[Mag]

When I purchased Need for Speed on Origin I got Rivals, Original (deluxe) and Payback. Haven't played Payback except to view the introduction. I did view a Payback video on Youtube and it looks more interesting than I originally thought.

Anyway I've put 8 hours of play on Original and in some ways I prefer it over Rivals. My pet peeve is that when I play, it's always raining. Like if I really owned a high performance car I'm not likely to go out for a drive or race for that  matter when it's raining.

In the game at start you have a choice of cars Honda or BMW, which you can then customize, cars can be upgraded as you have money and progress. I tried the Honda but prefer the BMW. I've customized my BMW ( I've reached level 14) which now puts out 580 horsepower. I don't see the need for more horsepower at this time because when I get on the Freeway I haven't been able to top 170 mph because of lack of long enough straightaways. I also tweaked my car for near maximum grip on the road, I believe having control of the car is priority but I could be wrong.

Graphics I have set for High resolution which on my 4k TV is really good. IMO it's even better than Rivals. I have fiber optics cable connection, so not having a high speed connection you may not be able to play at this resolution.

Game play is like you have missions or events to complete or race against other drivers in order to progress. It does have cops that chase you, but not like Rivals, and if a Cop manages to Bust you you'll get a hefty ticket, which you have to pay.

My Car

[zoom25]

Hello fellow Need For Speed enthusiast 





I've been playing since the Underground days and have played almost all the titles in the last 20 years. I have NFS 2015 and Payback as well on PS4 via digital download. I have not tried the NFS Shift games or the latest Heat. Aside from that, I've played just about everything. Have you had a chance to play the Black Box NFS games from the golden era (Underground 1/2, Most Wanted 2005, Carbon, Pro Street)?

The last game I truly enjoyed was Hot Pursuit 2010. Criterion took over it with their 2010 Hot Pursuit, 2012 Most Wanted and Rivals. I've really enjoyed Hot Pursuit from them, but 2012 is painful to play through. (They were rushed to finish it and the game should have been called Burnout rather than Need for Speed). I also found Rivals lacking along with 2015 NFS. Criterion took out the feeling of NFS and their handling and replaced it with the Burnout style of play and handling. I also have Burnout Paradise so I am speaking from experience. I haven't finished Payback yet but found it better than the last few games. I'm going to fire up Rivals again one of these days to give it another shot. The newer open world racing with the new style of handling has somewhat taken the fun out for me.

If you can get your hands on the older games, you'd really enjoy them. IMO 2005 Most Wanted still remains the best of the series overall. I still play that and absolutely love everything about it. It has THE ICONIC car of the series in the E46, Blacklist, speed breaker, car customization, cops, pursuit breakers, best car handing, best map design, great plot and career, rap sheets, and a fun challenge series.

[Mag]

Hi
 No I haven't played video games for several years. I just got back into it as I feel I'm wasting away on my days off, gotta keep my mind going. Like I've been in audiophile mode for the last 20 years and although I still listen extensively I need a break from the routine. I can't stand crap tv with all the commercials and especially the editing hacks who edit these commercials to less than 1 second clips. I'm pretty much youtubed out but still watch when I find an interesting educational subject and Netflix I only watch about once a month. So it's back to gaming, Need for Speed being my game of choice.

I have previous versions of Need for Speed Windows '95- NFS II SE, Porsche Unleashed, Hot Pursuit 2 & 3, High Stakes but they don't work on Windows 10. So although I prefer a hard copy I downloaded Need for Speed from Origin that work on Windows 10. I also had to purchase an Xbox controller for PC as I could not navigate the car very good with a keyboard.

The setup I have now for gaming I could only dream of years ago. 55" 4k HDTV, i7 gaming computer, high speed internet, and hi-end stereo, which really adds to the sound of the car's engine, sounds like the real thing.

[Woodsea]

Mag,
Seems that if you go up to the Northern or Western hills you will have drier runs.  Have fun, nice looking ride!

[zoom25]

Playing those older titles on Windows 10 can be done. It just requires a bit of...unorthodox...steps and workload to get stuff working properly. There are Youtube tutorials out there if that's something you want to pursue. I have a NUC here running W10 and it can play some of those games after messing around. I even have Most Wanted and Carbon running on my iMac as pictured above. I've been waiting so long for official remasters of those classic games. While the graphics aren't quite at PC level, I love the simplicity of consoles. There are also some exclusives like Spiderman and God of War that have compelling stories and gameplay that you just don't get bored with over time. I've been exclusively with Playstation (PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3, and PS4). Nintendo also makes games that are super fun and engaging to play. I still fire up the Wii from time to time. It's always a blast at parties.

