Gaming: Need For Speed Shift 2 Unleashed – Launch Trailer
With mere days until its local release, a final trailer for the next installment in the Electronic Arts video game, Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed, has been unloaded onto the internet.
As the follow-up to 2009's Need for Speed: Shift, the latest chapter in the franchise will add the 'autolog' feature found in NFS: Hot Pursuit, connecting friends through the game, setting up challenges with other players and comparing stats in a unique social network style.
Australian fans will get an extra kick out of Shift 2, with the legendary Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst set to appear in the game.
Like the Gran Turismo series and other simulator-style racing games, NFS Shift 2 gives players the option to attack the track through an 'elite level' format, adjusting elements like tyre pressure and differentials, and monitoring brake conditions during a race.
In all, there are eight sections of advanced tuning options, including sway bar adjustment and suspension tunes. Want to drift your way through every race? Get tuning.
Other features include a realistic damage option and day/night racing.
Shift 2 will feature over 100 cars, 100 events and 50 different tracks - many offering different layout variations.
Speaking on the game last year, EA Senior VP Patrick Soderlund brushed off any concerns about the small number of vehicles in Shift 2 compared to the likes of Gran Turismo 5.
"Honestly, my take on this. Would I want to compete with Gran Turismo on sheer scale - meaning number of cars and the depth that they have in the game? Probably not," Soderlund said.
"I think they have a very sterile, almost car-collecting type of product where that's mainly what we do (in GT5) and I think we can offer something different. Our idea is that if we can offer the most authentic driving experience and portray what it feels like being inside a race car, then I think that's where we can excel and where we absolutely will beat them. That I know for sure."
Need For Speed Shift 2 Unleashed is scheduled for an Australian launch on March 31.