Shift 2: Unleashed (Need for Speed)

Why no pit stops?
-Pitting involves a lot of things, tire change, damage repair, fuel loads, player interaction or sometimes non-interaction. Basically it boils down to this, if they couldn’t get it all just right and perfect, they weren’t going to do it all.

Is tire degradation in or not?
-Yes it is. There’s been misinformation online about this. Someone interviewed Andy in the past and the way the question was phrased, it involved replacing worn tires through pitting. Andy said no, referring to the pitting in, and bam, no tire wear reported online.

So then how does tire wear work with no pitting in?
-Tire wear is based on the number of laps of the race. There’s more grip near the start after they're up to temp, and then it’s timed to wear down through the race. If you do a long endurance race, it’s adjusted accordingly to wear through the duration.

Will track debris and marbles affect grip?
-Yes, they most certainly do. They do affect the tires and make the car feel more unresponsive.

Are Practice and Qualifying sessions included?
-No

Some FIA GT tracks are missing. Why?
-Track licensing is difficult, plain and simple. Track development takes a long time, and in some cases they had to predict if a particular course may be dropped from the next season. But it essentially comes down to money and time. Some tracks are very difficult to license.

Will we get the rest by DLC?
-Who knows, can’t say right now.

Have some tracks been widened (for example Bathurst)? What’s the reasoning?
-The tracks have not been widened. CAD data is used and they use driver feedback for any modifications, mostly by “feel”. They’ll change the elevation of a section or turn. In the case of Bathurst, areas where 3 cars can fit door to door on the track, it’s the same in the game. They also have to take what they’ve built back to the track organizations for approval.

What is the relationship between EA and Ferrari?
-Sony has the license for their exclusives, MS has it for theirs. EA’s relationship with them is just fine contrary to all the internet rumors. It’s just hard to work our licensing right now.

Will DLC be available for PC?
-No. There’s not really a good way of supporting it.

What’s your opinions or stance of people modding it on PC?

• Most of SMS started as modders. While they can’t officially support it, they aren’t going to be hypocrites and stop it. They do however watch and follow the mods closely.

How different are the underlying physics of Shift 2?
-It’s based on the same engine, but it has undergone tons of overhauls, from the physics, to the lighting, tire modeling, to supporting night racing, etc.

Will racing and drifting use the same engine this time?
-Yes. Shift 1 did use different handling models for the two modes. This time, it’s the same, based entirely on how you tune and setup the car.

Are the body mods different this time, down to individual parts or packages like Shift 1?
-Based on packages again.

(Already answered) How many garage slots are there?
-There are no slots now. You can fill it with any cars you like. And you can have multiples of the same model. That’s handy for one model with 3 different setups or in various stage of upgrades in different classes.

Are there any racing rules or flags this time?
-It’s the exact same as Shift 1. No flags. No driving backwards, like 1, you get 5 sec. Also, no penalties or flags for aggressive behavior/hitting other cars.

Have there been any changes to the photomode?

• Yes, it’s been beefed up. There are more options for camera angles, panning, spinning, tilting. You can also take photos in your garage, and in replays. It's still not as complex as Forza though.
  Can you elaborate on multimedia sharing?
  -Both Photos and replay videos (SP and MP) can be uploaded and shared in a gallery. Your friends can now “Like” them, and on PS3, videos can be uploaded to youtube.

Why so few classic cars?
-Licensing, and car choice for the direction of the game.

Any classic cars for DLC in the future?
-Can’t answer right now.
Edit- But if you refer back to Rod Chong's FAQ on Speedhunters though, might give you a hint.
Need some more oldschool cars!

Hi Douglas. We have not announced our DLC plans just yet, but I can say that we have some amazing addons almost ready to go for SHIFT2 UNLEASHED. I can't say much more right now other than you will be VERY pleased when the first package is announced.
Were new sounds recorded, or were they recycled from Shift 1?
-Some new sounds were recorded. Sounds are also modification specific, changing with upgrades. People should realize that for some trailers and leaked videos, the builds were older, the cars may not have been finished, and there’s no telling what upgrades were applied.

Can collisions be adjusted on or off online?
-No. Collisions happen in real racing, they’ll happen in races in the game. And there’s a conscious reason there’s no rewind button. You have to deal with the consequences of crashing in a race.

