Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition . They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games .
151-544: Need for Speed ( NFS ) is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games (the developers of the Burnout series). The series generally centers around illegal street racing, and tasks players to complete various types of races while evading the local law enforcement in police pursuits. Need for Speed is one of EA's oldest franchises not published under their EA Sports brand. The series' first title, The Need for Speed ,
302-401: A mainframe computer racing game played between TV presenter Raymond Baxter and British two-time Formula One world champion Graham Hill on their 1970 Christmas special, broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1970. The game was written by IBM -employee, Ray Bradshaw, using CALL/360 and required two data centre operators to input the instructions. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell had the idea for
453-434: A racing video game where the player sits on and moves a motorbike replica to control the in-game actions. Hang-On was a Grand Prix style motorbike racer. It used force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's " Super Scaler " technology that allowed pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high frame rates . Hang-On became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1986 in
604-483: A radar , to show the rally car's location on the map. In February 1976, Sega released the arcade game Road Race , which was re-worked into a motorbike variant Moto-Cross , also known as Man T.T. (released August 1976). It was then re-branded as Fonz in the US, as a tie-in for the popular sitcom Happy Days . The game featured a three-dimensional perspective view, as well as haptic feedback , which caused
755-491: A 3D game called Mario Kart 64 , a sequel to Super Mario Kart and has an action so that Lakitu needs to either reverse, rev up your engines to Rocket Start, or rescue players. Mario Kart 64 focused more on the items used. Atari didn't join the 3D craze until 1997, when it introduced San Francisco Rush . In 1997, Gran Turismo was released for the PlayStation , after being in production for five years since 1992. It
906-422: A Factory Driver mode, where the player had to test Porsches to move forward in the game and did not feature a split-screen mode. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 was the debut NFS title from EA Black Box , and the first NFS for the sixth generation consoles . Different versions of the game were produced for each platform. The Xbox , GameCube , and Microsoft Windows versions were developed by EA Seattle, while
1057-612: A bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes footage on the making of the game. Need for Speed: ProStreet , developed by EA Black Box, was released in 2007. Key features of the game included realistic damage, a return to realistic racing , modeling, and burnouts. The game lacked the free roam mode found in earlier releases, instead, all of the races were on closed race tracks that took place on organized race days. The game consisted of drag races, speed challenges (essentially sprint races and speed traps), grip races (circuit racing), and drift races. Need for Speed: Undercover , developed by EA Black Box,
1208-564: A cash prize that can be spent on repairing, purchasing, or upgrading cars for subsequent races. The game's Hot Pursuit mode, which was introduced in Hot Pursuit , was expanded with more options, allowing players to control police pursuits attempting to stop racers. Porsche Unleashed (North America and Latin America title), Porsche 2000 (European and Australian title), or simply Porsche (in Germany)
1359-578: A decommissioned Koenigsegg Agera police car and respraying it in his style. He then uses the car to attract police attention and wreck police units coming after him. Later on, the RCPD has been cleared of all accusations against its officers, causing public outrage as the VRT stays in Redview County. The subsequent increase in police activity and discontent over the violent arrests of street racers leads Zephyr to release
1510-557: A driving video game in the early 1970s. When he was a college student, he worked at an arcade where he became familiar with EM driving games, watching customers play and helping to maintain the machinery, while learning how it worked and developing his understanding of how the game business operates. When he founded Atari, Bushnell had originally planned to develop a driving video game, influenced by Speedway , but they ended up developing Pong (1972) instead. The earliest rudimentary racing video game to be released dates back to 1972, with
1661-426: A dynamic weather system, which makes "the world feel alive in a much bigger sense than any other Need for Speed game". Rivals also takes on some gameplay features of earlier Underground titles in the franchise with cues on aesthetic vehicle personalization, such as paint jobs, decals, rims and license plates and liveries can be modified, as well as vehicle performance, and various 'Pursuit Tech' gadgets. With
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#17328510406581812-423: A fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete in unique ways. A key feature of arcade-style racers that specifically distinguishes them from simulation racers is their far more liberal physics. Whereas in real racing (and subsequently, the simulation equivalents) the driver must reduce their speed significantly to take most turns, arcade-style racing games generally encourage the player to "powerslide"
1963-527: A few bonus cars; it also included a behind-the-scenes DVD . Both versions were available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows-based PCs, while only the standard edition was available for GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360. Most Wanted had extremely positive reviews and received universal acclaim from reviewers in many gaming websites and magazines, praising the graphics, sound effects, and general gameplay. With 16 million copies sold worldwide, Most Wanted
2114-522: A fictional city called Tri-City Bay. The player's role was as an undercover cop, trying to stop street racers. Containing live-action cutscenes that feature the actress Maggie Q , the game also featured a damage system where parts could break off after a crash. The Collector's Edition for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 added another five new cars, twelve new circuits, and sprint and checkpoint track configurations. Also included were specially tuned versions of ten existing cars, plus 35 exclusive vinyls for adding
2265-416: A game mode in popular vehicular combat franchises such as Twisted Metal , Destruction Derby and Carmageddon . Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of a real automobile . They often license real cars or racing leagues, but will sometimes use fantasy cars built to resemble real ones if unable to acquire an official license for them. Vehicular behavior physics are
2416-445: A high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It includes a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings. The damage modelling, while not accurate by today's standards, was capable of producing some spectacular and entertaining pile-ups . Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix in 1992 became
2567-535: A hit in Japan, while Wheels and Wheels II sold 10,000 cabinets in the United States. Its use of vertical scrolling was adopted by Atari's Hi-way (1975), which introduced a sit-down cabinet similar to older electro-mechanical games. In 1977, Atari released Super Bug , a racing game historically significant as "the first game to feature a scrolling playfield" in multiple directions. Sega's Monaco GP (1979)
2718-447: A kart racing game featuring the characters from Crash Bandicoot. It was praised for its controls and courses. Crash Bandicoot and its racing series has continued, with the most recent game being Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled (June 2019). The year 1999 also marked a change of games into more "free form" worlds. Midtown Madness for the PC allows the player to explore a simplified version of
2869-412: A key factor in the experience. The rigors of being a professional race driver are usually also included (such as having to deal with a car's tire condition and fuel level). Proper cornering technique and precision racing maneuvers (such as trail braking ) are given priority in simulation racing games. Although these racing simulators are specifically built for people with a high grade of driving skill, it
