Shift 2 - Advanced Control Tweaks - lnin0's Blog

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Shift 2 - Advanced Control Tweaks

Posted on April 4, 2011 at 09:15 PM.

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I ran some side by side comparisons between Shift 2, Race Pro and Forza 3 using the same or similar cars and the same tracks. My goal was to come up with settings for Shift 2 which made it feel closer to Race Pro and Forza 3 - games I would argue as the best handling racers on the Xbox 360. I also wanted to keep changes global so I did not do any individual tuning of cars. After hours of back and forth testing I came to a conclusion and the settings below.

The conclusion is that Shift 2's physics, the traction model in particular, are compromised and there is no escaping this through tweaks. For this reason it will never be a Forza or GT so if that is what you are looking for then you should look elsewhere. For those just looking for a decent handling simcade racer, I hope this guide helps.

Here are the settings I came up with and below I will go over some in more detail. I am using the controller on the Xbox 360 and running from 3rd person (behind car) view.

Steering Deadzone - 3%
Steering Sensitivity - 50%
Throttle Deadzone - 6%
Throttle Sensitivity - 77%
Brake Deadzone - 6%
Brake Sensitivity - 77%
Speed Sensitivity - 55%

One last thing from the options:
Stability Control - ON

First lets talk about that last thing, Stability Control. I know assist go against the 'sim' racer in all of us, myself included, but as I said, the physics in Shift 2 are already compromised. It will never be sim and this one adjustment actually makes the game more drivable.

Note, I run with all other driving assist off, including traction control. Oddly, the developers own compromises to the physics model actually makes traction control and anti-lock breaking seem worthless anyway. How often have you seen breaks lock or have you lost grip during a launch in this game? Almost never, which is in stark contrast to a game like Forza and Race Pro.

Here is why. The major difference with the three titles tested is the amount of force required to cause tires to slip and then to break loose. Here is a small diagram depicting the force and its effect on tire grip.

Shift 2 (grip)......(slip)..................(loose)
Forza 3 (grip)..............(slip)...(loose)
[force] (less)-------------------------------(more)

In Shift 2 the developers pushed the slip and break points apart. So you spend more time sliding yet rarely breaking loose. I don't know if this was done to make the game more 'user friendly' or in part to aid drifting but this is what makes Shift 2 feel like ice road truckers. The only thing I found to half way alleviate the slipping feeling was stability control and even that doesn't bring it into normal range.

Steering and Speed Sensitivity. I know mine is pretty different from the other tweaks I've seen but try it first. If you don't like it you can always go back to what you do. I think the ratio I settled on give you the most immediate feel for turning while not becoming overly twitchy at high speed. Some cars fare better than others but overall I think these settings feel the closest to a Forza or Race Pro. Too much Speed Sensitivity and it always feels like your over compensating with your input. Too much Steering Sensitivity and things get pretty twitchy.

I cut the deadzones down as I like my actions to equal an immediate reaction. If you have heavier fingers feel free to move them back up.

I bumped up the Throttle and Break sensitivity to compensate somewhat for the added stability control. By forcing a smoother touch when slowing into and accelerating out of corners I was hoping to see more situations where grip is broke like in Forza or Race Pro.