Need for Speed: Shift - The engine
Shift's D3D9 renderer is a pure cross platform development, but the Pc version offers higher texture resolutions and higher detailed models besides the tracks. The engine utilizes a full-fledged FP16 HDR pipeline with Tone Mapping and Deferred Shading for lighting. The renderer is even compatible to Multisampling Anti-Aliasing - which can be activated in the game like the Anisotropic Filtering. More features offered by the engine are Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Soft Shadows, Ambient Occlusion as well as Post Processing effects like for example the popular Depth of Field of heat haze. Shift also offers Motion Blur for the full picture or for individual parts.

Need for Speed - Shift: According to the windows Task Manager more than two cores are not used.
 
Need for Speed - Shift: According to the windows Task Manager more than two cores are not used. [Source: view picture gallery]
A self developed part of the engine deals with the driving physics, the damage model, which affects the behavior of the cars, and the simulation of the G-forces. The latter ones are caused by strong acceleration, abrupt breaking maneuvers or fast changes of direction. In the game their effect is simulated by the picture becoming less sharp. For less complex physics calculations (low-level), like collisions with the track limits, Nvidia's Physx API is used. According to Slightly Mad Studios the engine is multithreaded.
 
Need for Speed - Shift
 
Need for Speed: Shift - Graphics and sound
While we weren't convinced by the Shift graphics we saw at the Gamescom, EA's racing game looked quite convincing on our test system. Although some textures could be a little sharper, the Lens Flare effect is used too often and some shadows and Alpha Tests flicker, but this is criticizing on the highest-level: The overall appearance of Need for Speed: Shift is extremely atmospheric and the title looks just better than any other racing game released up to now - so the developers didn't promise too much. Especially the luxury cars are very detailed, the (visual) damage model is unmatched. In our gallery you can find about a dozen screenshots that have been taken at 1920 x 1200 pixels with 4x MSAA and 16:1 AF.
 
As the following picture comparisons shows, you should however not reduce the quality too much: On minimal settings the texture are washy and ugly, aliasing gets very annoying. A lot of details aren't even recognizable or are just missing, like the shadows for example. The atmosphere of Need for Speed: Shift suffers seriously from too low settings.

NEED FOR SPEED FRANCHISE RACES INTO NEW GENRES
Global Studio Teams Drive Quality and Innovation in Three New Games.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – January 30, 2009 – Fifteen years; more than 40 countries; close to 100 million games sold. Need for Speed™ has helped to define automotive culture for millions of fans with its embrace of the car lifestyle and its cool rebellious attitude. Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) unveiled the details of what is in store for the franchise over the next 12 months, as the property expands to new platforms, new categories and new media.
 
 
Need for Speed is committed to providing unique and customized experiences for all types of racing fans by establishing three independent series; simulation, action and arcade racing. Each series will be developed by a highly-specialized team dedicated to delivering the ultimate racing experiences to car enthusiasts around the world – whether they be interested in adrenaline action, arcade fun or authentic simulation.
 
 
“We recognize racing videogame fans are very passionate and unique — they want customized gameplay experiences. Whether it’s more of a realistic driving game with accurate car physics or over-the-top cop chases, we are making different games for different audiences,” said Keith Munro, vice president of marketing, Need for Speed. “Each game provides a deep, engaging and rich racing experience. We’re giving players the option to choose the best racing title that suits their style of gameplay.”
 
 
 
Need for Speed SHIFT – Fall 2009  
 
Shift into high gear! Designed to deliver a true driver’s experience that reflects contemporary motorsports, Need for Speed SHIFT is built by racers for racers. Need for Speed SHIFT delivers an authentic and immersive driving experience developed by Slightly Mad Studios in collaboration with executive producer Michael Mann at Black Box and senior vice president Patrick Soderlund at EA Games Europe. Slightly Mad Studios includes developers and designers that worked on the critically acclaimed games GT Legends and GTR 2. Need for Speed SHIFT replicates the true feeling of racing high-end performance cars like never before. Players are thrust into the heart of the action with immersive and exciting features including a stunningly realistic first-person cockpit view camera and an all-new crash mechanic, providing an unrivaled sensation of the speed and feeling of racing a car on the extreme edge of control.  
 
 
Soderlund is also part of a racing team that recently competed in the 4th edition of the TOYO TIRES 24H Dubai 2009, the first major race event of the year. His team ranked #5 in the high-profile race. Soderlund and the SHIFT development team are committed to bringing the on-the-track experience to players across the world.  
 
 
Need for Speed SHIFT will be released on PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) and PC in fall 2009.
 
 
For more information on the Need for Speed franchise, please visit: www.needforspeed.com  
 

Need for Speed Shift FAQ
 
• My car bounces around the track during certain events.
We are looking into a potential fix as you read this; we will keep you updated when we have more info.
 
• My car won’t move from the Start Line!!!!!!
There is a workaround for this: if you are experiencing the issue in the Ford GT VS Viper SRT10 race then go into your garage and return any of your cars that you have tuned usin g the Advanced Tuning options back to their default states. Once you have done this turn off advanced tuning and perform a manual save. You should then be able to use the Viper in the invitational event. If you have bought either the Corvette or Viper and they fail to start then reset the advanced tuning options you have applied to that vehicle to default, then turn off advanced tuning and then perform a manual save.
We will find a better solution ASAP!
 
• My game hitches or “Microstutters” at regular intervals when I play the game on PC.
We are currently looking into this, however there are some steps you can take to attempt to reduce this. Firstly try changing your V-Sync setting (available by going into the Options menu, then going to Graphics then toggling the V-Sync issue) and seeing if that has an effect. Also try stopping as many background processes as possible and if you are using software that alters your desktop then you should disable this.
 
