Shift 2: Okay... I'm using a wheel with my PS3, I'm in total control of most cars, and I'm in love with the game.

[LeDechaine 51]

Look at the forums, look at Youtube comments, and you will see a LOT of people with steering wheels AND with controllers saying, basically, that "this game is undrivable".

Well, agreed, this game was hard. But ALWAYS fun to play despite the difficulty.

With a controller, Gran Turismo 5 is a snorefest, only demanding that someone uses the left joystick to "steer lock" anything and everything at 200km/h in rain. That's not what I call fun. I'll prefer 10 crashes an hour (damage included and no "rewind" option) to this.

So with a controller, I completed my Shift 2 career mode at 96%, and I'm firmly convinced that this game is the best racing game ever.

 

I've bought a Thrustmaster F430 steering wheel recently, saying to myself "well, maybe 75% of cars won't be drivable with the steering wheel, and I know you can't mod a PS3 game, but at least I'll try." With this in mind, I had a plan for today. Just having fun with the game, and "trying" to find drivable cars. Trying. My idea was to come here, and start a new topic, like "The ultimate list of drivable cars in Shift 2 with a steering wheel".

Guess what: I gave up. I don't believe it's 100% luck. The 10 last cars I've tried, the 10 most powerful cars in my garage, drive PERFECTLY well with my steering wheel.

Edit: Undriveable cars in this game are actually rare, and it's never hopeless (since you can configure everything).

 

What were the complaints, already? "Cars drive like boats". The cars are "swaying".

Well, with a little steering deadzone, the swaying is gone. Not sufficient? Set the steering lock (in the car settings) to 15 instead of 20. That's it!!!

And my steering wheel is only 200 degrees! And I'm even driving in cockpit view, and the supposed input lag isn't affecting me... Go figure.

 

Agreed, maybe some cars are difficult to drive in the first invitationals. And you CAN'T modify them. But anyway. I'm having a blast with most of the others.

Anyone else feeling the same way?

My Thrustmaster F430 steering wheel settings:

Force Feedback: 100%
Steering Deadzone: 2%.
Steering Sensitivity: 75%

Speed Sensitivity: 40%

 

Game settings:

Hard / Elite / Assists Off / TCS Off / Stability Control Off / ABS Off

 

Edit: All those settings are all wrong if you have a G27 or any other 900 degrees wheel. Here are some global settings:

http://www.isrtv.com/forums/topic/16511-shift-2-so-your-cars-drive-like-boats-how-to-fix-global-steering-and-car-settings/?p=157680

[LeDechaine 51]

This game also has weight transfer, torque steer, throttle steer (and "saveable" cars after losing grip), realistic cockpit view, and realistic sense of speed.
Oh, and you can configure everything! Your steering wheel degrees, buttons, force feedback, etc. Every car steering, camber, aerodynamics...
Hell, Gran Turismo 5 doesn't have any of this. (Oh, and repainting your car is free in Shift 2. And you set ABS, TCS etc. in the main settings of the game, not in every damn car...)

 

About the replay value:

 

This is an excellent game. Even when finished you will still have stuff to do for days, even months. Because you may have finished first everywhere, but not first on this race in the championship:"let's try this then".
You finished first everywhere? You can also earn "badges" by getting every corner right in every race, day and night, or earn points by finishing X track under 4 minutes, by being 1st during an entire lap, or by doing an entire lap without hitting anyone or anything, too -- I like this, clean racing is rewarding (i.e.: This is not Shift 1, and this is surely not Grid!).

And when everything is done and you want more, there's also the leaderboards. And I believe there's so much races, there's even some races not even in the championships, where you can do time trials, etc.
And if you get better, the AI will get faster too!

About the damage modeling:

You may have problems driving some cars in Shift 2, but this game has really nice damage modeling (even if you see too much bolts and screws flying during crashes sometimes).
Get hit in the back, and you may lose your spoiler. Hit something, and your windshield may crack. Hit something at night, and you risk losing one or both of your front lights.
Your hood also can come off after hitting something. Even when you don't expect it, like, when doing 200km/h in a straight. The hood is shaking, and you hear a loud scrap metal sound. "Oh, now I see what the motor in this car looks like!"

That's not just eye candy. Take a car which is 1 inch off the ground, put a wheel in the grass over a rumble strip, and you will hear and see these parts of plastic breaking into pieces. I don't know if it affects aerodynamics, but sometimes you feel it in your steering wheel and the race is over because something got stuck somewhere. Oh, and I already lost a left-front wheel like that. Crash into someone, or into a wall, sometimes just a small hit, and you'll feel it in your steering wheel again: misaligned wheel.

Your motor can explode in Shift 2 too, but that's kind of an "easter egg" since you have to be extreme with the car, like, going from 6th speed to 1st (unless we're talking about the extreme Speedhunters Mitsubishi which explodes every 5 minutes or so).

[LeDechaine 51]

Now for the cons:
Yes, there is some "slack" in the steering wheel. That is, there's just not enough force feedback (for my wheel anyway).

Does it make it less fun? Yes. And it doesn't help that some cars feel like they're "floating".
Does it make the game "undriveable"? Not at all. Not even with a McLaren F1 Works on the Nordschleife.

Another problem is the kind of "magnet" attracting you off track when you hit the grass, and the other "magnet" attracting you when you hit another car.

Solution? Drive well.

There's one enormous problem in this game and it's the AI. They're just psychotic, and 75% of the time they won't care about you, they'll just hit you, following their own programmed racing line. Although I've heard they get better if you get better, and they race clean if you race clean... But I'm not sure about this, honestly.

[LeDechaine 51]

Does it make the game "undriveable"? Not at all. Not even with a McLaren F1 Works on the Nordschleife.

Proof:

[LeDechaine 51]

Just wanted to say, this game is hated for two big reasons.
First, EA said "this is the best hardcore sim racing game ever" -- This is obviously not the case. This game has been marketed as a hardcore sim racer for a GT5 crowd, therefore GT5 people never considered buying it, and when they did, they never even considered modifying their cars to make them more driveable. Which is common in a sim racing game (but not even needed in the GT5/GT6 "real driving simulator" [sic]). So, everyone laughed at it.

Second, steering lag when released (patched now). PS3 "sim racers" laughed at it because of the 500ms lag or whatever. Terrible first impression.
But there's also another problem: On PC, the game physics improves when you have a better PC. People who played it with a cheap computer had a cheap experience.

All this just killed Shift 2. Shift sold 5 million copies, Shift 2 sold 50 000.
Anyway, after the patch, the game itself had no problems. I play on PS3, and as I said, you can configure everything.
I'll get a G27 soon, and enjoy this game for what it is: A sim-oriented game with mandatory sim-oriented configuration.

I'm confident I can "patch" the steering "slack" myself via steering and/or car configuration. We'll see.

 

Edit: Yup, I fixed it, and many other problems: http://www.isrtv.com/forums/topic/16511-shift-2-so-your-cars-drive-like-boats-how-to-fix-global-steering-and-car-settings/?p=157680