That's not to say that the experience is drab. Nope, this pretty much as pure of a racing game as you can find, and I for one am very thankful for that. After that, the voice only returns to explain new events and the like, but never to tell you that the cops are on your tail or that your love interest can introduce you to some jackass in a garage.

The closest thing you're going to get to some sort of tale is the voiceover that you'll hear at the start of the game, telling you that you've been given a chance to prove yourself in a BMW M3 around Brands Hatch before winning some cash and choosing your own ride. Unlike pretty much every modern day Need for Speed title, there's zero story involved, and I'm very happy about that. Given the course selection in the game (totalling somewhere around the 20 track mark), it's of little surprise that practically every meter of road in the game is fun to drive. They're not 100% accurate compared to their real-world counterparts however as Slightly Mad has tweaked the scenery to provide more compelling views in spots that were a little drab, but the course layouts are indeed intact, which is what's important. You'll find mainstays like Laguna Seca, Willow Springs and Nurbergring as the backdrops to your tire burning, and each of these are brought to life excellently.

NFS Shift returns to the track-based racing of old (and ProStreet) rather than the open-world stuff seen in most of the modern titles. Let me step back a little bit before delving into the racing experience. The result is that the team is essentially giving you a racing experience that is extremely close to the real thing in terms of presentation, while keeping the controls just arcadey enough to allow relative newcomers a much easier entryway into the game than the likes of Gran Turismo.Ĭlick the image to watch our video review. I put the word 'simulation' in quotes because while Need for Speed Shift is undoubtedly closer to that end of the racing spectrum than, say, Burnout, Slightly Mad made some very smart choices in deciding what would be realistic and what wouldn't. There are so many things done right in terms of design that this feels like the freshest take on the 'simulation' racing genre in many, many years.

Perfect fit speed shift video