EA Touts Depth Of "Driver Experience" In Need for Speed: Shift

Electronic Arts has said that Need for Speed: Shift represents a return to the simulation roots of the Need for Speed franchise. Yet as our own Brian Leahy reports in his review, the game isn't all sim and isn't quite the arcade experience found in previous Need for Speed installments either.

We caught up with EA community manager Drew Hahn at PAX 2009 to find out how Shift manages to straddle the sim/arcade line, as well as how the game differentiates itself from its predecessors while at the same time reconnecting with the franchise's long-lost sim heritage. As Hahn explains:

"The way we've changed the focus this year is we've taken it away from the end of the race--winning and collecting cars--and we're kind of focusing on the whole driver's experience, the actual physical act of driving."

To achieve this, EA implemented a number of new features including one of the best cockpit views seen in a racing game to date, vision effects that mimic the sensation of crashing, as well as plenty of other tweaks, upgrades and improvements.

Find out more about EA's design approach for Need for Speed: Shift by watching the full interview below.