Will there be more rewards based on settings online (elite mode, cockpit, etc)?
-No. And there are no options to lock the aids used. There is an options to lock to helmet cam or cockpit though.

Can you talk about some of the online modes included this time?
-In addition to Race, Drift, & Time attack,
-Driver Duel- a get to the top of the mountain type game. You keep going until you get beat, and now, you can invite friends to join.
-Catch Up Pack- A cat and mouse type with multiple slower mice cars.
-Catch Up Duel- Classic matchups, old models versus new. The older models get a head start.
Matchmaking is also based on recorded data and player trends. If you're the type of player to smash into people non-stop, you’ll be matched up with players who do the same. If you race clean, you’ll be matched with more clean racers.

Are all cars able to be tuned this time?
-Yes. And all cars can be converted to Works models.

Are there drivetrain conversions?
-No, engine swaps are in, but no drivetrain conversions.

What changes have you made to the AI?
-The AI is adaptive now, it adjusts to your level of skill based on data. Think of it as similar to final fantasy, as you get stronger, the monsters do too. If you are losing a lot, the AI is scaled back to match. The AI also have unique personalities now too.

Are all cars unlocked for Quick Race?
-No, you get one car per class and no FIA GT cars. Those need to be unlocked, and you need to buy cars to fill your garage for more cars to use in Quick Race.

Is there a clutch?
-Yes, for wheels. Not supported on gamepads.

Is there an increased realism as far as track details, i.e. less billboards, fairgrounds, and extra stuff added to the track sides?
-Yes, extraneous things have definitley been dialed back. There’s a focus and direction for more authenticity. I did confirm this. The track sides look much better than Shift 1 (Spa especially).

Can you talk about XP? How does this relate to precision or aggression?
-You gain XP through every action. The meters of Aggression vs. Precision have been removed, but there is a system behind the scenes collecting this data at all times. You also gain XP through the Autolog challenges.

Will you support online competitions?
-Yes, Hot laps, Game with Devs, Game with Fame, Autolog challenges, and Photomode competitions.

Does this include more community engagement beyond Autolog such as in Forza's community i.e. gifting tunes, paints, cars etc?
-No, you can’t gift paints, cars, or tunings.

The car dynamics in collisions were game inhibiting and far too often when against AI cars, is this something that has been looked at/changed?
-Andy said the cars have been more grounded. In testing out the game, I found you don’t go flying at simple bumps from the AI now, you can recover. They will shunt you right off however, if you cut in front of their line and slow down too much. They’ll try to stop, but most likely hit you.

Can you flash you headlights to intimidate drivers?
-No, I couldn’t find a high beams options for night driving.

The big one- On the scale of Sim vs. Arcade games, how would you rate this game?
-Andy said with the first game, it was in the middle of the scale, you’ve got Ridge Racer, PGR, then Forza and GT. Shift was right in the middle. This one is much closer to Forza and GT, the focus is on more sim and authenticity.

-The upgrade system is a bit different than 1. It’s by category rather than by stages, more like Forza- engine, tires, suspensions, etc, finally, works.

-When buying cars, you buy one model, all the liveries are then unlocked (for FIA GT models). Some cars have 10 preset liveries now instead of just 4.

-Decals can be mirrored on the sides now.

-Decals can be put on windows now.

-Decals can be gloss or matte finish.

-There are more rims to select this time.

-The Autolog is easily accessed now, hit back at almost any time to access and sort by local region, friends, world’s best. Andy said think of it as Autolog 2.0 now. Still console specific however.

-You can now drift on any track, and full laps. When choosing Drift in Quick Race, it also adds some additional drift layouts to certain environments.

-Damage is either visual or affects performance, like 1, but has been upgraded. You can really wreck your cars now. I rolled a Zonda at Monza and knocked 3 wheels off. Parts everywhere and when I landed the brake discs were still glowing. You can hit a button to put the wheels back on to limp to the end. The cracked windshields look very detailed now too.

-They did have reflections on the helmet visor on the helmet, but removed them. The driver feedback was that it was just too much on screen. They also toned down the helmet movement based on similar feedback.

-Spa is the newer layout now.

-Silverstone has the previous layouts as well as the new one.

-Not all tracks in Quick Race have night racing.

-The ending discipline in the career is a season of FIA GT1 (still shorter distances however).