Yesterday I had a unique chance to play the 2015 Need For Speed demo and after I posted some pictures I have receive many questions from you guys, therefore I have decided to write a preview with all my findings. First of all, I did not have much time and second of all, I will be writing it from a petrolhead perspective.

The Need For Speed series is one of the main factors that has fueled my passion to love cars, I have played every single game from the first Need For Speed (in 1994, damn is it more than 20 years already?!) until the first Most Wanted. I kinda lost it halfway through Carbon, but I did enjoy Shift 1 and Shift 2 because of its focus on the motorsports. The other titles in between however, were not able to attract any of my attention. Even when I had the chance to play them during an event for free, something restrained me from doing it. I was indifferent to them, which is probably worse than hating it.

But everything changed a few months ago when the first trailer for the new NFS was released. True petrolheads were immediately attracted by those automotive icons - ha, Ghost/EA Games, did you really think we could not recognise their silhouettes? I will get back to this point later, let’s start with the game itself.

The demo I played allowed to choose from 5 vehicles: Nissan S13, Porsche 930, 2015 Ford Mustang, Nissan C10 GT-R Hakosuka and the BRZ/GT-86/FR-S, which is BRZ in game, although the basic color is white (Subaru fanboys went straight to “paint vehicle” option). After that it is customizing time and let me just say it: damn. It is widely known that since Speedhunters are a part of EA Games - they were heavily involved with the making process and you can see it. Everything feels “just right”. At the moment of writing I can’t say that customization options are “endless“ because I did not have much time to find out whether you could move front canards to any position you wanted them to be, but the customization process is flawless. The creation possibilities alone made me want to purchase the game. As usually, various brands’ product line are well-represented in the game, and you can even mix them. Feel free to install Endless brake rotors with Wilwood brake calipers. This particular feature made me frown, because it was available in “cosmetic options”, so I could basically just install 400mm brake disc but I had no clue whether it would affect any performance. Also, the browsing through products was just basic left-right, I hope there will be sub-menu’s in the final version with a good overview. Oh, many of you asked me: did it feel like “Underground 1 or 2”? Here is a screenshot I took with my phone that answers it all and only raises more questions.

Unfortunately, the “performance mods” were not available in the demo I played, but something tells me we should not worry about that. But please: only allow cosmetic brake changes when “aftermarket mod is installed”.

There was also a separate window that allows you to change vehicle characteristics such as tire pressure, brake balance and so on, but I did not have enough time to test how much they affect the driving experience. Speaking of which, let’s talk about that.

After you’re done customizing your ride, it’s time to hit the city. The setting reminded me of Underground 1/2 instantly. A dark city, with great atmosphere and occasional traffic. And yes, just like in Underground 1 I had a crash with a stupid minivan that I saw 5 seconds before impact, but for some reason (I was sober, I swear!) was unable to avoid although there was plenty of room and time to do it. I am sure there will be extra changes done to the final version of the game, but I can’t say anything bad about it at this point, nor anything REALLY good, apart from “taking us back to the roots” which is something most of the fans demanded.

Let’s talk handling. Some of you made statements such as “too much arcade - I stick to GT/FM for realism”. Yes, the game involves arcade elements and little realism, but this is exactly the point. You cannot have a head-on collision, then catch up with the rest of the competitors again and overtake them in the corner by pulling handbrake and initiating drift while exiting drift by hitting the NOS button what adds more grip Fast&Furious style and launches you straight to the finish line. Do you understand what I mean? No? Doesn’t matter, you have to admit it sounds epic and fun, and this is what Need For Speed is about. Also, I don’t play games as much as I used to, and if, then I do it more on PC than consoles. The version I played was a PS4 game and I must admit this was the first time in my life I ever played PS4. Nevertheless I finished 3rd while competing against 12 other players in the same room and I guess this also very important: being accessible to everyone who just wants to have fun.

Some additional thoughts and findings that do not fit anywhere else but are worth mentioning. First of all, the music. I was never disappointed in Need For Speed soundtrack and it is still the case. The tunes fit the action perfect and there is an interesting feature that stops the music when you stop the car (Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around for a while you could miss it) . I am also interested whether “sound system upgrades” are going to affect the sound in any way. Next, there are visuals. The level of detail is perfect, but there was one thing I was missing though: interior camera. Ricers would love to fit 10 DEFI gauges in their car and watch them move, while others just want to have a different experience. Maybe this is just a thing missing in demo version, because you could actually see what driver was doing through the windows and that looked well-detailed. Next, like previous Need For Speed games it is an open-world game where you go to any challenge you want and can go straight to garage immediately to fit some mods. Something that pops up on my mind: it would be cool to have “magazine features” just like there were in Underground 2, but since customization is such an important factor, I am sure there will be something special.

Finally, some thoughts on the characters of the game I mentioned in the beginning of this preview. Each of them represent a style and the more you are going to follow that particular style, the more you will attract the character’s attention which will influence the game. Magnus Walker represents Speed, Ken Block will judge your Style, “Build” will make Nakai-san curious, Risky Devil favors “Crew” skills and if you are a true Outlaw, Morohoshi-san will be happy to welcome you. Sounds cool, but to be honest I’d rather see a differentiation in car cultures such as JDM/Muscle/Euro/Classic etc.

The verdict? The demo I played was a spark that ignited my nostalgic passion caused by the early Underground series. Today it’s Friday, but I am staying home because the pre-order button limited my Friday Night budget.