3020-617: A lamp, which produced colorful graphics projected using mirrors to give a pseudo-3D first-person perspective on a screen, resembling a windscreen view. The gameplay involved players driving down a circular road while dodging cars to avoid crashing, and it resembled a prototypical arcade racing video game, with an upright cabinet, yellow marquee, three-digit scoring, coin box, steering wheel and accelerator pedal. Indy 500 sold over 2,000 arcade cabinets in Japan, while Speedway sold over 10,000 cabinets in North America, becoming one of
3171-450: A limited number of checkpoints. The concept of car tuning evolved with each new game, from focusing mainly on the mechanics of the car to including how the car looks. Each game except Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has car tuning which can set options for items like ABS , traction control , or downforce , or for upgrading parts like the engine or gearbox. Visual tuning of the player's car becomes important in tournament/career mode after
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#17328510406583322-441: A major point of contention between Sony and Microsoft's new consoles after it emerged that both Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 run at a higher resolution on Sony's PS4 console as compared to Microsoft's Xbox One. After completing the prologue (tutorial), players choose a faction—Cop or Racer—to start their own tasks. Players can switch between factions at a hideout (Racer) or a command post (Cop). Cops can choose from
3473-467: A number of different time periods. These include, but are not limited to, Olympic, Bayview, Rockport, Palmont City, Tri-City Bay, Seacrest County, Fairhaven City, Redview County, Ventura Bay, Fortune Valley, Palm City and Lakeshore City. The original Need for Speed was released for 3DO in 1994 with versions released for the PC ( DOS ) (1995), PlayStation and Saturn (1996) following shortly afterwards. The Need for Speed and its Special Edition were
3624-418: A personal computer. Accurately replicating the 1989 Indianapolis 500 grid, it offered advanced 3D graphics for its time, setup options, car failures and handling. Unlike most other racing games at the time, Indianapolis 500 attempted to simulate realistic physics and telemetry , such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making
3775-508: A public message to the RCPD, demanding that they stop their brutality. He then issues an open challenge to both the racers and the cops, a race around Redview County, so that the two sides of the law could resolve their differences once and for all. Meanwhile, F-8, now a top officer at the VRT, is tasked with locating Zephyr and taking him down, being the only one able to do so. He eventually succeeds in intercepting Zephyr's radio communications. Upon learning of Zephyr's message, F-8 sets out to stop
3926-486: A semi-realistic driving experience with more detail than most other racing games at the time. Since the mid-1980s, it became a trend for arcade racing games to use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets . The trend was sparked by Sega 's "taikan" games, with "taikan" meaning "body sensation" in Japanese. The "taikan" trend began when Yu Suzuki 's team at Sega (later known as Sega AM2 ) developed Hang-On (1985),
4077-449: A social multiplayer game on Facebook. Need for Speed: Nitro-X (2010) is a newer installment for use with the DSi / XL and the 3DS system. Essentially the original release, it was updated with several updates: 18 licensed vehicles; new police units; custom tags; 16 updated tracks; a revised career mode; local multiplayer matches for up to four players; and new rewards and unlockables. The game
4228-522: A social platform, titled Autolog, which allows players to track game progress, view leaderboards, share screenshots with friends, among other features. The 2010 Hot Pursuit game would be well-received; a remastered version was released ten years later in 2020. As a result of Hot Pursuit ' s critical success, in-contrast to the mixed reception of the Black Box-developed installments since 2007's Need for Speed: ProStreet , Criterion would become
4379-466: A speeding vehicle. This was the first version since the start of the series not to feature an "in the driving seat" (cockpit) camera view, transitioning EA from realistic racing to arcade street racing. It was the last game in the series for the PC version to feature the split-screen two-player mode introduced in Need for Speed II . For the multiplayer mode of the PC version, GameSpy 's internet matchmaking system
4530-564: A street racer driving the same Enzo he stole from the police impound earlier, has emerged as the new top racer in Redview County, issuing a challenge to everyone via a video. After the commercial and critical success of 2010's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit , Criterion Games executives stated that they wanted to draw from the series' roots and re-introduce old Need for Speed ideals. However, in 2011, EA Black Box released Need for Speed: The Run , which received mixed reviews. In 2012, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said that although he
4681-433: A surround view. In 2000, Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego ) introduced the first free-roaming, or the former "free form", racing game on video game consoles and handheld game consoles with Midnight Club: Street Racing which released on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance . The game allowed the player to drive anywhere around virtual recreations of London and New York. Instead of using enclosed tracks for races,
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4832-465: A title in the Need for Speed franchise, but did not reveal the level of involvement or when the title would be released. On November 15, 2012, EA Gothenburg was rebranded as Ghost Games. Ghost's website went live around the same time and called for potential staff to apply for a range of open positions. On May 23, 2013, EA confirmed their next Need for Speed game, Rivals , with a teaser trailer, following marketing material tease days before. It
4983-408: A ton of replay value thanks to over one hundred events and seamless online multiplayer." Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb gave the game a 3/5, praising the game's gameplay and soundtrack but criticized the lack of amount players allowed on the online multiplayer. Gerstmann also noted that the PC version was locked at 30 frames-per-second and stated that "is especially ridiculous", but still considered
5134-446: A type of racing game where players use science fiction vehicles, such as sci-fi cars or other sci-fi vehicles , to race against the clock or other vehicles. A number of futuristic racing games may also feature vehicular combat elements. In the arcades, futuristic racing games date back to the 1980s. The laserdisc games Star Rider (1983) and Cosmos Circuit (1984) featured animated racing, using animated laserdisc video for
5285-457: A unique visual style. Need for Speed: Shift , developed by Slightly Mad Studios, was released in 2009. It features over 60 cars and 19 tracks, some of which are licensed tracks while others are fictional. The improved driving simulation was accompanied by an adaptive difficulty, while it reintroduced a cockpit view. NFS: Shift focused on racing simulation rather than the arcade racing of previous titles. NFS: Shift received better reviews than
5436-469: Is a 2013 racing video game developed in collaboration between Ghost Games and Criterion Games , and published by Electronic Arts . It is the twentieth installment in the Need for Speed series, and the debut title for Ghost Games (the formally-named EA Gothenburg; which would be the main developer of all subsequent non-mobile installments up until 2020). Rivals was well received by critics at E3 2013 and
5587-562: Is a competitive two-player game with black and white graphics and controlled with a two-way joystick. The following year, Atari released the first driving video game in the arcades, Gran Trak 10 , which presents an overhead single-screen view of the track in low resolution white-on-black graphics. It inspired the Kee Games clone Formula K , which sold 5,000 arcade cabinets . In late 1974, Taito released Speed Race designed by Tomohiro Nishikado (of Space Invaders fame), in which
5738-610: Is a rocky desert based on the Grand Canyon in Arizona , and the western and central parts are based on contemporary rural America. The player can choose to play as either a racer or a cop. In the Racer story, the player assumes the role of a street racer known as Zephyr. In the Cop story, the player takes on the role of an unnamed, newly initiated police officer. As the player completes the objectives on
