Preview: Need for Speed: Shift

 

The Need for Speed series has seen many variations throughout its rich history, from speeding through the streets to competing in underground racing leagues reminiscent of a Fast and Furious movie, and now the series is looking at a different route with track racing in Need for Speed: Shift. Rather than the familiar arcade racing, Shift is going to feature more realistic driving and developer Slightly Mad Studios is describing it as a game designed by real racers for racers at home.

 

Shift is going to feature around 80 cars ranging anywhere from old classics to modern day sports cars. All of these fill be customizable both visually and performance wise, with things like alignment, aero, tires, brakes, differential,  gears, and a nitrus tune that will be more realistic then past games. You'll be offered a vast option for making the car look just the way you want it, even on the interior because Shift is going to feature a First-Person in-car racing view for the first time since NFS Porche Unleashed.

 

 

EA has recently unveiled new details on the career mode in the new game. You'll start out racing a single lap in a BMW M3 to help you get used to the game, and it will also help determine what difficulty and control settings are suggested for you, though you can adjust these to your own liking. Next you get to join an actual race on that same track and earn money depending on how well your performance was. Once this has been completed you will unlock the other modes like Quick Race and Online.

 

Continuing with career, you compete in different events to earn stars and money, stars are for unlocking new events and tiers, while the latter is used for purchasing vehicle upgrades or entirely new cars. The events to compete in include standard races, manufacturer races, time trials, car battles (one-on-one), mixed events (these put multiple events into one, like a series of races), and they've brought back drifting. Tiers are basically a way of tracking your progress. As you advance to higher tiers, the competition will get tougher.

 

Keep an eye out for Shift coming to retail stores on September 22nd, 2009.