I guess by calling this a preview and not a review you guys can avoid addressing all of bugs and issues in this game. I hope a patch is forthcoming for the PS3 version that will at least enable me to drive in straight line with my Logitech DFGT!

This “preview” was very kind, I hope you guys are right in putting faith in EA for addressing the steering issues that are dominating the discussion forums and user reviews.

Even though I don’t agree with the glowing “preview” – It did make for good viewing (another good segment).

I look forward to your official review and like you, hope that there are patches that will make this game as good as it should be for the real “shabami”.

PC version with the PTMu v1.51 mod this game is AMAZING ! no more floating physics and It drive like a GTR2 with a very fun carreer

Yes it need a big coimputer and the feel of the grip is not perfect.

Yes the AI are agressive.... if you play dirty, leave them alone and they will too.

Some guys are talking about Shift 2 in a very positive way, but I really didn't like it. I played it for a few hours and could not stand the physics. I can't believe Shaun Cole said he likes Shift 2 physics better over GT5.

I'm shocked, but anyway, thanks for the review, I might try the PC version. I tried the PS3 version and the graphics really sucked.

Yeah, I have to agree with you guys. I'm shocked they actually liked this game. I played it on the PS3 and it was absolutely horrible.

The graphics are awful and you can't even drive in a straight line. I actually took the game back to the store it was so bad. I can't remember doing that with any game in years.

People are posting all over the ND4SPD forums with similar feedback.

Even a preview should mention these issues. I'm sure there are people out there who went to buy the game after seeing things like this and I'm sure many of them are going to be seriously disappointed.

I really hope this site remains unbiased and not influenced by outside companies. Seeing extremely positive reviews on a product with this many problems make me seriously question that... :(

This is an awesome game indeed but only after you take some time to do several tweaks. the physics are there no doubt but some default settings are just weird. i did some research over some racing pages and as this one they loved the game but also suggested some tweaks to improve the experience. after doing those i just cant get enough of this game.

So here is my 2 cents and hopefully itll help you as much as me. This was tested on the pc version cause i knew console wouldnt be able look as awesome as the pc version:

"I am playing Shift 2 on Xbox 360, using the standard MS controller with Elite physics, ABS on and TCS Low. After a few days of fiddling with settings and never being totally satisfied, I finally came up with a solution that makes the steering feel right for me. Hopefully this will help out others having problems.

In short, set the steering deadzone to ~ 5 and sensitivity to ~ 50, with the other advanced controls at default settings. More importantly, tune each car with a steering lock of about 75% of max (around 30-35 in most cars) and tighten up the suspension settings if available. Read on for much more explanation.

At first it was confusing to look on here and other boards and see the huge range of settings people said were best. Some thought the steering was way too twitchy and turned the sensitivity down, even all the way to 0. Others went as high as 50 and above. Most people turned the steering deadzone down or off. I had settled at around 15-20% for both deadzone and sensitivity, which worked alright, but in cockpit view the driver's hands were really twitchy - the smallest correction on the stick would make him yank the wheel back and forth, and the wheel would snap immediately back to the center when releasing the stick. This really had no bearing on what the car was actually doing, so it was hard to drive from inside the car. At the same time, I felt like I didn't have a good smooth range of input as in, for example, Forza.

So last night I decided to test various control settings and tunings using lower class stock cars from my garage in the live tuning mode. Here is what I determined about the settings:

- Steering deadzone: Should be around 5-15% on a controller, depending on stick wear. Much higher and you don't get to use nearly all the range of the stick. This goes along with the general consensus online.

- Steering sensitivity: Should really be called steering linearity, as several others have pointed out. I have settled at 50%, as per ZeroG's settings posted here. This makes control linear across the whole range of the stick, so your input translates 1:1 into the game. If you crank sensitivity too far down, you're not making the car easier to control - you're just making your input more digital (i.e. only large movements of the stick actually register) and actually giving up a degree of control. Might go down just a little on this when driving more powerful cars.

- Steering lock (tuning): This made the biggest difference for me, and was also the most unintuitive. The tuning screen says that more lock makes a car more responsive. It's true that if you lower this all the way to 0, the car is almost impossible to turn, but also the driver's hands and steering wheel jump all over the place at the slightest touch. Turn this all the way up and the car turns in quickly, while the hand motion is much more smoothed out and realistic. I set each car at about 75% of maximum lock and suddenly it behaves like I expect, with the driver's motions matching my input without twitching around too much on the straights.

Now, thinking of an actual steering wheel with, say, 270 degrees of lock vs. one with 900 degrees (wheel users chime in here), wouldn't a lower number actually make the car respond more to a given input? This setting seems counter-intuitive, with an almost inverse relationship between the driver's steering and the car steering.

- Default car tunings: For whatever reason, all of the cars in the game that come with adjustable suspensions (such as the Audi R8, Lotus Exige, & Caterham) have them setup way, way off. Go into the tuning screen and find the ride height jacked to 10/10, spring and damper rates at 0, barely any downforce, and other "loose" settings. I have no idea why this is the case, or what these arbitrary values translate to, but they are not right.

Setting most of the suspension values to the middle along with the control tweaks above goes at least 90% towards fixing the cars' handling. The Exige that everyone seems to hate in the Modern C Invitational now handles like a sportscar instead of a mattress, and the Caterham that I literally could not get around a track now handles like a go-cart instead of a bar of soap. I still wish the default setups were better so we did not have to fix them, but the difference is unmistakeable.

If anyone made it through this super-long post, congrats and go try these suggestions. After these changes, I feel like the cars in Shift 2 control predictably as I'm used to in Forza 3, but less sedate and more able to get out of line if you're not careful. Even drifting seems much more controllable than before, if still a bit squirrelly in a straight line. I'm glad that I can get around to enjoying the game now rather than endlessly tweaking settings! "

Another suggestion was:

"For whatever reason when you buy and build a car the default spring rate settings are at their softest and the steering lock in the tuning section for the car is set to 20 which is way to low. I adjusted the steering lock to 25-28 and simply moved all the sliders for spring rates to the middle position. Doing this will eliminate about 90% of the floating and bring the cars handling to life. I know there are better tuners than me who will undoubtedly tune the car to their likeing but this is the reason that the cars seem to float."

So.. these is a mix of suggestions for xbox controller and tuning the cars for any controller, wheel etc to behave properly. And you definetely need atm the minimod to improve realism at least till patch is out. Hope this will help. I have settings for the ps3 controller too if anyone needs them

I disagree that Shift 2 has as good physics as gt5, its definitely not as good as gt5 for physics and handling but it definitely has its own charms. I don't think much effort has been put in to the game being wheel compatible as i find it to feel very loose using the gt3 rs with settings suggested by SRT. Its fun to play when its going right but if you make a mistake prepare to be punished by it being difficult to get back on the straight and also the colour draining from the screen when you so much as touch the barrier is ridiculous. Like i said its good in its own way, if gt5 had the ease of use that shift has and the increased fun factor that would be a good game! I rented it from a the video shop and after playing for 3/4 days i still am unsure if i would actually buy the game.