The last thing that I want to mention before wrapping this up is that while the online mode for the game doesn't offer a huge number of options, it's really fun. There's a basic Quick Race option (both ranked and unranked) which is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. But then you have a Driver Duel mode, which plays out sort of like a King of the Hill match. There are a handful of levels in the ladder that you're trying to climb, and you start at the bottom faced off against another racer at the same level. You'll both be in the same car (which is randomly chosen for you), and the car and track match the level that you're on. So on the first level, you'll be in pokey rides on easy tracks, while at the top you'll be in supercars on the most technical courses. The interesting thing here is that if you lose, you go all the way back down to the bottom. It's fun and fast-paced enough to keep you going for a good while.

For all its variable difficulty and tricky handling, SHIFT is not a punishing game to make your way through. The star system's varied goals mean you will still make progress on a bad day, and it's geared so that you only need to complete a third to a half of the events in any given tier, and low-tier events can be used to unlock high-tier ones. It's not an engrossing structure in itself, but it's pleasantly free-form; you're mostly free to pick and choose your favourites from its reasonably diverse suite of event styles, the main ones being open racing, single-model races, time trials on busy tracks, really quite difficult drift competitions, and duels.

SHIFT is a solid basis to start building a motor sport series on. It's got all the features you expect, it looks fantastic, and the track action is exciting, if fraught. If the skittish handling and overbearing, messy advancement can be reined in, Need for Speed could have a future in its newly serious and somewhat crowded surroundings. But with the infinitely more comprehensive Forza Motorsport 3 and Gran Turismo 5 looming in the very near distance, it's hard to see the point in this second-stringer this time around, for console players at least. And given Need for Speed's recent, confused history, you shouldn't count on it wearing the same face next year.