Need For Speed: Your Questions Answered

It’s been a long wait, but Need For Speed is finally upon us. We’ve been playing all weekend, and in case you’ve missed it, here’s our review of the game so far.

Since we were fortunate enough to have a copy so early, I thought it would be cool to ask you guys what you want to know about Need For Speed, and you posted questions in your droves! I’ve pulled together some of the most popular and frequently asked questions into a list, so hopefully everything you could ever want to know about NFS will be answered right here.

Yes, you can. In the garage there’s a handling characteristics tab that allows you to change everything from tyre pressures to aerodynamics and everything in between by using sliders. Each and every car can be tuned to be more ‘Drift’ or ‘Grip’, with the former resulting in a car that wants to kick the rear out. Even in front-wheel drive cars, if you decide to go full Drift spec, you can hold slides with ease.

We’ve seen FWD drifting plenty of times before in real life, so it’s definitely possible with enough momentum, but in the game you can hold angles on the throttle. It sure ain’t realistic, but it doesn’t detract from the gameplay too much.

2. Are there Car Throttle and Hot Wheels logos in the game? - Alif Haikal

Yes, there are Car Throttle logos in the game, and we’re super excited about it! We can’t wait to see you guys cruising around Ventura Bay with CT stickers plastered all over your rides. Oh, and yeah, Hot Wheels is in there too.

3. How is the map? Because it looks really empty in all the videos - V8H2

The map itself is cool, but it’s not particularly huge. And as for traffic, yeah, you’d be right in thinking there isn’t much. It’s a bit of a disappointment as blasting along the highway at 150mph should be nerve-wracking, but it’s really not. Your chances of actually coming into contact with anyone is minimal, because even when cars do appear, they tend to be alone and therefore easy to dodge.

4. Does it have a manual shift option? - I Like Imports and others

No. Not yet, anyway. Originally the game was intended to be auto only, but after seeing how much fans of the game wanted a manual shift option, EA and Ghost are looking to bring it to the game via an update at some point.

Before playing the game I didn’t expect to care too much about a manual - this isn’t a sim racer, after all - but the auto feels sluggish so I do think having a manual would add to the game.

5. How does it compare to Forza Horizon? - I Like Imports

This is a tough one, because although they’re both open world racers, they go about it in very different ways. I’d say Forza Horizon has the edge, purely on the sense of speed and car handling characteristics. I prefer the graphical style and location of Need For Speed, though it could do with feeling more alive.

6. Is there as much customisation as we were promised? - Jakub Sobczak

There’s a lot of customisation available, but I’d hesitate to say it’s as extensive as one might hope. It really does depend on the car, as my AE86 had a lot of body parts on offer, however there’s not much available for my S15, which is bizarre considering it’s one of the most customisable cars on the planet. Hopefully this will be addressed in a patch at a later date.

7. Do the cops come after you every time you pass them even if you do nothing illegal? - DiogoRS500

No, and this is actually quite a cool aspect of the game. So long as you’re not going too fast, blasting through red lights, drifting, or pulling burnouts, the cops will leave you alone.

It’s nice because it means you can hang out with your mates or slowly cruise about town checking out the scenery without getting bothered by the boys in blue.

8. What is your opponents' AI like? - Matt

Opponent AI is pretty awful, to be honest. Races can feel random, as all cars appear to be on an elastic band, so if you wreck and fall behind they’ll slow right down until you catch up. You’ll also occasionally find someone’s made a break at the front, then for seemingly no reason you’ll overtake them doing about 20mph on the freeway.

Added to the fact that Grip handling isn’t particularly good fun, it’s just another reason why I don’t like point-to-point races.

9. Are police chases similar to Most Wanted? How quickly does your heat rise? - Lucky Skosana

Police chases are different in this Need For Speed, as you do not have access to special tools or gadgets to aid you in your escape. It’s a straight up pursuit between you and the cop cars. Your heat doesn’t rise particularly quickly at all - I’ve only managed to get a full wanted level once and that was after a solid 10 minutes of being chased.

Police AI is mostly really good, as they keep up no trouble through corners and are clever about dodging other cars, though a few twists and turns inside a petrol station is usually a good way to confuse and entrap them before making a getaway.

The only downside is that there does seem to be more of that rubber banding, as they’ll occasionally fall back inexplicably, or come charging around a corner at a million miles per hour behind you…

10. Is there a first-person view? - NothingToDo

No. As well as the behind-car exterior cameras, there’s a low down bumper cam, and a high bonnet cam, but no interior view.

11. Is earning money hard? - Mikam22

Not really, but depending on how you play, sometimes it feels like a bit of a grind. I’ve decided I want a different car for each of the five ways to play, so I don’t want to advance too far down one storyline with one car and forget about the others, so from time to time I’ll replay a race multiple times to earn cash.

Making money isn’t particularly hard, but don’t think you can go modifying your rides to oblivion while throwing cash at supercars - there are choices and compromises to be made.

12. How does the soundtrack fit with the game? - RustyToast

The soundtrack’s decent, but I don’t think it’s quite as iconic as NFS games in the past. The likes of ‘Go’ by Chemical Brothers and ‘Rio’ by Netsky are great songs, but I’m getting a bit bored of them now.

13. Please mention the Sileighty bug! - RustyToast

Okay, so this isn’t a question, but it’s good for a laugh! This bug occurred when you swapped the 180SX front end for the old PS13 front, and apparently also occurred in the Beta when swapping the AE86 to a Levin front end. It appears the bug has been fixed now, though, as my car is back to normal…

14. What's the photo mode like?

Disappointing, actually. The game looks gorgeous and you can create some wicked cars, so it’d be cool to highlight both with an extensive photo mode. Unfortunately, so far as I can tell, the only way to take a photo is to press the right analog stick to take a ‘snapshot’ of the screen. That means you’re limited to the game camera angles, which makes it hard to get scenery in.