5889-620: Is allowed to form a " crew " that aids the player in races. Drift events returned to the series in Carbon . Drag racing was removed from the series, but a new type of race called "Canyon Duel" was added, where the closer the player is to the leader, the more points they accrue. If the player overtakes the leader and remains in front for 10 seconds, they win automatically. Another new feature is "Autosculpt", which allows players to custom-fabricate their own auto parts. The Collector's Edition features three new cars, ten specially tuned cars, six new races, and
6040-474: Is different from the previous versions because it featured only Porsches . The vehicle handling in the PC version was said to be the most realistic in any NFS game, but the PSX (PS1) version had very simplified arcade handling that fell woefully short of the hallmark handling offered in the first game. The player had to win races to unlock cars in chronological order from 1950 to 2000. Porsche Unleashed also featured
6191-501: Is known as Need for Speed: Carbon – Own the City . The Wii port lacked online but made full use of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. NFS: Carbon continued the story from Most Wanted , but the game has far less emphasis on the police. Carbon saw the return of nighttime-only racing, with a selection of cars similar to that of Most Wanted . Carbon introduced a new feature wherein the player
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6342-703: Is not uncommon to find aids that can be enabled from the game menu. The most common aids are traction control (TC), anti-lock brakes (ABS), steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance, and automatic gear changes. Sound plays a crucial role in player feedback in racing games, with the engine and tire sounds communicating what is physically happening to the car. The three main elements of car audio are intake , exhaust, and internal engine sounds. Recorded samples of those elements are implemented in-game by methods such as granular synthesis , loop-based modelling, or physical modeling. Tire sounds modulate loop samples or pitch based on slip angle and deformation to let
6493-629: Is the best-selling game in the franchise. A game, also named Need for Speed: Most Wanted , was released in 2012 with British developer Criterion Games responsible for the development. Need for Speed: Carbon was developed by EA Black Box in 2006. It was the first NFS game for the PlayStation 3 and the Wii and the last NFS game for the GameCube , the Game Boy Advance , and the Xbox . Carbon's handheld port
6644-578: The F-Zero series. The PlayStation game Wipeout (1995) by Psygnosis featured 3D polygon graphics and spawned the Wipeout series. The F-Zero series subsequently made the transition to 3D polygon graphics with F-Zero X (1998) for the Nintendo 64 . The basis for racing video games were arcade driving electro-mechanical games (EM games). The earliest mechanical racing arcade game dates back to 1900, when
6795-530: The Federal Bureau of Investigation sends in the Vehicle Response Team to take the police's place. Realizing the new threat, Zephyr begins taking on the VRT as he continues to defy the authorities. Angered by Zephyr's recklessness and a lack of response to his actions, the cop decides to go rogue as a vigilante under the name F-8 (alternatively pronounced fate ), taking an impounded Ferrari Enzo out to
6946-602: The Frostbite 3 engine. The development team opted to target 30 FPS across all platforms instead of 60 FPS, because of the AllDrive feature. AllDrive is the system used to seamlessly matchmake players within the same open world. Another reason was due to the number of players able to be in the same world at the same time. Rivals is the first cross-platform next-gen game to achieve a native 1080p across both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One . Talk of resolutions and frame rates became
7097-571: The Grandprix series (Known collectively as GPX to its fanbase), produced what is considered the first attempt at a racing simulator on a home system, REVS , released for the BBC Microcomputer. The game offered an unofficial (and hence with no official team or driver names associated with the series) recreation of British Formula 3. The hardware capabilities limited the depth of the simulation and restricted it (initially) to one track, but it offered
7248-934: The Lamborghini Murciélago , Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren , Chevrolet Corvette and the Ford GT ; muscle cars refer to the Ford Mustang , Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro ; while tuner cars are cars like the Nissan Skyline and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution . The special vehicles are civilian and police cars that are available for use in some games, such as the Ford Crown Victoria in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and garbage trucks, fire engines and taxis in Need for Speed: Carbon . Originally
7399-517: The London -based Automatic Sports Company manufactured a mechanical yacht racing game, Yacht Racer . Mechanical car driving games later originated from British amusement arcades in the 1930s. In the United States, International Mutoscope Reel Company adapted these British arcade driving games into the electro-mechanical game Drive Mobile (1941), which had an upright arcade cabinet similar to what arcade video games would later use. A steering wheel
7550-404: The Need for Speed series. Underground shifted from semi-professional racing and isolated circuits to the street racing style of other arcade racing series: all circuits became part of a single map, Olympic City, except for drifts. Underground introduced two new play modes (Drag and Drift) and more tuning options than in the earlier High Stakes . Underground was also the first game in
7701-568: The motorcycle handlebars to vibrate during a collision with another vehicle. In Spring 1976, the arcade game Nürburgring 1 presented a first-person view. Considered the first "scandalous" arcade game, Exidy 's Death Race (1976) was widely criticized in the media for its violent content, which only served to substantially increase its popularity. Sega released a two-player version of Man T.T. called Twin Course T.T. in January 1977. 1979 saw
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#17328510406587852-423: The "obnoxious" soundtrack, the inability to pause the game, the world size, and the vehicle takedown systems. Negative reception centered around the many bugs and glitches in the game, and frustrations around the game's lack of dedicated servers, triggering frequent host migration. There were also many clashing game features which caused frustrations for players, such as cops chasing players for no reason at all and
8003-425: The 1980s, with over 30,000 arcade cabinets sold worldwide. The same year, Durell released Turbo Esprit , which had an official Lotus license, and working car indicator lights. In 1987, Square released Rad Racer , one of the first stereoscopic 3D games. In the same year, Atari produced RoadBlasters , a driving game that also involved a bit of shooting. One of the last successful pseudo-3D arcade racers
8154-463: The Blacklist, a crew consisting of 15 racers that the player must beat one-by-one to unlock parts, cars, tracks, and to complete career mode. The player had to meet certain requirements before they could take on the next Blacklist rival, such as races completed, milestones achieved, and bounty earned. A special Black Edition of Most Wanted was also released, featuring additional races, challenges, and
8305-520: The Driver/Team selection menu): Ayrton Senna became "Carlos Sanchez", for example. In 1995, Sega Rally Championship introduced rally racing and featured cooperative gameplay alongside the usual competitive multiplayer. Sega Rally was also the first to feature driving on different surfaces (including asphalt , gravel , and mud ) with different friction properties and the car's handling changing accordingly, making it an important milestone in
8456-487: The PC version the best looking version. GameZone 's Mike Splechta gave the PS4 version an 8.5/10, stating "For a game that touts speed in its name, Need for Speed: Rivals delivers on every front. It's gorgeous, fast and definitely furious." Daniel Krupa for IGN scored the game an 8.0 and stated: "Fast, furious, and fun. NFS: Rivals blends Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted to great effect." Philip Kollar of Polygon gave
8607-543: The PS2 version was developed by Black Box Games in Vancouver. Hot Pursuit 2 draws primarily from the gameplay and style of NFS III , putting emphasis on evading the police and over-the-top tracks. Although the game allowed players to play as the police, the pursuit mode was less realistic than preceding versions of NFS ; players merely needed to "tap" a speeder to arrest them, as opposed to using simulated police tactics to immobilize
