We’re back for another Under the Hood and this time we’re going to be talking about Multiplayer.



When we released Need for Speed (2015) one of the more popular bits of feedback was for us to include Speedlists as a multiplayer option, which we did. We’re bringing Speedlists back for Need for Speed Payback but there’s been some changes, let’s take a look.



Event Voting

First thing to note is that you can now vote for the next event, giving you a choice to have your say on what comes next. Players in the bottom half of the standings table will get more votes than those in the top half.



Your available votes also carry over between rounds so spend them wisely. If the vote is going the way you want, then it could be a good idea to keep hold of your votes and spend them on an upcoming round.



Spend them straight away or keep hold of them? Risk vs Reward, your call.



Loadout & Matchmaking

Before you start racing against others you’ll need to specify what cars you have within your loadout. You’re going to need to pick one race and one off-road car to take with you into the Speedlist. You’ll then be placed into a multiplayer session with players using cars of similar Performance Level (what you may have seen referred to previously as Tier) rating to yours.



If you select the Ranked option (as opposed to Casual) you’ll also have an additional criteria effecting your matchmaking placement, your determined skill rating. Keep winning and you’ll find yourself increasing in ranks, but perform badly and you’ll find yourself dropping down.

Multiplayer Ranks