i turned off all assists, and braking is a bit odd. healtoe downshifting desnt seem to work? and theres a bnit of lag when shifting. i'll try playing around for a few more minutes
I felt exactly the same way while I was learning how to get through the console-based start to this game. The races don't end until you've completed them. I alt-tabbed and shut Shift down from Windows.
Start a new profile, make sure you setup your controller properly at the start, and then you won't be stuck in the compulsory races with the keyboard and a frown. (I believe you can rename your movie folder to get rid of the annoying movies as well).
Once you get past that stage you can use the money you earn to upgrade a car and race wherever you like in the non-career sections. This game/sim isn't perfect (none of them are), but I promise you there's a lot of fun -- and simulation satisfaction -- waiting for you as you improve to a more grippy, 'sim-like' vehicle. I can't tear myself from races at The Ring. It's very immersive. Or maybe I'm too stupid to recognise a silly game when I drive one. :-)
My only significant problem so far is a feeling that the steering isn't quite right, especially at low speed. However it's not so bad that I can't overcome it and enjoy the actual racing.
Andrew McP
PS Didn't realise this was my first post here. I thought I posted quite a few times in the early days of S1/S2. Obviously not. But I've been watching the forums on and off for quite a long time. I promise I'm not paid by EA to sell copies of Shift. :-)
True Driver’s Experience – A variety of visual cues delivers the true driver’s experience including a three-dimensional HUD that mimics driver head movement, inertia and G-forces.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
i think nfs s is a rip off of lfs!
(move this or flame it if i shouldnt have shared my opinion and wasted my time and effort)
That's a weak argument. One particular corner of one particular track looks a bit like a track in LFS. Plus, LFS wasn't the first title (and won't be the last) to mimic driver's head movements.
as for shift, the steering works more like suggestions rather than proper steering: steer a little to turn a little. steer a bit more to steer a lot more.
maybe i need to tweak it a bit...
but the loading times are reminiscent of huge RPG game loading times!
from clicking on the game... to actually playing, if i ignore the time it takes to press the button... ok let me measure it...
LFS takes less than 10 seconds for aston GP, with track load-on-start off, maximum settings.
STALKER clear sky with all settings and textures AND precache, takes... 50 seconds. ( note: i am running LFS in the background, i haven't closed it).
nfs shift takes... 1'30" which is about twice as long as Clear Sky needed. (and with LFS not running in the background).
this is a serious matter for me... if making a lap around a track takes so much time as loading the game...
this is why i bought LFS and will not be buying NFS.
i don't care if it has purty graphics. it's nothing extraordinary. crysis has better graphics, i don't recall it taking that much.
LFS is a great project, and runs very well on old hardware, which is one of its strengths. I have it on my old laptop for that reason. However it is not a good benchmark for current load times in modern games & sims.
I find Shift load times (even the Ring, where I've spent nearly all my time so far) are perfectly acceptable when compared to sims like GTR EVO*.
Anyway, I wasn't trying to persuade you to buy Shift, but I recognised the problems you talked about and thought I could help. Obviously not. :-)
Andrew McP
*I have an e6600@3GHz, 3Gb, 260GTX, WinXP32, and just an average, cheap HD. No super-fast i7 system with RAID array.
phenom ii tri-core 710 @ 3.3GHz, 4GB, 4850 512MB overclocked, win server 2k3 x64, here.
you're saying that a racing game loading time of 90" is acceptable when a huge RPG takes 50" (and in the rpg's case only, there was already a game running)?
As much as I do agree with you on this point, I was actually referring to the simple fact that the devs had a forum at race sim central in the very beginning but then moved on to get their very own and independent one.
(correct me if I'm wrong)
Perhaps you still have an account over there, still containing everything you've ever posted before?
Ah, right. I can hardly remember what happened yesterday, let alone in 2002/3/whatever. So you may well be right. :-)
Either way, I've been a lurker rather than an LFSer in recent years, and it was the iRacing thread which got me back here regularly in recent times. With that sim's information closed off to non-subscribers there are relatively few places you can keep up to date with what's going on behind the iRon Curtain. :->