8758-671: The PlayStation 4 version 80/100, the Xbox One version 75/100, the PlayStation 3 version 80/100, the Windows version 76/100, and the Xbox 360 version 76/100. During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards , the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Need for Speed Rivals for " Racing Game of the Year ". Steve Hannley of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4.5/5, saying "It’s raw, visceral, intense and boasts
8909-571: The Speedlists or Assignments, story cutscenes are revealed, each of which appears to be connected with the other. In an attempt to make himself known to the public, street racer Zephyr uploads a video of him outrunning the police along the streets of Redview County. Within a few days, other racers begin replicating what Zephyr did in the video. As a result, the racers have become more public in their criminal acts and increasingly more dangerous, committing more acts of damage to property as they speed through
9060-414: The United States, and one of the year's highest-grossing arcade games in Japan and London. Suzuki's team at Sega followed it with hydraulic motion simulator cockpit cabinets for later racing games, notably Out Run (1986). It was one of the most graphically impressive games of its time, known for its pseudo-3D sprite-based driving engine, and it became an instant classic that spawned many sequels. It
9211-466: The backgrounds. Alpha Denshi 's Splendor Blast (1985) combined Pole Position style racing with Zaxxon style sci-fi vehicles, space settings and shoot 'em up elements. STUN Runner (1989) by Atari Games featured 3D polygon graphics and allowed players to blast other vehicles. On home consoles, futuristic racing games were defined by Nintendo 's F-Zero (1990) for the SNES, which spawned
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#17328510406589362-426: The beginning of the game, and the objective is to unlock the remaining locked content by winning tournaments. This version featured chases by police cars, a popular theme throughout the series. Another version called The Need for Speed: Special Edition , was released only for the PC in 1996. It featured support for DirectX 2 and TCP/IP networking , two new tracks, but dropped the ever-popular flip and go in favor of
9513-438: The biggest arcade hits of the 1960s. Taito 's similar 1970 rear-projection driving game Super Road 7 involved driving a car down an endlessly scrolling road while having to dodge cars, which formed the basis for Taito's 1974 racing video game Speed Race . One of the last successful electro-mechanical arcade games was F-1 , a racing game developed and released by Namco in 1976, and distributed in North America by Atari
9664-1169: The car to allow the player to keep up their speed by drifting through a turn. Collisions with other racers, track obstacles , or traffic vehicles is usually much more exaggerated than simulation racers as well. For the most part, arcade-style racers simply remove the precision and rigor required from the simulation experience and focus strictly on the racing element itself. They often license real cars and leagues, but are equally open to more exotic settings and vehicles. Races take place on highways, windy roads, or in cities; they can be multiple-lap circuits or point-to-point sprints, with one or multiple paths sometimes with checkpoints, or other types of competition, like demolition derby , jumping, or testing driving skills. Popular arcade-style racing franchises include Battle Gear , Out Run , Ridge Racer , Daytona USA , Need for Speed , Sega Rally , Cruis'n , Burnout , Rush , Midnight Club , Project Gotham Racing , TrackMania , MotorStorm and Forza Horizon . Conversely, many arcade racing games in amusement arcades frequently use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets that simulate
9815-416: The cars cannot be damaged at all; in some games, the software simulates real-car behavior (physics), while in others there are more forgiving physics. With the release of Need for Speed: Underground , the series shifted from racing sports cars on scenic point-to-point tracks to an import/tuner subculture involving street racing in an urban setting. To date, this theme has remained prevalent in most of
9966-530: The city of Chicago using a variety of vehicles and any path that they desire. In the arcade world, Sega introduced Crazy Taxi , a sandbox racing game where you are a taxi driver that needed to get the client to the destination in the shortest amount of time. A similar game also from Sega is Emergency Call Ambulance , with almost the same gameplay (pick up patient, drop off at hospital, as fast as possible). Games are becoming more and more realistic visually. Some arcade games are now featuring 3 screens to provide
10117-445: The company in 1991, it had created popular racing games such as Stunts and Test Drive II: The Duel . After the purchase, the company was renamed Electronic Arts (EA) Canada . The company capitalized on its experience in the domain by developing the Need for Speed series in late 1992. EA Canada continued to develop and expand the Need for Speed franchise up to 2002, when another Vancouver-based developer, named Black Box Games ,
10268-732: The competition between racers by adding weapons that can be used against opponents to slow them down or otherwise impede their progress so they can be passed. This is a staple feature in kart racing games such as the Mario Kart series, but this kind of game mechanic also appears in standard, car-based racing games as well. Weapons can range from projectile attacks to traps as well as non-combative items like speed boosts. Weapon-based racing games include games such as Full Auto , Rumble Racing , Grip: Combat Racing , Re-Volt and Blur . There are also Vehicular combat games that employ racing games elements: for example, racing has been featured as
10419-526: The crash. However, Zephyr is revealed to have just survived the crash. While barely awake, he starts up his badly damaged car in an attempt to drive away. At the end of the Cop story, just as he successfully takes down Zephyr, F-8 loses control of his car and wrecks it in a crash, leaving him in critical condition. A following news report also reveals that F-8 has already been discharged from the police force for his dangerous and reckless actions. Sometime later, with Zephyr seemingly never heard from again, F-8, now
10570-466: The drivers of "wacky" vehicles. Kart racing games are a more arcade-like experience than other racing games and usually offer modes in which player characters can shoot projectiles at one another or collect power-ups . Typically, in such games, vehicles move more alike go-karts , lacking anything along the lines of a gear stick and clutch pedal . While car combat elements date back to earlier titles such as Taito 's Crashing Race in 1976,
10721-600: The exception for the Aston Martin Vanquish (and most DLC cars), all cars in the game are only available to either the Racers or the Cops. Need for Speed Rivals takes place in the fictional Redview County. The open world environment features a similar set-up to Most Wanted , with several jumps, speed traps, and unlockable cars, as well as shortcuts that are not shown on the map. The map's design took heavy inspiration from
10872-573: The first arcade racing game with 3D graphics (it was predated by Winning Run , Hard Drivin' and Stunts ), it was able to combine the best features of games at the time, along with multiplayer machine linking and clean 3D graphics to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time, laying the foundations for subsequent 3D racing games. It improved on earlier 3D racing games with more complex 3D models and backdrops, higher frame rate, and switchable camera angles including chase-cam and first-person views. IGN considers it
11023-416: The first game in the series to support Direct3D hardware. High Stakes , developed by EA Canada and EA Seattle, was released in 1999. The game features more realistic elements than its predecessors and introduced a damage system that allows cars to take damage when colliding with objects, affecting their appearance and performance. It also introduced a series of economy-based tournaments, awarding players with
11174-434: The first games released for the Xbox 360 . The PlayStation Portable port of Most Wanted is titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0 . Police chases represent a significant body of the gameplay, and includes the free-roaming aspect of Underground 2 , but with less extensive vehicle customization features. The story mode is a different style from Underground , with CGI effects mixed with live-action. The game featured
