Good news, people who enjoy it when video games bring back things people used to like many years ago in the hopes that you’ll still like them now you’re a lot older. NFS Underground-inspired drag and drift events have arrived in Need For Speed: Unbound today, May 21, as part of the latest update to the series’ most recent entry.
We originally learned that these modes would be coming to the game via the release roadmap back in February, which outlined a year of in-game stuff designed to help celebrate NFS turning 30 in December. Now, however, since they’re actually here, there’s more info regarding what they look like, so let’s get into it.
As outlined in the blog post announcing its arrival, Vol. 7: Drift & Drag brings those two classic modes to Unbound, with a couple of changes designed to help bring them up to date with what racing games can do in 2024.
Drift races, for example, come with an “overhauled handling model for drift builds”, which aims to give you more control over your slides and make mastering being a slidey boy a bit more advanced than it was back in they days of just flicking your ride into a corner and desperately trying to keep the back end from looping on you.
Drag events, meanwhile, sound like they’ll be just like they were in Underground, with the big emphasis being on “manual gear shifts, strategic lane changes to dodge obstacles, and perfectly timed nitrous boosts”, all of which will ring a bell for veterans.
On top of these, the update adds “The League” to Unbound, with this being an “Underground-inspired progression system that enriches the solo player experience in Free Roam, by allowing players to challenge Rival Racers throughout the volume in head-to-head competition to win their cars”. This’ll include some community-oriented elements designed to get folks working together to unlock new boss racers you’ll be able to challenge for some cool rewards. It sounds pretty fun in theory, but we’ll have to see whether it accomplishes its goal of giving Unbound something that feels a bit more like a living street racing scene to delve into.
Finally on the nostalgia front, there are some new PVP playlists featuring classic NFS Undergound cars you’ll definitely recognise – as well as one to unlock via the Premium Speed Pass. Oh, and the two new cars arriving as part of the update are the BMW M3 Competition Touring and the Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which aren’t very classic NFS in and of themselves, but do come with some rare customs designed to help them contribute to the retro vibes.
So, there you go. We’ll see if this update does end up dragging a bunch of us old school NFS lovers back to Unbound. Definitely make sure to let us know below if you’re planning on dusting off your old RX-7 or 350Z.