Need for Speed Heat Performance Customization System Detailed
Need for Speed Heat’s latest Under The Hood has just gone live, this time breaking down the game’s new Performance Customization system made up of different aspects including Handling, Engine Swaps and more!
With Need for Speed Heat, the team at Ghost set out evaluate and improve the performance customization in order to provide a solid foundation for the future of NFS. The result, is a brand-new system made up several new combinations and permutations for each area of the components.
Vehicle upgrades have now been split into four different groups: Engine, Chassis, Drivetrain and Auxiliary. The Engine group features various different parts necessary to improve your cars power, while the Chassis group features parts such as Suspension, Brakes and Tires to help improve your vehicles handling. Drivetrain connects the two groups and features performance parts that affect both, such as the Differential, Clutch and Transmission.
Auxillary is a brand-new group and has space for two items: one active and one passive. Think of these as almost special abilities, with active items being items such as Repair Kits and NOS Refills that need to be manually activated by the player, and passive items being items such as Re-inflatable Tires, Damage Increases and Increased Nitrous gain perks which are active all the time as long as they’re equipped in the slot.
Forced Induction is available in several different types and can be installed on each engine in Need for Speed Heat. Each type has their own characteristic behaviours in terms of sound and performance, which means the highest rated part equipped to your car will differ depending on the engine and car setup.
Nitrous has also changed in Heat, with a much more simplified upgrade path. As seen in our Need for Speed Heat gameplay from Gamescom, you can now equip different types of Nitrous bottles to your car depending on your playstyle. Multiple small bottles give you more freedom of when to activate them but have lower power when compared to a large single bottle, while a large single bottle will give you more power but will run out as soon as you hit the button.
As mentioned in the last Under The Hood, Handling has now been split into three categories: Tires, Suspension and Differential. Depending on what parts you pick will change the characteristics of your car between race or drift, and on-road or off-road. The higher level of the parts that are equipped will have a bigger impact on the handling, with higher level tires improving the overall grip of a car.
Engine Swaps are a brand-new feature in Need for Speed Heat, and all 127 vehicles in the game will have the option to buy and install from a pool of between 7-10 different engines! Each car will have different limitations on engine swaps to keep the end-game balanced and fair, but will still feature a ton of options for players to mess around with.
However to upgrade your car you’re going to need parts, and there are two different ways to earn them. The first option is to level up your REP level, which will unlock new parts to become available at the Part Shop. The second is to complete specific in-game events called High Heat events, which unlock as you progress through Heat’s story, and will require you to both finish in the top 5 and successfully escape the cops in order to earn the part.
The best parts in the game come from completing these events, so you’ll need to complete High Heat events if you want to try max out your ride. In addition, parts aren’t locked to one specific car like in previous games, meaning these parts can be transferred to any vehicle you own.
Need for Speed Heat launches on November 8th 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, or three days earlier for Origin Access Premiere subscribers. If you’ve missed any of our previous Need for Speed Heat coverage, be sure to find more from our dedicated Need for Speed Heat section in the Games tab!