11325-407: The first third-person racing video game (it was predated by Sega's Turbo ), Pole Position established the conventions of the genre and its success inspired numerous imitators. According to Electronic Games , for "the first time in the amusement parlors, a first-person racing game gives a higher reward for passing cars and finishing among the leaders rather than just for keeping all four wheels on
11476-463: The following games. Need for Speed: Shift and its sequel took a simulator approach to racing, featuring closed-circuit racing on real tracks like the Nürburgring and Laguna Seca , as well as the fictional street circuits in various cities like London and Chicago . The car lists include a combination of exotics, sports cars, and tuners in addition to special race cars. Most of the games in
11627-411: The footage is played. These early EM driving games consisted of only the player vehicle on the road, with no rival cars to race against. EM driving games later evolved in Japan, with Kasco's 1968 racing game Indy 500 , which was licensed by Chicago Coin for release in North America as Speedway in 1969. It had a circular racetrack with rival cars painted on individual rotating discs illuminated by
11778-465: The form of suspension upgrades, nitrous systems, and engine mods. Need for Speed: Underground Rivals was the first Need for Speed game released on the PlayStation Portable. Different from Need for Speed: Underground 2 as it had no free roam and the cars were very limited, it was released in 2005. Need for Speed: Most Wanted was developed by EA Black Box, released in 2005, and was one of
11929-456: The franchise has been one of the most successful of all time, selling over 150 million copies. The franchise has expanded into other forms of media, including a film adaptation and licensed Hot Wheels toys. The Need for Speed series was originally developed by Distinctive Software , a video game studio based in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada. Prior to Electronic Arts ' purchase of
12080-471: The franchise include police pursuits in some form or other. In some of the games featuring police pursuit (e.g. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit ), the player can play as either the felon or the cop. The concepts of drifting and dragging were introduced in Need for Speed: Underground . These new mechanics are included in the tournament/career mode aside from the regular street races. In drift races, in games like Underground and Need for Speed (2015) ,
12231-437: The future is bright for this franchise." Andrew Reiner of Game Informer gave high praise to the online multiplayer interactivity, stressing that the online features create an experience unlike any other. Reiner also called the game's visuals "drop dead gorgeous", and complimented the playability for making the game feel "silky smooth". Reiner gave the game a 9/10 and had minor criticisms. Nick Pino from GamesRadar also praised
12382-545: The future would be developed wholly by Criterion, but did say that the studio would have "strong involvement" in them. With EA Canada and Black Box restructured and refocused towards online and free-to-play games in February 2012, EA had already formed a new studio in 2011, EA Gothenburg. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, it was reported that the studio would focus on development games using the Frostbite game engine. Also reported
12533-473: The future. In August 2013, following the downsizing of Criterion Games, EA Swedish developer Ghost Games would become the main studio for the franchise, and oversee its future development. At the time, 80% of Ghost Games' work force consisted of former Criterion Games employees. From 2013 to 2019, Ghost Games would develop Need for Speed Rivals , the 2015 franchise reboot , 2017's Need for Speed Payback , and 2019's Need for Speed Heat . While Rivals
12684-414: The game an 8.5 out of 10, writing: " Need for Speed Rivals ' technical shortcomings are frustrating primarily because almost everything else about the game is so well-designed and impressive. It builds on the series' legacy but also stretches into meaningful new directions. It may hit a few bumps, but if this is what Ghost Games can pull off in their first release and the first next-gen Need for Speed ,
12835-445: The game uses various checkpoints on the free roam map as the pathway of the race, giving the player the option to take various shortcuts or any other route to the checkpoints of the race. In 2001 Namco released Wangan Midnight to the arcade and later released an upgrade called Wangan Midnight R. Wangan Midnight R was also ported to the PlayStation 2 by Genki as just Wangan Midnight. In 2003, Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club II
12986-468: The games in the NFS series employ the same fundamental rules and similar mechanics: the player controls a race car in a variety of races, the goal being to win the race. In the tournament/career mode, the player must win a series of races in order to unlock vehicles and tracks. Before each race, the player chooses a vehicle and has the option of selecting either an automatic or manual transmission . All games in
13137-415: The genre. During the early-to-mid-1990s, Sega and Namco largely had a monopoly on high-end arcade racing games with realistic 3D visuals. In 1996, a number of competitors attempted to challenge their dominance in the field, including Atari Games with San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing , Gaelco with Speed Up , Jaleco with Super GT 24h , and Konami with Winding Heat . In 1996, Nintendo created
13288-463: The handling dynamics tuning with the automotive magazine's seasoned drivers to match vehicle behavior including realistic over and understeer that remains impressive decades later, as well as sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers and other functions. The game contained vehicle data with spoken commentary, several "magazine-style" images of each car, and short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music. Most cars and tracks are available at
13439-416: The infamous street racer for good. There are two endings, one for each side. As with all preceding story cutscenes, these two endings appear to be connected to each other. At the end of the Racer story, right after he completes the decisive race, Zephyr smashes into a police blockade, causing him to crash violently. A subsequent news report shows Zephyr's car smoking heavily, suggesting he has been killed in
13590-558: The kart racing subgenre was popularized by Nintendo 's Super Mario Kart in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which spawned the Mario Kart series. The game was slower than other racing games of the time due to hardware limitations, prompting the developers to use a go-kart theme for the game. Since then, over 50 kart racing games have been released, featuring characters ranging from Nicktoons to South Park . Futuristic racing games are
13741-583: The landscapes of the Western United States , with the setting's open world map consisting of over 100 miles (160 km) of road. The northern part of the map takes inspiration from Californian coastline towns like Santa Monica , the eastern part consists of woods similar to the redwood forests of northern California and snowy mountainside based on the Rocky Mountains in Colorado , the southern part
13892-426: The lead developer of the franchise going forward. At E3 2012 , Criterion Games vice president Alex Ward announced that random developers would no longer be developing NFS titles. Ward wouldn't confirm that all Need for Speed games in the future would be developed entirely by Criterion, but he did say the studio would have "strong involvement" in them and would have control over which NFS titles would be released in
14043-515: The look and feel of driving or riding a vehicle. For example, a motorbike that the player sits on and moves around to control the on-screen action, or a car-like cabinet (with seats, steering wheel, pedals and gear stick) that moves around in sync with the on-screen action. This has been especially common for arcade racing games from Sega since the 1980s. However, this can typically only be found in arcade racing games for amusement arcades, rather than arcade-style racing games for home systems. During
14194-524: The main game. Need for Speed Rivals was well received by critics at E3 2013 and was awarded with "Best Racing Game" from Game Critics Awards . Previewers who had access to Rivals called the game a spiritual successor to 1999's Need for Speed: High Stakes , citing similar gameplay style. Others called it an improved version of Criterion's Hot Pursuit , citing similar gameplay mechanics. Need for Speed Rivals received mostly positive reviews upon release. Aggregate review website Metacritic gave
