A look at Need for Speed: Pro Street

If you know anything about video games, you know that Electronic Arts is completely shameless in the way they market their products and Need for Speed is no exception. The game is aimed at the widest possible audience, but the over-the-top style and flair may be lost on older players who will likely find the “hip” music and flamboyant announcers completely unbearable. Not only that, but you will have to endure a constant barrage of in-game advertisements, such as achievements sponsored by car-related advertisers, to enjoy the game.

If you can get past the endless assault of advertisements and the in-your-face-style long enough to get on the racetrack, you might just start enjoying yourself. The series now focuses on track-based events rather than an open world environment as in previous titles, but the tracks are varied and the races stay interesting because of the different types of events. The races come in four different modes: drag, drift, grip, and speed challenges. You will need a different car for every type of race, as only one mode can be assigned to each car. Going for a more realistic feel, the handling is a bit less forgiving and the cars now take damage. Unfortunately, because of the “mass appeal” approach the developers took, the handling is neither fully arcade nor fully simulation so it does not feel “right.” The end result is a driving experience that often feels like a chore, as you wrestle the car for control in the high-speed sections and slowly navigate chicanes and tight corners.

Once you start earning money and buying upgrades, the game really opens up giving you plenty of options to tweak and tune almost every feature to give you the advantage and help your car stand out on the track. The performance upgrades range from engine and drive train swaps to handling upgrades like tires, brakes, and suspension. You can see the effects of these upgrades with a quick dyno test, but to get the most out of your car you will have to consider aerodynamics as well. For that, you will need to purchase a body kit. There are four styles to choose from, including a wide body kit, all of which can be “auto sculpted.” This allows you to alter the dimensions of three zones, which improves performance resulting in more down force and better handling. The effects of the new body kit can be tested and tuned in the wind tunnel to your satisfaction.

Changing the body kit will not only improve performance, but will change the look of your car as well. To further modify the appearance you will need to visit the paint shop, where you can choose from a variety of colors and paint types such as chrome, candy, gloss, matte, iridescent, pearlescent, and metallic. Each section of the car, from bumpers to spoilers, can be auto sculpted and painted separately as well, including the wheels. To further modify the appearance, you can apply up to twenty pre-made vinyls to ten predetermined zones on the car. There are hundreds of vinyls to choose from, and each can be moved, scaled, rotated, and skewed with the option to change color and mirror the design on both sides of the car.

Unfortunately, the vinyl editor is quite limited with terrible camera angles and an annoyingly slow refresh rate making almost any design extremely tedious and overcomplicated. With only twenty layers, detailed work like what you see from the Forza community is simply impossible. Advanced painters with the desire to create replicas and race liveries will likely find it extremely restricting, but the editor is designed to be easy for beginners and it allows for plenty of creativity. All the performance and visual upgrades can be saved as a “blueprint” which can be shared with friends and modified at any time. Tragically, all modifications are permanently lost if you change the car from one mode to another.