Playing older games on older CRT w/built in speakers to now hooked up to a much bigger and better calibrated screens with better sound system adds so much life back to those games. The sound design and capture of the actual cars has always been great in NFS games. It's definitely appreciable on higher-end systems. PS4's Spiderman even offers an audiophile mode with high dynamic range for proper setups.

[zoom25]

I also want to add my biggest gripe with these newer games (MW2012 and onwards) and of Burnout series is the open track racing. I far more enjoyed the closed track racing format. These newer games and their open world racing makes doesn't suit my style at all. I enjoyed 2005 Most or Carbon where the races were closed tracks and cops would be chasing you, but as soon as the races were done, the city opened up and you could go wherever you wanted or needed to, to get away from the cops. With open city while racing, I'm spending half the time worrying about not missing checkpoints and paying attention to the map. This is a big reason why I still immensely enjoy Hot Pursuit 2010 despite Criterion changing up the handling. It's mostly closed circuit, except for Interceptor missions and while the handling is different from Most Wanted or Carbon, it's still fun and more responsive than Most Wanted 2012 or Rivals etc.

[Mag]

I used to play strategy wargames on a map, mostly Avalon Hill. Playability was and still is a key factor in the success of a game. There were games like Tobruk that were based on realism but bogged the game down, I suppose there were gamers that preferred realism. Another example is a computer game like Civilization, I always preferred Civilization II because it was more playable even though the graphics were cartoonish compared to more realism on later versions.

Another thing that has ruined gaming is too many games. Like back in my wargames days there were fewer titles so gamers had games they were specialized in and if you played a different game chances are your opponent had played it too and knew the rules. With more titles however interest became diverse with nobody being specialized or interested in playing the game you liked.

A couple of my favorite games were The Russian Campaign and Flat Top which I played with my friend who used conservative strategy and he was difficult to beat. Whereas I tended to use brute force or overkill, I had to use creative tactics to have a chance.

[Mag]

My New Car at level 26 -  Nissan GT-R Premium 2017
  0-60 in 2.86 seconds, 1/4 mile in 11.16 seconds, Top Speed- 202 mph, Horsepower- 566

I have yet to customize engine as I ran out of cash, but I did the paint & wrap.

[Mag]

You may think playing a game that there is no skill involved in driving. But I have to say this is not the case. Being that I drove a car professionally in real life, I can apply some skills I learned to the game.

In the game there is a Time Trial called Young Speedster that you have to complete in 1 minute and 47 seconds, with a car under 250 HP. I used my Honda with 205 HP. I tried and retried the Time Trial numerous times and could not beat the time. So I tweaked the Honda to 244 HP. Still after numerous attempts could not beat the time. Finally with the peddle to the metal and nearly flawless driving with control, not hitting or bumping into anything I beat the time with 1 minute and 46 seconds and something. This required taking the corners with proper approach and braking.

So there you have it, playing the game is not just reckless dangerous driving. It does require knowing how to drive and controlling the car.

[zoom25]

I've heard that this game has some serious rubber banding at times. Reminds me of Earl's Race #2 (sprint) in Most Wanted. 

No matter what mods you make or how far you are out or whether the AI has crashed or not, they somehow always catch up. You increase your speed via upgrades, they also get faster. With rubberbanding, you essentially have to block them as much as possible.

Going to give this game a shot again soon. I don't mind having driving mechanics that differ between different games. However, they should strive to be consistent. I never truly feel in control with these newer engines.

This is the level of driving control I'm used to:

https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/comments/czpjrt/nfs_most_wanted_2005_handling_is_just_on_point/

If the driving was even 50% as consistent in these newer games.

Keep up posted with the progress 

[undertowogt1]

2 word for you guys if you like these racing games. SIM RACING. I just bought myself a new toy, entry level "Sim rig". A Logitech g29 wheel and pedels, Logitech Shifter and a Play seat Challenge foldable Sim Chair. Download a cracked Project Cars 2 and it is Freaking amazing. I have always loved racing games but this entry setup is unreal, I can see myself upgrading to a better wheel in a year or so. I play on a gaming laptop ( that I really use for work, I do graphics work) and a 50 inch plasma.

[Mag]

I thought I should post a couple of pictures so that you can see the resolution of this game on PC. Mind you some picture quality is lost due to compression.

I drive from the driver's perspective, I like the realism of driving from the cockpit. Also I got a $500 ticket taking the picture with the cop car just taking the screen shot.

My Honda