the corners. Also, the controls aren't natural to me.

Once I completed that race it takes you to the difficult settings, I put everything at hard, manual tranny,with all assists off except for ABS. This was a mistake, because you still can't adjust the controller settings after this point. The next race I did terrible because I don't like shifting with my pointer fingers. This is where I was f*cked, because you can't quit the race and adjust the difficulty, steering assists, or transmission, you can only restart. So, I turned the game off and completely restarted. Pain in the ass.

Once passing the 2nd race I bought the Cosworth thanks to Chris's recommendation, and ran a couple races with that. Like Bronto said, there are major oversteer issues, so I'm going to try and adjust the settings and turn some more assists off.

My BIGGEST gripe- There are only 4 button settings you can chose from, and you HAVE to steer with the joysticks. I use the D-Pad for all racing games, because I have have large hands and the joysticks aren't comfortable for me. This is driving me crazy, hopefully I'll get used to it though or this game is never going to be for me.

All in all, I didn't get hooked, but I never do... I'll try playing it again tonight or tomorrow and see how far I can get. If I can get the steering issues worked out I'm sure the game will be much more enjoyable.

 

The big question: Compared to say Forza, how is the feel of the game? Are the handling somewhat realistic or is it just another arcade type game like all the other NFS?

 

No comparison, although Shift is fun, the realism isn't convincing. Some of the driving physics are confusing, but I bought the game with the expectation that it'd be a fun racer that you could just jump into at any time and have a good time. No huge learning curve like Forza/Gran Turismo.

 

Here's the trick for you guys to not have such twitchy steering:

There is a setting to adjust steering input with a sliding scale between slow and fast - I put mine almost all the way to the slow end. It's still pretty fast, but nowhere near as twitchy. Also, when you get some suspension mods, you can adjust your roll bars and spring rates to find the sweet spot.

 

Ahh yes, I remember you mentioning that... I'm going to tie a string around my finger so I remember to do that before I play again. If the steering improves I'll have a lot of fun with this game.

Bah, I hate steering with joysticks.

 

Thanks. After your input and the IGN review I decided that I most likely won't like this game at all. I have a really hard time playing the PGR games just because of their lack of realism. My pet peeve is that crashing into objects won't affect the car one bit. Kinda ruins the fun of staying on the track

 

Well, in this game it's pretty realistic about crashing, etc. You don't get phantom bumps and crap wrecking your car. It takes a pretty severe impact with a wall or other car. I think once you get the tuning of your car down, it's pretty fun - not as tightly controlled as Gran Turismo, but still fun. I personally love powersliding all the way through corners - not especially fast, but fun to do. I supposed there's enough steering "feel" to pull that off...