steve said:

...so are details like brake dust on wheels, bugs on windschield etc going to be implemented into the game/ little details like this really add up to the experience of a game like this....

Absolutely - one of the areas we focused on this year was "The Driver's Battle" which includes both build up of dirt and scratches on the car as it progresses through the race (including debris thrown up from the car you're drafting and bugs hitting the windscreen) and degradation of the track (skid marks, gravel/sand pulled onto the track, damage to armco, and marbles).



If you look closely inside the cockpit also you'll see working dials for oil temperature and pressure etc, and if you rev the engine you'll see various components like windscreen wipers and catch nets vibrating appropriately.

grk said:

Great job on the game! It looks awesome! I have one quick question though: How realistic is crashing. I remember in Forza 1, if you crashed into a wall, the steering would be off and the car would have less power. What would happen if I crashed into a wall in S2U?"

Crashing in SHIFT 2 is all about trying to recreate that feeling of dread that you'd feel in real life. In most driving games you can happily bounce off the walls without any fear but we tried to recreate the true disorientating and frightening experience that is crashing, with visual and audio effects. On top of that, in SHIFT 2, you can now choose to have the damage model fully enabled, with damage being taken by your car to any number of critical parts, including bodywork, suspension, drivetrain, engine and ripping your wheels off.
Also this year we've improved the in-air physics and damage models of the cars to ensure that not only do crashes/barrel rolls look visceral and heart-stopping but are authentic to how they then affect performance and handling. So yes, you might find your car pulling to the left, or if it's a really big crash, missing a tire with the drivetrain busted!

Dragawn said:

Just wondering: -I've seen in the realism video that the weight is calculated with the physics model, but do the physics include the weight distribution of the car ? And of the engine swaps? Not just preset that the car goes oversteer more or something like that, but really a different weight distribution.

Yes weight is calculated like the real thing. Engine swaps do change the weight and weight distribution.

luke said:

one question can u put stickers on the windows?

After much feedback in SHIFT from people that they wanted to be able to put stickers on the windows, we now support this in SHIFT 2.

Rattleface Blouses said:

I'm rather upset that photomode questions were not asked or answered. I love sim games, but I am also a photographer. To be honest, Shift 1's photomode was piss poor. Bad compression, bad everything. Will this be improved in Shift 2?

The photo mode in Shift2 is significantly enhanced over what was available in Shift1. You can now access photo mode at any time during a career, quick race, a replay, and directly in the garage. The photomode controls allows you to cycle through all the various camera views (including trackside cams) and also allows you to toggle to a 'walk' mode where you can freely move around the car, rotate/pitch/roll/pan/zoom the camera, and set up the shot exactly as you want it.
Don't forget also that you can also share your photos (and replays) via Autolog.

Adam WANGAN MEET CREW SWEDEN said:

Good that you answered the questions, got me even more happy!!

So how is it gonna be with the adjustments regarding the handling of the cars? Brakes/ springs etc

All tuning affects the car's handling as it does in real life and this time round we're going into far more detail than there was in Shift 1... installing new parts on your car will unlock new tuning options and you can test out changes on the track using our new Live Tuning option. Once you're happy with the setup you can then save it to either a specific track or a group of tracks that are similar (eg.. all Oval tracks or all Drift tracks).

We've also included a live telemetry readout that details friction, g-forces, and tire temperature/suspension data so you can see your handling and performance in real time.

Gonzi said:

Hi there, I have 2 questions about multiplayer.

1) I like to challenge my friends with selected car on selected tracks but I need to be sure, they hadnt use any asistance - will there be a way, how to check this? (in Shift 1 we have to record replay with fraps and show that settings in menu)

2) Will there be any matchmaking system for multiplayer? = I dont wanna race people, which are far better than me - it is not fun. I would love to, if there will be some dynamic online rank, which will grow or shrink based on your online wins/loses and when you will find some online game, there will be people with aproximatelly same rank.

There is no option to filter by a specific handling mode, but you can now filter by camera view. So if you want to ensure everyone is driving from helmet cam the option is available.

Matchmaking incorporates a number of criteria but always tries to connect you with players of a similar Driver Level to your own with good connection speeds. You can keep track of your Online Wins/Losses, Online Play Time and your Driver Level from within the Autolog Driver Profile tab.

Fans will also be pleased to hear too that we've included two new matchmaking rules to address feedback we heard back from you guys on Shift 1 that aggressive players were ruining your experience by constantly trading paint or crashing into you on the first corner...

Although we've removed visibility of Aggression vs Precision from the game, we still monitor it under the hood and now use it when matchmaking. This means that if you drive well, you'll be matched up against other similar guys. The second is your Disconnect % - ie.. if you're a bit of a sore loser and pull the cable out of your machine when you're not winning then you're gradually gonna find it harder to play with those that are there to genuinely have a good time on the track.

grudas said:

Could you please let me know if shift 2 has Anti Aliasing on PC of course.

Yes, we have a deferred rendering engine which supports 4xMSAA and up to 16 x anisotropic texture filtering.

4ZFEED said:

One question, how big will the garage be this time? is it big enought that you could fit one of everything in it or even more than one of the same model?

Garage Slots have been removed in Shift 2 Unleashed so you can comfortably fit one of every car in now. It's also possible to have several versions of the same car model in your garage now with SHIFT2 UNLEASHED.

BTW a few of you were asking about DLC packages, and we'll be revealing these soon on Speedhunters and shift2unleashed.com. Stay tuned!