• My game hangs on the first corner of the first event!!
Rest assured we are looking into fixing this. In the meantime please try the following as this has been known to fix the issue for some players:
Try changing the Shadow Detail settings, if you have the shadow detail setting set to high, try dropping it down to medium or low, conversely if you have it set to low and are experiencing the issue then try bumping it up to medium or high.
Locate your save game directory which is located in My Documents\NFS SHIFT and delete the file called graphicsconfig.xml.
Windows XP/Vista users can attempt to run the game in Win 98 compatibility mode, to do this locate the games installation directory and right click the file called “shift.exe”. On the menu that pops up click on “Properties” then click on the “Compatibility” tab. In the “Compatibility Mode” pane tick the check box that reads “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and in the drop down menu select “Win98 / WinME”.
 
• My game hangs on the Driver Safety screen when I boot up the game.
If you are running an older version of PhysX to what is installed on the disk either update to the version that comes on the game’s DVD or download the latest PhysX drivers from Nvidia’s website.
 
Try running the game in Win 98/ME compatibility mode in XP or if you are using Vista run the game in XP compatibility mode. We have found that this will fix the issue for the majority of players, however we are still investigating this issue and will update the thread when we have more news.
 
• My frame rate is very poor!
We are looking into this and will update the thread when we have more news, please keep the stickied ATI thread (http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/304149.page) updated with your system spec’s as this can help us determine what hardware is affected. In the mean time trying the following may help increase your frame rate:
Ensure the Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering settings in your graphics driver control panel are set to “Application Controlled”. For Nvidia users right click on the Nvidia icon in your system tray and select “Nvidia Control Panel” from the popup menu or run the nvcplui.exe file located in /WINDOWS/system32/. Click on “Manage 3D settings” in the left hand pane and in the right hand pane ensure Anisotropic filtering is set to “Application-controlled” and Antialiasing is also set to “Application-controlled”.
ATI users should right click the ATI icon in their system tray and select “Catalyst Control Centre” from the popup menu. When in the control centre click the “Graphics” button in the top left of the screen then select 3D from the drop down window. In the 3D window select the AA tab and ensure the “Use application settings” check box is ticked, then click on the AF tab and again ensure the “Use application settings” check box is ticked.
There are also some options in game that can be tweaked that can help increase the frame-rate. Below are the options that will have the greatest impact on performance.
You can lower the FSAA setting to 2x or 4x which should be adequate at higher PC resolutions.
Try setting the Filtering option to “Trilinear”, this will still use anisotropic filtering on the in-game objects that need it most and is an excellent quality/performance compromise setting.
Lowering the motion blur setting, medium should look fine on most systems.
Lowering the car detail setting.
 
• My screen has gone black/funny colours!!!!
If you see this issue change your graphics settings so that the Shadow Detail setting is set to off. Also try running the game in Win 98/ME compatibility mode in XP or if you are using Vista attempt to use XP compatibility mode. We will attempt to find a better solution.

• My game hangs during the NFS Championship.
This will be fixed in an upcoming PS3 update. In the mean time not using the Zonda R in this competition will work round this issue.

• The high score tables aren’t working!
We are working with our online guys to get these back up and running as soon as we can.
 
• Why does PhysX give me an error when I install the game?
This is most likely because you have an older version of PhysX installed. Using the Add or Remove Programs feature in Control Panel ensure there are no instances of PhysX appearing in your list of installed applications. If there is an old version present then please remove it and re-run the installer. If you do not have any PhysX software installed and you are still seeing an error then install the latest version of the software available from the Nvidia website and re-run the installer.
 
• What’s up with tuning?
We are currently looking into this issue and hope to have a resolution soon. Please keep an eye on this thread for further updates.

• My steering wheel feels unresponsive
It is recommend that you set the wheel to 360 degrees of turning lock and 0% speed sensitivity. We also recommend that you do not set the steering lock to anything higher than 450 degrees without then also adjusting the lock settings for your car in the advanced setup screens. Using the Logitech control panel set the steering lock to 360 degrees, then in-game select the appropriate preset for the wheel. Also using the in-game options set the speed sensitivity to 0% and ensure the steering deadzone is set to 0%. We recommend this as a good starting point however you may want to spend some time tweaking these values to better suit your driving style

Need for Speed: Shift will be made by Slightly Mad Studios of GT Legends and GTR 2 fame, with help from EA Black Box producer Michael Mann and EA Games Europe bigwig Patrick Soderlund.

Shift focuses on simulation racing - not just the realistic movement of cars, but also driver behaviour. This, EA marketing boss Keith Munro told Eurogamer, is what will set the game apart. Also, less baggy jeans and hip-hop.

"The urban underground was a manifestation of style in some past Need for Speed games for sure, but Shift focuses less on these style cues and more on mirroring the driver experience, that athleticism of being in a wickedly-intense race, and what it really feels like to be behind the wheel," Munro told us.

A flashy 3D HUD that mimics driver head movement, inertia and G-force will help achieve this. There's a cockpit view that lets players freely look around using the right thumbstick, too.

Munro reckons serious car enthusiasts will "love" Shift, and that mainstream racers will also get on board. He's quite excited.

"Need for Speed Shift is amazing and I think it will blow people away," said Munro. "The tech behind that game, the details that only a team with such racing pedigree could accomplish, and the ability to make you feel the intensity of a race is unprecedented. I can't wait for our fans to begin experiencing it!"

And, he added: "Regarding any new Need for Speed girls I can't comment, but I'll definitely mark down one enthusiastic vote for Josie Maran." Steady on.