After yesterday’s look at performance tuning, today we’re going to be delving into Shift’s Visuals menu, which allows you to spruce up your car’s appearance. The menu is split into three areas: Paint, Rims and Vinyls.

Paint

The first option within the Visuals menu is Paint, which (surprisingly enough) allows you to change the colour of your car’s bodywork. On the paint screen you’re presented with a colour wheel, allowing you to select a colour from the full spectrum, as well as the option to paint individual parts of your car’s bodywork in particular colours, including options for All, Body (which translates to the roof, doors and side panels), Hood, Front Bumper, Rear Bumper, Trunk and Glass.

If you’re anything like us, you’ll come up with this pink, purple and green monstrosity:

You’re also able to apply the colour in a number of finishes including Gloss, Metallic, Candy, Pearl, Chrome, Matte and Flip, with each type unlocking as you progress through the career.

Rims

Next up is the Rims section, which gives you options to switch out your factory rims for something more appealing. Like everything else in the Visuals menu, upgrading your rims doesn’t cost, with individual sets of rims unlocking once you reach a certain level in the career. If you can’t decide on which set to go with, you’re also able to apply two different pairs of rims to your car; one pair on the front set of wheels, and one on the back. Each set of rims also comes in numerous diameters which you can flick between.

Vinyls

The final section in the Visuals menu is ‘Vinyls’. Each car comes with a set of four unique liveries plus the ability to create your own using vinyls and decals. There are hundreds of vinyls to choose from split across 26 different categories, including Animals, Flames, Numbers, Flags and even Pirates & Ninjas. The majority are locked at the beginning of the game, with each design gradually unlocking as you level up in the career.

You’re able to stick numerous amounts of vinyls to individual parts of the car’s bodywork, including the Left Body, Right Body, Front Body, Rear Body, Top Body, Wing Body, Left Window, Right Window, Front Window, Rear Window and Top Window (if you have one), with options to move, scale, rotate, skew, flip and colour each individual vinyl.

We managed to stick upwards of 50 vinyls onto our car’s Left Body, and despite trying our best to find it, we’re still not entirely sure what the layer count limit is, or indeed if there actually is one. The vinyl editor appears to be an incredibly versatile tool, and one that looks likely to appease any budding car artists when Shift finally launches next month. We can’t wait to see your designs!

That’s it for Shift’s Visuals menu, but be sure to stick around. Later this week we’ll be bringing you an in-depth look at the Driver Profile system and badges, plus a few more surprises.