Shift 2 is truly amazing if you play it on PC with a good steering wheel (ie: Fanatec) and with the PTMu physics mod.
The game has amazing graphics, superb sense of speed and the best track selection of any racing game ever... It's also the most nervracking racing game I've ever played. I managed to fall asleep once playing Forza (not saying it's a bad game mind you...) but playing Shift 2 is a real workout.
I play with a Fanatec wheel on both console and pc. Even with the mod though, there's still some shit in there.
But I agree, an amazing racing experience, a great detail of car culture in general, the sounds and tracks are all things that i love about the game. If EA let SMS take complete charge of the game instead of butting in all the time, I believe the driving model would have been much better.
I really hope that SMS make SHIFT 3....I really do...