Need for Speed SHIFT 'best-looking racing game ever'

Screen shots are all in-game, Slightly Mad Studios insists.

Need for Speed SHIFT is "the best-looking racing game ever made", developer Slightly Mad Studios has boldly claimed. Not only that, but the stunning screen shots are all in-game, and not, as some have suggested, renders.

SHIFT, due out on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and PSP this autumn, is gunning for Turn 10's Forza 2 and Bizarre's PGR4 following it's reinvention as a serious racer. The Need for Speed series has traditionally been more of a mission-based arcade racer.

The last Need for Speed game, Undercover, was slammed by critics for its poor graphical performance. It scored a disappointing 6/10 in our review, and suffered from a "terrible frame rate" and "choppy visuals".

SHIFT, however, looks like a graphical powerhouse, as you'll know if you've read our hands-on preview.

When asked if she thought SHIFT was the best-looking racing game ever made, Suzi Wallace, the game's producer, told VideoGamer.com: "Of course. The engine for us, you know we've come a long way with it and there's been lots of improvements, but we think it's way above our previous titles. I think it's the best-looking racer out there. If you look at our cockpits especially, there are other games with cockpits out there but I do think we've got the most stunning-looking cockpits."

She added that the developer was delighted by the scepticism surrounding the first first screen shot released by publisher EA, insisting it was, like all screen shots of the game, in-game.

She said: "We were quite chuffed when people were going 'that's blatantly a render, that's definitely a render, there's no way it's in game'. It was like, well we know it is. None of our screen shots are edited in any way. If people out there think it's a render and we know it's in game, my boss was quite happy with that. That went down quite well!"

What do you think readers? Is Need for Speed SHIFT the best-looking racing game ever made? Let us know in the comments section below.