A Close Look At Car Customization In 'Need For Speed: Payback'

Car customization is one of the main attractions for every Need for Speed game. Add a series of liveries, colors, and body kits to give your car a cosmetic lift, but you can also give it a performance upgrade to make it the envy of rival racers. With Need for Speed: Payback coming in a few months, Ghost Games decided to show off the latest iteration of the feature in a short video and also provided further details on a separate web page.

Just like its predecessor, Need for Speed: Payback allows you to change specific parts of the car such as the front fender, exhaust pipes, and hood. You can even install a body kit if you prefer the full makeover for your favorite ride. As you win multiple events throughout the game, you'll earn additional car parts to use for customization. However, you'll need to return to your garage or visit one of the many Part Shops throughout the area to actually install the parts onto your car. If your current car looks to be in bad shape, you can drive through a Gas Station, which not only repairs any cosmetic damage to the vehicle but also fills up your nitrous oxide boost. Other than parts, you can add more visual options to your cars such as a neon underglow, multiple colors for tire smoke and nitrous flames, and air suspension to further lower your ride height.

In terms of performance, parts are split into six categories: Block, Head, Turbo, Exhaust, Transmission, and ECU (electronic control unit). Just like with cosmetic pieces, you can obtain performance upgrades through the Part Shops or by winning races. Each part is also classified by numerous factors such as its overall level, brand, and perks. Higher level parts provide better performance and raise the overall Tier rating of the car. Also, you might want to install parts with perks to get bonuses in Top Speed, Braking, Air, Acceleration, or Nitrous. You'll also get more performance bonuses if you install multiple parts that have the same brand. For example, Americana branded-parts offer additional Nitrous so you can give your car more boost power to widen the gap between you and another driver.

As you progress through the game, you’ll undoubtedly collect more cars to fill your garage. There are five garages that you can purchase throughout your journey, and once they're all acquired, you'll get access to a massive warehouse that lets you store an unlimited number of cars, all of which fall under one of five different classes: Race, Drift, Drag, Off-Road, or Runner. To get more cars for your collection, you have to visit different dealerships throughout Fortune Valley. One dealership only sells Exotic-type vehicles while another features Rally cars for sale. The game also features cars in the Classic, Muscle, Sports, and Sports Compact categories, which means that every player can drive a car that speaks to their favorite class and type.

However, not every car can be obtained through the dealerships. There are a few vehicles hidden throughout the game world called Derelicts, which are decaying due to rust and void of a few parts. However, you can restore them by obtaining a proper chassis, drivetrain, wheels, and two unique parts, all of which are hidden somewhere in Fortune Valley. Once you find all the parts and put them in the Derelict vehicle, you can return it to its stock condition and have it designated as one of the game's five racing classes.

We didn’t get to see these customization options at E3 at the EA Play event, but we did get to play a few minutes of the upcoming game. Specifically, we played the “Highway Heist” mission where we controlled a Mustang as it attempted to catch a moving truck that carried an exotic car. The game doesn’t come out until November 10, so you can expect the studio to release more video content to show fans what’s new in Need for Speed: Payback.