14345-597: The majority of the studio moved over to Ghost Games UK to work with Need for Speed games. Due to this, what remained of Criterion Games began work on a project of their own. Because of the low sales of Most Wanted on the Wii U and PlayStation Vita , Rivals was not developed for those platforms. Rivals was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on November 19, 2013 in North America, November 21 in Australia, and November 22 in Europe. The PlayStation 4 version
14496-471: The max level of the car's Pursuit Tech. Besides electrostatic field and EMP ( electromagnetic pulse ), which are the only weapons available to both factions, Cops can deploy shock rams, assemble roadblocks, request helicopter support, or drop spike strips , while Racers can deploy radar jammers, trigger shockwaves, drop stun mines, or activate turbo boosts. The Autolog system, a competition-between-friends system developed by Criterion for Hot Pursuit , records
14647-546: The mid-late 2000s there was a trend of new street racing ; imitating the import scene , one can tune sports compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and the Midnight Club series, certain entries in the Need for Speed and Test Drive series, Initial D series, the Juiced series and FlatOut 2 . Some arcade-style racing games increase
14798-524: The more generic scene reset after an accident, a portents of the arcade-style gaming that would dominate the series ever after. Need for Speed II ( NFS II ) featured some rare and exotic vehicles, including the Ford Indigo concept vehicle, and featured country-themed tracks from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. A new racing mode was also introduced, dubbed "Knockout", where the last racers to finish laps will be eliminated. In addition, track design
14949-469: The most important racing game ever made." It was an evolution of Namco's earlier racing electro-mechanical games , notably F-1 (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on Pole Position . Pole Position was the first video game to be based on a real racing circuit, and the first with a qualifying lap, where the player needs to complete a time trial before they can compete in Grand Prix races. While not
15100-543: The new champion of sim racing, until the release of Papyrus' IndyCar Racing the following year. Formula One Grand Prix boasted detail that was unparalleled for a computer game at the time as well as a full recreation of the drivers, cars and circuits of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. However, the U.S. version (known as World Circuit ) was not granted an official license by the FIA, so teams and drivers were renamed (though all could be changed back to their real names using
15251-426: The only games in the series to support DOS, with subsequent releases for the PC running only on Windows (excluding Need for Speed: Carbon which was also released on Mac OS X). The first installment of The Need for Speed was the only serious attempt by the series to provide a realistic simulation of car handling elements through the direct collaboration of Staff members from Road & Track . Electronic Arts left
15402-422: The player drives down a straight track dodging other cars. The game used vertical scrolling , inspired by two older electro-mechanical games : Kasco's Mini Drive and Taito's Super Road 7 . Speed Race was re-branded as Wheels by Midway Games for release in North America and was influential on later racing games. Midway also released another version, Racer , with a sit-down cabinet. Speed Race became
15553-406: The player either attempted to outrun the police or be the cop, arresting speeders. NFS III took advantage of the multimedia capabilities by featuring audio commentary, picture slideshows, and music videos. This game was the first in the series to allow the downloading of additional cars from the official website. As a result, modding communities sprang up to create vehicles. The PC version was also
15704-819: The player know the limit of grip. The best sounding games effectively integrate the sound model with the vehicle and tire simulation models. Some of these racing simulators are customizable, as game fans have decoded the tracks, cars, and executable files. Internet communities have grown around the simulators regarded as the most realistic and many websites host internet championships. Some of these racing simulators consist of Forza Motorsport , Gran Turismo , GTR2 , Assetto Corsa , iRacing , Project CARS , Automobilista 2 and many more. Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while adding obstacles, unusual track designs and various action elements. Kart racers are also known to cast characters known from various platform games or cartoon television series as
15855-423: The player levels up and unlocks new content, and is presented with another set of objectives to choose from. Similar to the 2010 Hot Pursuit , players can use weapons, referred to as Pursuit Tech, to attack other players or AI cars, or otherwise defend themselves. Players can equip from two of each side's six available weapons, each of which can be enhanced, although upgrades are limited to a certain level based on
16006-443: The player must defeat other racers by totaling the most points, earned by the length and timing of the drift made by the player's vehicle. In drag races, the player must finish first to win the race, though if the player crashes into an obstacle or wall, the race ends. In Need for Speed Payback , the player has to earn a certain number of points to win; increase their multiplier based on how many points they get, whilst passing through
16157-472: The player through the campaign. The customization features were significantly expanded on modifications that did not affect vehicle performance. Players were required to customize their car to a certain numerical value in order to be offered DVD and magazine covers, the only way to advance to higher game levels. The game featured more extensive product placement for companies with no connection to auto racing. This game also had extensive customization options in
16308-547: The player's completion time for each event, Speedlist or Assignment. These times are posted to Speed Walls for local and global leaderboards to be compared to other players' times. Rivals features a new social system called the AllDrive , which allows players to transition from playing alone to playing with others, described as "destroying the line between single player and multiplayer". This allows players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay. The game also features
16459-412: The prior three games in the series. The Special Edition contained a specially-tuned BMW M3 GT2, and an Elite Series track. Two items of downloadable content were released for the game. Need for Speed: Nitro is the first NFS game made exclusively for Nintendo DS and Wii , featuring arcade-style gameplay and targeting a casual audience, released in 2009. Need for Speed: Nitro was also available as
16610-510: The release of Need for Speed: Underground 2 , when the appearance is rated from zero to ten points. When a car attains a high enough visual rating, the vehicle is eligible to be on the cover of a fictional magazine. Like all racing games, the Need for Speed series features a list of cars, modeled and named after actual cars. Cars in the franchise are divided into four categories: exotic cars , muscle cars , tuners , and special vehicles. Exotic cars feature high performance, expensive cars like
16761-421: The release of Vectorbeam 's Speed Freak , a three-dimensional vector racing game, which Killer List of Videogames calls "very impressive and ahead of their time". Turbo , released by Sega in 1981, was the first racing game to use sprite scaling with full-color graphics. Pole Position , developed by Namco and released by Atari in North America, was released in 1982. It is considered "arguably
16912-572: The release of the first video game console , the Magnavox Odyssey . It included a game called Wipeout , where the player moves a dot around a race track that is outlined by an overlay placed on the television screen. It required the use of physical items to play, including a race game board, screen overlay, car tokens and pit stop cards. In 1973, Atari released Space Race , an arcade video game where players control spaceships that race against opposing ships, while avoiding comets and meteors. It
17063-479: The road (similar to Tokyo Xtreme Racer ). Underground 2 also introduced several SUVs , used to race against other SUVs. The most significant change vs. the original Underground was the introduction of its open world (free roam) environments, setting the tone for numerous NFS games to come. This was also the publisher's most marketed feature at launch. In addition, the game featured actresses/models Brooke Burke and Kelly Brook as in-game characters to help guide
