need-for-speed posts

How would you like to see if you can go faster than a pro sports car driver? According to the latest trailer for Electronic Arts' Shift 2 Unleashed, you can with its Autolog feature. The trailer shows a "hot lap" as driven in the upcoming racing sim game by pro driver Tommy Milner.

Milner is shown driving the lap (in a nice racing simulation controller and seat by the way) in a Chevy Corvette on the game's version of the Laguna Seca track in Monterey, California. Milner put in a fast lap in the game which is recorded in Autolog for anyone else to beat. You will be able to see if you can beat his time when Shift 2 Unleashed heads out to stores and via download on March 29.

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Staged or not, this trailer did make us crack a bit of a grin. Pitting two drift stars against each other in Shift 2, it shows off the features of both Autolog (which made its debut in Hot Pursuit) and the various customization options available to the player. Watching the real car pros slide around, bump into walls, wince at their mistakes, and eventually finish the race is oddly satisfying. There's also a funny little blooper reel at the end, and an invitation to beat them in unarmed combat driving challenges

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The developers of Shift 2 have bragged over and over that their game is the most realistic racing game ever developed. If this trailer is an indication, the drivers that they consulted think it as well. While this trailer goes mostly into interviewing various high-profile race drivers, it also gives a good look at the physics and visuals of Shift 2. Things such as real-time telemetry (which they actually display within the trailer) and the constant shifting from real to simulated racing blows us away. The best part is that the differences are rather small. Overall, a fantastic trailer.

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We don't know much about cars. So when we say that we have no clue what the car in this Shift 2 trailer is, or why it's leagues above and beyond other cars, we really do mean it. However, it's definitely a pretty trailer, and that car sure is slick! We can't really identify all of the cities either, although it looks like Tokyo and London are represented. Overall a meaningless trailer for anybody who isn't in-the-know on cars.

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So you have been playing games like Need For Speed Hot Pursuit or perhaps our favorite racing game of last year Split/Second and think that your skills behind a controller or a wheel-based joystick means you are a better driver in the real world. Well, that may not really be true. According to a new study reported on by Jalopnik, fans of racing car games can actually be more dangerous behind the wheel of a real car.

The study by Continental Tires asked questions of 2,000 drivers between the ages of 17 and 39. Half of them were driving game fans. The study showed that racing game fans tended to be pulled over by more by the police than non-gamers. Driving game players also tend to report an accident more than non-game players, suffer road rage more, take more risks while driving and more.

One of the most important modes in any racing game is the career mode. Players aren't content to simply do exhibition matches anymore, and developers know that. Shift 2, the latest in the Need For Speed series, includes everything you would expect from a single-player mode: persistent character development, progressing through a series of trials and categories, and customization elements. Unfortunately, this trailer doesn't show any of that. Rather, it simply says that there is a single-player and that you can choose which parts you want to play.

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Shift 2 Unleashed is due out later this quarter and this week publisher Electronic Arts is slowly revealing more info on the racing sim division of the Need For Speed series. The game's official web site has now revealed that it will feature cars from Chevrolet, Toyota and Lamborghini. It also revealed four different track settings including being able to drive through the streets and around the landmarks of London.

Meanwhile our sister site Joystiq has more info on the game's updated Autolog feature which was first introduced in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. In addition people who own Criterion's recent arcade racer will be able to access two extra cars in Shift 2 Unleashed (the Pagani Cinque Roadster racer and Lamborghini Reventon police car).

Want more for your buck with Shift 2? Need some more wheels to show off your sweet racing skills on? EA has got you covered with a new trailer for Shift 2. Those that order the Limited Edition will apparently receive three exclusive cars to use on the race tracks. Beyond that, there's nothing new or exciting to this trailer. It's standard racing, albeit a far more realistic kind than what Burnout shows.

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Developer Criterion Games has issued its second PC patch for its recent arcade racing game Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. The patch deals with a number of issues in the PC port including some controller configurations not saving along with CPU performance hits and more.

More importantly the free patch adds three new cars to the game; the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster (shown above) and the Dodge Viper SRT10 Convertible Final Edition. These cars were added in a patch for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game just before Christmas. Players who download and install the patch won't be able to play online with their friends until they also download the patch.

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Looking for another driving game? EA has got you covered with Shift 2, the next in its ever-expanding Need for Speed series. Taking a much more realistic approach than other recent efforts (namely Hot Pursuit), this trailer shows off some of the in-car footage and reveals the release date: March 25th, 2011. There's not a whole lot more than that, besides maybe the slick visuals at the very beginning. Given that Shift was a fairly good simulation-style racer, were sure its sequel will deliver on its promises.

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