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5 Need For Speed tips that will help you win
Struggling to get ahead in the new Need For Speed game? Let us guide you with these top tips.
After an extra year's break, Need For Speed is back- and with it comes some changes to the formula you might not have been expecting. It's still racing cars, don't worry, but there are some pared-back rides and tweaks to other parts of the game that might leave you a bit flummoxed.
With that in mind, we're here to give you a few basic tips to get your Need For Speed career off the ground. Well, you'll probably want to stay on the ground, but the tips'll get you around the corners, at least.
Pay attention to what you're doing
Captain Obvious to the rescue! We've seen more than enough players falling into this trap, though - and it's probably because the game is called Need For Speed. Basically, it's not all about speed and you need to make sure what you're doing is the right thing.
While most challenges require you to place in a certain position at the finishing line (third or higher, second or higher, etc), some simply require you score the most points: position is irrelevant and, in fact, trying to keep up with the pack can be harmful to your rep/score multiplier.
Pay attention to what each challenge wants you to do and act accordingly: don't just blaze forward to the front of the pack without thinking every single time.
Build up; don't buy new
It's very tempting to save up tens of thousands of dollars in order to pick up a newer, better car than those offered for free at the start of Need For Speed. But we'd recommend holding off for the time being.
If you focus on working on your current vehicle - buying new parts, tweaking performance and so on - you'll end up with a vehicle far in excess of what any new purchase would be, and in the same amount of time.
Of course, you then use this souped-up banger to bring home many thousand more dollars, then use those dollars to buy yourself a newer, better vehicle. Then repeat the process of bringing home the bacon with your upgraded beast, and before you know it you'll have enough to make your new car finally surpass your old faithful.
Then... well, do it again for a more expensive car. Simple.
Need For Speed
© EA
Spot the extra earnings
This seems obvious, but it's such an easy one to overlook we'd be remiss not to include it: some challenges have extra earnings available if you beat the recommendations in them.
What it means is, usually, a friend (or other player) has set a record - time, points, whatever - and you have to defeat it. Simple, right? Do so and you pick up a nice boost of around $1,000 into the kitty: a nice boost when you win, and something that can even make losing worth your while.
Tweak your handling
The main demarcation between types of challenge in Need For Speed is between straight-up races and drift trials. As such, there are two types of tyre available in Need For Speed: grip and drift.
It's recommended you pick up the best set of each you can afford, and switch them out as and when necessary. It means a trip back to the garage every time you want to make the change, but throwing on some drift-specific tyres for a skiddy-challenge can mean the difference between falling 2,000 points short and running away with the win and the conquered recommendation.
Need For Speed
© EA
Multiply
Earning rep is the key to progress in Need For Speed, so learning your way around the game's multiplier system is something you need to do pretty much straight away. It can seem a mite confusing, but once you've got a handle on it, everything falls into place.
Basically you've your five core tenets to incorporate - speed and style are easy as they just need you to go fast and drift. Outlaw requires you to smash things and generally irritate the police - you can't always do the latter, and you need to be careful with the former so you don't hit any walls and cock everything up.
Then there's crew, which is activated when you're near other 'friendly' cars - either friends or, in some challenges, computer-controlled racers. Race together, drift together, be together and you'll bag extra rep there. Finally, there's build - so long as you're in a customised vehicle (and you should be), you'll grab that too.
Link all of these together in one race - high speed while drifting around a corner with your mates in a souped-up car and smashing into a few lamp posts - and you'll get a huge multiplier and massive boost to that valuable rep.
Customise
Finally, don't forget to make your whip your own. There's nothing sadder than the sight of a tweaked and boosted machine that hasn't had a personal touch slapped on and around the outside of it.
If that means pink mustangs and dog decals, so be it. Some of us like that kind of thing. Your taste might be different - but therein lies the point: you should be making your car your own. It'll make those victories all the sweeter.
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