Gameplay
Aimed at a hardcore gamer-style audience, Shift reverts to the touring-car simulation style of its 2007 predecessor, NFS ProStreet. Although the gameplay of these two titles are similar, Shift recreates car handling much more realistic than ProStreet, and does not contain a story. Upon starting the career mode, the player must do a lap of the track to decide on car settings. Once completed, the player is welcomed to the 'NFS Live World Series', and must earn stars in races to earn money, and unlock new races.
Cars
There are 60+ cars which are divided into 4 tiers. Tier 1 refers to average cars, tier 2 refers to performance cars, tier 3 refers to supercars like the Lamborghini Gallardo, and tier 4 refers to hypercars like the Bugatti Veyron.
Car customization
The car customization options include cosmetics as well as performance mods and is more in depth than previous games, affecting aspects such as alignment, aerodynamics, tires, brakes, differential, and gears.Nitrous is also an option for tuning, but different from previous Need for Speed games as it is simulated more realistically. There are body kits and weight reduction, which affect the aerodynamics. There are visual customization options like rims, vinyls and paints.
Tracks
There are 19 tracks in total including real world circuits such as Brands Hatch, Nurburgring Nordschleife, Road America, Spa, Silverstone, Willow Springs, Donington Park and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Shift 2: Unleashed career mode is called "entertaining and interactive". Shift 2 claims to redefine the racing simulator genre by delivering authentic and true-to-life dynamic crash physics, intricately detailed real-world cars, drivers and tracks.During their careers, virtual racers partake in a variety of motorsports — like drifting, muscle car racing, retro car racing, Endurance races and circuit competition (i.e. FIA GT3 European Championship) — to hone their driving skills in hopes of becoming the FIA GT1 world champion.
While many modern racing games (including Shift 2's predecessor) include an in-car camera view, Shift 2 includes a 'helmet-cam' in which players see the action through the eyes of their driver. The helmet cam moves with the head of the driver, being drawn from side to side as the car takes corners and jerking forward when the player crashes. As the car comes up to higher speeds, the edges of the screen will become blurred to simulate the tunnel-vision effect that drivers suffer when racing.Shift 2's night racing also appears to be more advanced, with headlights dimming or turning off completely if damaged, further narrowing the player's view.
The Autolog system is now 'Need for Speed DNA'. The system appears in Shift 2 in a more-or-less identical design to the original, but will include extra features that will not only provide track times for unique events, but also segregate data based on quick race tracks, race types and automotive disciplines. This essentially means that Autolog will be more than just a system that simply displays your friend’s times regardless of how, or when, they set them during their career.
Shift 2 features more than 140 licensed vehicles available for racing and tuning, a smaller number compared with racing sims such as Forza Motorsport 3 and Gran Turismo However, executive producer Marcus Nilsson said the studio wanted to concentrate on having only the must-have speedsters. Exclusively digitized for the game is the Pagani Huayra. There are also 40 real-world locations including Bathurst, Spa-Francorchamps and Suzuka as well as fictional circuits like downtown London and Shanghai.
