We have our reporters and community keeping an eye on Need for Speed: Shift for you, and we'll keep you up to date with the latest developments as they happen.

Need for Speed: Shift attempts to balance arcade racing with simulation, but ultimately fails to reconcile the differences. A decent selection of cars, great graphics and a real sense of speed while driving are undone by fidgety steering and a selection of game types that just get in the way of racing.

The first race in Need for Speed: Shift is immensely promising. You're given a BMW M3 GT and must complete a timed lap in order to gauge your ability. The graphics are gorgeous, and the racing line hints at the simulation elements of the game. The car is fun to drive, too: it's easy to stylishly skid around corners while staying in control. I was impressed.
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Need for Speed Shift's mix of simulation and arcade offers a simple old school approach to racers I can truly get behind. It avoids the complexity that often breaks my engagement with the realism of modern games.

On another sweltering summer day, I slot my copy of Need for Speed: Shift into my PS3. As the customary install grinds into gear, I recline in my chair, swig from my Dr Pepper Zero, and think about previous experiences with Need for Speed.
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Here's what I drew with my mouse after playing Need for Speed Shift. I hope you like my video game reviews that are not hand drawn - but written one mouse stroke at a time.

I don't normally enjoy playing racing games that don't involve flinging turtle shells at opponents. Need for Speed Shift is made for people like me. The growth from amateur to professional racer is presented coherently and is surprisingly addictive. By unlocking newer, greater cars and modifications with experience points rather than money, this game makes failure fun!
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EA take their popular series and get serious. This is a game which comes face to face with some the best race games out there. And surprisingly Need for Speed Shift manages to deliver a racing experience that is up there with the likes of Gran Turismo. It's also the first game I've ben able to put my G25 race wheel and seat to full use - brake, clutch and power steering - the works.

The Need for Speed series of old has always been about outrageous antics, escaping from police cars, gratuitous power slides and smashing up your car in the process. Shift is different. Shift rewards those who drive well. Need for Speed Shift on 360, PS3 and PSP takes the series to a new level in a way I wasn't really expecting to work.
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Need for Speed has been in denial for years. Finally, it admits its split personality and creates three separate racing games. Shift is the game focused purely on simulation racing - in addition to Nitro's more casual approach on Wii and DS and browser based World Online.

The previous Jekyll and Hyde nature of the series meant that you never quite knew what to expect when you opened the box. Carbon returned to the open world and illegal street races of earlier iterations, then Pro Street cleaned up its act in preference of high performance track races before Undercover headed back to police chases and leggy detectives.
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This year Need for Speed is different. Need for Speed Shift is the serious racers game on Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP while Need for Speed Nitro is aimed at casual players on the Nintendo DS and Wii. This means that Need for Speed Shift, coming from the people that brought you GT Legends and GTR 2, can now focus on being a top drawer simulation racing experience. Add in a strong career mode and online play and you have a solid first outing for the newly rebooted series.

Real-world physics, pixel-perfect cars and a wide range of race tracks combine with stomach churning blur effects to create a racing game that is full of energy, impact and excitement.
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Need for Speed Shift changes the format of the series with a dedicated simulation game that gave me a more thrilling experience than any arcade racer has ever done before. Being accessible to even the most novice racer I found Shift delivering a stylish and visceral ride that everyone in the family enjoyed, whether they were playing or just watching me crash.

The Need for Speed series has never been one that's appealed to me in the past. The focus on American muscle cars with all the street-talking sub-culture always made me feel like I was playing an extension of the MTV show 'Pimp my Ride'. I also found the lack of focus on the previous games difficult to get my head round. Need for Speed Underground was a very arcade-like racer with a smattering of corny cut-scenes to push the nonsensical story along. The next year it tried to go serious with Pro Street. I never knew what to think when getting one of the these games.
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