Need for Speed Unbound: 6 Crucial Tips & Tricks for Beginners

by Mike Alexander / General Guides, Highlights, Tips & Tricks / 18 Feb 2022

It’s been a few years since Need for Speed Heat lit up our PCs and gaming consoles, and now we have a brand new Need for Speed to feed our need for fast cars and fierce competition. It’s called Need for Speed Unbound, and it’s a complete evolution of what the franchise has come to be known for.

The game was developed by Criterion, the former developers of the Burnout series. Unbound carries the studio’s intense love of all things cars, and for the uninitiated, that dedication might make the game a little imposing at first. But that’s ok because we have 6 Crucial Tips & Tricks for Beginners that will get you up and running and pedal to the metal in no time! So buckle up, and let’s get started!

Perfect Launch

The early hours of Need for Speed Unbound will put you behind the wheel of cars that are far slower than what you’ll have later on. This is fine for getting a feel of the game, but it requires you to use a bit of strategy and lots of skill to win races.

Thankfully, there are a few ways you can gain the upper hand in those early races, and one of them is the perfect launch. On the on-screen speedometer, there is a blue portion on the outer ring that, if you can feather the acceleration correctly before a race starts, will give you a good boost right off the line. Practice this, and it’ll carry you through much of the game.

Nitro Collection

Another part of winning races is carefully balancing the collection and use of your nitrous boost. You can use nitro to get out of trouble, but if you don’t keep track of your levels, you might find yourself at the back of the pack.

To keep your nitro levels high, you can drive in the oncoming traffic lane, this will build up nitro. This also gives you a good opportunity for near-misses which will increase your nitro collection by a good amount. Near misses count when it comes to cars in motion as well as parked cars, so make sure you pass by any car as close as you can.

Starter Car Woes

In most racing games, the decision regarding your starter car is incredibly important. It determines your vehicle for at least the opening hours of the game, so you’re going to want to make sure what you pick fits your style and feels good to drive. Need for Speed Unbound is not like that at all.

You’ll have a choice of three cars after the prologue, but don’t think too hard about it. For story reasons, you won’t be behind the wheel of that car for very long. So instead of weighing up the pros and cons, just pick whatever you think looks better and get on with it.

Handling Management

To get around the tight corners and streets of NFS Unbound, you’re going to need your car to handle and drift as smoothly as possible. This will mostly be determined by the kind of car you have, but there is also a handling menu in the pause screen where you can fine-tune the handling for the car you’re using.

You can adjust things like the downforce, steering sensitivity, and traction control among other things. It would be a good idea to adjust these things in small increments and test them, rather than making big changes and hoping for the best.

Must Go Faster

If the standard blue nitro boost isn’t cutting it for you, Need for Speed Unbound actually has a more powerful form of boost that you can build up and release. It is the yellow boost located under the blue nitrous bar, and you can fill it up by drafting other cars.

You can’t save partial bars of yellow boost. There are three bars, and it will all be used the moment you activate it. For maximum impact, you should draft until you have all three bars full, and then activate it when you’re in a position to overtake several opponents.

Take Time to Explore

There are plenty of races to take part in and cops to outrun, but Need for Speed Unbound is first and foremost an open-world game. That means there are tons of collectibles to find and objects to destroy that will contribute to your overall completion. There are also plenty of interesting places to see on the map.

So make sure you’re taking time to explore in between races, you’ll be missing out on a big part of the game if you don’t.

Mike Alexander

Mike has been playing video games since he was able to hold a controller, having been fascinated by Sonic 2 on his mom’s Sega Genesis. That fascination and passion for the art form has grown exponentially nearly 30 years later, and he doesn’t see that fading away anytime soon.
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