17214-473: The road". According to IGN , it also "introduced checkpoints," and its success, as "the highest-grossing arcade game of 1983 in North America, cemented the genre in place for decades to come and inspired a horde of other racing games". It sold over 21,000 arcade cabinets in the US by 1983, and again became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the US. Taito's Laser Grand Prix , introduced in July 1983,
17365-466: The rules and rescue racers from falling down. In 1988, Namco released Winning Run , which used 3D polygon graphics . It became the second highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan. In 1989, Atari released Hard Drivin' , another arcade driving game that used 3D polygon graphics. It uses force feedback, where the wheel fights the player during aggressive turns, and a crash replay camera view. Sega produced Virtua Racing in 1992. While not
17516-408: The same year. The gameplay is viewed from the perspective of the driver's viewpoint, which is displayed on the screen using a projector system. It was Japan's highest-grossing arcade game for two years in a row, in 1976 and 1977. F-1 is believed to have been influenced by Indy 500 , and would in turn be influential on Namco's racing video games in the 1980s. Another notable EM game from the 1970s
17667-485: The second-most successful racing game franchise of all time, selling over 80 million units worldwide as of April 2018. By 1997, the typical PC was capable of matching an arcade machine in terms of graphical quality, mainly due to the introduction of first generation 3D accelerators such as 3DFX Voodoo. The faster CPUs were capable of simulating increasingly realistic physics, car control, and graphics. Colin McRae Rally
17818-477: The series have some form of multiplayer mode allowing players to race one another via a split screen , a LAN or the Internet. Since Need for Speed: High Stakes , the series has also integrated car body customization into gameplay. Although the games share the same name, their tone and focus can vary significantly. For example, in some games the cars can suffer mechanical and visual damage, while in other games
17969-519: The series to feature a story, told via pre-rendered videos. Underground features tuner cars and has a wide variety of tuning options such as widebody kits, bumpers, spoilers, as well as performance upgrades such as engines and nitrous . City street racing is the primary focus of the game. There are no police in Underground and Underground 2 , which drew criticism as police had been an important part of previous titles. Need for Speed: Underground 2 ,
18120-517: The series took place in international settings, such as race tracks in Australia , Europe , and Africa . Beginning with Underground , the series has taken place in fictional metropolitan cities. The first game featured traffic on "head to head" mode, while later games traffic can be toggled on and off, and starting with Underground , traffic is a fixed obstacle. Most of the recent Need for Speed games are set in fictional locations of our world, in
18271-526: The streets, where he wreaks havoc by taking down street racers under the guise of a fellow racer. This causes the FBI to take an interest in F-8, sending him an invitation to join the VRT. Knowing this, F-8 immediately gives up his vigilante persona and accepts the invitation. At the same time, all police units have been called back on active duty. Zephyr eventually discovers who F-8 really is and decides to retaliate, stealing
18422-549: The streets. The Redview County Police Department responds by increasing their punitive measures in an attempt to bring the racers to justice, resulting in public backlash. Later on, an RCPD officer named John McManis is injured while attempting to keep up with the racers. Public outcry swings back in support of the police, leading the rookie officer to swear revenge on the racers. However, further increase in police intimidation and accusations of 'excessive force' leads to all RCPD officers being placed under probationary suspension, while
18573-438: The third most influential racing game of all time. In 1993, Namco released Ridge Racer . Its 3D polygon graphics stood out for the use of Gouraud shading and texture mapping . And thus began the polygon war of driving games. Sega later released Daytona USA , which featured 3D polygon graphics with texture filtering . The following year, Electronic Arts produced The Need for Speed , which would later spawn one of
18724-575: The three car specifications: Patrol, Undercover, and Enforcer. Most of the story takes place through cutscenes, with the chosen character voicing their opinions of current events in the game. Story progression is made through completing speedlists as a racer, or assignments as a cop. Rivals features a career progression system for both Cop and Racer. Progression is made by means of Speedlists for Racer and Assignments for Cop, which are sets of objectives which involve dangerous driving, maneuvers, and race standings. Upon completion of each set of objectives,
18875-508: The versions would "ultimately be the same", aside from the graphics would look different, and next-gen would provide for more dynamic weather and gameplay. On August 30, 2013, Ghost Games head Marcus Nilsson stated that the studio had been given complete charge of the Need for Speed franchise and that the franchise being bounced between multiple EA studios was not "consistent" with different game types. On September 16, 2013, Criterion Games had its staff numbers reduced to 17 people total, as
19026-492: The visuals and controls, calling them "absolutely gorgeous" and "slick" respectively. Pino was critical of the car customization and damage, but commended the game world for feeling alive. Eurogamer 's Martin Robinson gave the game a 9/10 and called it "fantastic". He spoke well of the overall action gameplay, the points system, the sound design of the cars, the visuals, and the world design. Robinson's main criticisms were concerning
19177-535: The world" promotions and in-game events held. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was developed by British games developer Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts in 2010. It focuses on racing and police chases rather than car customization. The game won many awards at the E3 2010, including "Best Racing Game", becoming the first game in the NFS series since the original Hot Pursuit to win an E3 award. Racing game Usually, arcade -style racing games put fun and
19328-434: The world's most successful racing game series and one of the most successful video game series. In the same year, Midway introduced Crusin' USA . The now defunct Papyrus Design Group produced their first attempt at a racing simulator in 1989, the critically acclaimed Indianapolis 500: The Simulation , designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari. The game is generally regarded as the first true auto racing simulation on
19479-422: Was The Driver , a racing- action game released by Kasco (Kansai Seiki Seisakusho Co.) that used 16 mm film to project full motion video on screen, though its gameplay had limited interaction, requiring the player to match their steering wheel , accelerator and brakes with movements shown on screen, much like the sequences in later LaserDisc games . The BBC television program Tomorrow's World broadcast
19630-474: Was Sega's Super Monaco GP (1989), a simulation of the Monaco Grand Prix . It was the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan, and again the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1990 in Japan. In 1992, Nintendo released Super Mario Kart , but it was known that it was pseudo-3D racing. Here it has items to affect players from racing and the referee, Lakitu will help you out to know
19781-404: Was acquired by EA and contracted to continue the series with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 . Meanwhile, Slightly Mad Studios would develop the 2009 sim racing title, Need for Speed: Shift , and its 2011 sequel, Shift 2: Unleashed . The UK-based Criterion Games would develop the 2010 Hot Pursuit title; a successor to 1998's Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit . The game introduced
19932-430: Was also confirmed that Rivals was in the works at EA's Swedish games developer Ghost Games in partnership with Criterion Games. Ghost is headed up by former DICE executive producer Marcus Nilsson, who previously led development on games including Battlefield 2: Modern Combat , Battlefield 2142 and Shift 2: Unleashed . The team asserted that while Rivals will be released on both current and next-gen systems,
20083-420: Was also notable for giving the player the non-linear choice of which route to take through the game and the choice of soundtrack to listen to while driving, represented as radio stations. The game has up to five endings depending on the route taken, and each one was an ending sequence rather than a simple "Congratulations" as was common in game endings at the time. It became Sega's best-selling arcade cabinet of
20234-433: Was awarded with "Best Racing Game" from Game Critics Awards . It received mostly positive reviews upon release. It was followed in 2015 by the mobile game Need for Speed: No Limits , and the self-titled reboot . Need for Speed Rivals is a racing game and features gameplay similar to earlier Need for Speed titles, such as Criterion's Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit . Rivals uses
20385-421: Was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time, combined with playability, enabling players of all skill levels to play. It offered a wealth of meticulous tuning options and introduced an open-ended career mode where players had to undertake driving tests to acquire driving licenses , earn their way into races and choose their own career path. The Gran Turismo series has since become
20536-489: Was developed by EA Black Box and released in 2004. A demo of the game was placed as a bonus in copies of the EA/ Criterion collaboration Burnout 3: Takedown . In Underground 2 , the story mode continued, but there were new racing modes such as Underground Racing League and Street X, more tuning options, and a new method of selecting races. Also included was an "outrun" mode where a player can challenge random opponents on
20687-466: Was introduced in 1998 to the PC world, and was a successful semi-simulation of the world of rally driving, previously only available in the less serious Sega Rally Championship . Motorhead , a PC game, was later adapted back to arcade. In the same year, Sega releases Daytona USA 2 (Battle On The Edge and Power Edition), which is one of the first racing games to feature realistic crashes and graphics . The year 1999 introduced Crash Team Racing ,
20838-526: Was more open-ended; players could now "drive" off the asphalt, and cut across fields to take advantage of shortcuts. Need for Speed II: Special Edition includes one extra track, extra cars, and support for Glide . The PlayStation port of NFS II also took advantage of the NeGcon controller, and the Dual Analog and DualShock controllers as well. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit added Hot Pursuit mode, where
20989-520: Was one of the most successful traditional 2D racing games, becoming the most popular arcade driving game in the US in 1981 , and among the highest-grossing games that year, while making a record number of appearances on the RePlay arcade charts through 1987. In 1980, Namco 's overhead-view driving game Rally-X was one of the first games to have background music , and allowed scrolling in multiple directions, both vertical and horizontal . It also uses
21140-508: Was originally scheduled for an Asian release in the summer of 2009, but the game was not released at that time and it was released worldwide in 2010. The game was in public beta-testing limited to residents of Taiwan in October 2009 Need for Speed World closed its servers in July 2015. They soon after removed the ability to create new accounts for the game and began winding down their support for it. Leading up to closure, there were several "end of
21291-590: Was positively-received, the 2015 reboot and its follow-ups received more mixed reviews. In February 2020, Criterion regained oversight of the franchise, with its first release since then being 2022's Need for Speed Unbound . Meanwhile, several past entries (namely Need for Speed: Carbon , Need for Speed: Undercover , Shift , Shift 2 and Need for Speed: The Run ), with the exception of 2010's Hot Pursuit , and 2012's Need for Speed: Most Wanted , became delisted from online stores. Their respective online servers were shut down on August 31, 2021. Almost all of
21442-446: Was proud of the Black Box-developed installment, "he didn't want a 60, I want an 80+". On the subject of EA Black Box, Gibeau said the publisher would not be changing its alternating studio strategy. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 , Criterion vice president Alex Ward announced that the days of random developers churning out yearly Need for Speed installments were over. Ward would not confirm that all Need for Speed titles for
21593-481: Was released as a digital download only, released in 2010. Need for Speed: World was a free-to-play MMO racing game for Windows -based PCs . It took on the gameplay style of Most Wanted and Carbon , focusing on illegal street racing, tuning and police chases, and adding classic MMO elements to the mix. World incorporated almost exact replicas of the cities of Rockport and Palmont, the cities of Most Wanted and Carbon respectively, into its map design. World
21744-540: Was released in 1994. The most recent game, Need for Speed Unbound , was released on December 2, 2022. Additionally, a free-to-play mobile installment released in 2015, Need for Speed: No Limits , is actively developed by Firemonkeys Studios (the developers of Real Racing 3 ). The series titles have been overseen and developed by multiple notable teams over the years, including EA Canada , EA Black Box , Slightly Mad Studios , and Ghost Games . Several Need for Speed games have been well-received critically, and
21895-546: Was released in 2008. The game had a significantly longer development cycle than previous games, taking 16 months to develop. EA ported Undercover to various mobile devices. It was the last Need for Speed game for PlayStation 2 . EA Games president Frank Gibeau stated that since sales of ProStreet did not live up to EA's projections, the franchise would go back to its "roots". However, the game received lower scores on aggregate than ProStreet . The game focused on tuning and police chases, featured over 50 cars, and took place in
22046-416: Was released in North America a few days earlier, on November 15, 2013, as a launch title for the system, and on November 29 in Europe. The Xbox One version was released worldwide on 22 November 2013. On October 21, 2014, Need for Speed Rivals Complete Edition was released. It features all DLC packs (as well as all pre-order bonuses previously re-released in the "Fully Loaded Garage" DLC pack) along with
22197-502: Was that the studio was developing a game "in the Need For Speed franchise". According to the CVs of employees, much of the studio's staff had worked previously on major racing titles, including Forza Horizon , Need for Speed: The Run , Project Gotham Racing and Race Pro . On October 22, 2012, the series main developer Criterion Games confirmed that EA Gothenburg was working on
22348-429: Was the first racing laserdisc game , using pre-recorded live-action footage. In 1984, several other racing laserdisc games followed, including Sega's GP World with live-action footage and Universal 's Top Gear featuring 3D animated race car driving. The same year, Irem 's The Battle-Road was a vehicle combat racing game with branching paths and up to 32 possible routes. Geoff Crammond , who later developed
22499-648: Was the first racing game to feature both playable cars and playable motorcycles. Namco released a sort of sequel to Wangan Midnight R called Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune . There is a wide gamut of driving games ranging from simple action-arcade racers like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch ) and Nicktoon Racers to ultra-realistic simulators like Grand Prix Legends , iRacing , Virtual Grand Prix 3 , Live for Speed , NetKar Pro , Assetto Corsa , GT Legends , GTR2 , rFactor , X Motor Racing , CarX Street , and iPad 3D racer Exhilarace . Need for Speed Rivals Need for Speed Rivals
22650-477: Was used in place of Local Area Network (LAN) play. Hot Pursuit 2 was the first NFS game to use songs sung by licensed artists under the EA Trax label. Need for Speed: Underground was developed by EA Black Box and released in 2003. On PC, this was the first NFS game to require Hardware Transform and Lighting in graphics cards. Most of the new elements in Underground became defining marks of later installments in
22801-439: Was used to control a model car over a road painted on a metal drum , with the goal being to keep the car centered as the road shifts left and right. Kasco introduced this type of driving game to Japan as Mini Drive in 1958. Capitol Projector's 1954 machine Auto Test was a driving test simulation that used film reel to project pre-recorded driving video footage, awarding the player points for making correct decisions as
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