It hasn’t got a patch on the maps of a Forza Horizon game for example. Cops only appear inside story missions, the challengeable roaming racers are equally a little too boisterous and oddly absent, and despite the fact it moves from mountain, to desert, to city, none of it is that memorable. The fictional Las Vegas-inspired world of Fortune Valley feels very stale and empty. It doesn’t help that while Need for Speed Payback’s world is big, beautiful and enjoys the luxury of constant framerates and a brilliant photo mode, it’s just a bit… lifeless.

If you want nice cars - sorry Geoffrey - you’re going to have to put a lot of hours into Need for Speed. It sucked the fun right out of this otherwise incredibly enjoyable experience - and that was only the beginning of the grind. Failing the same races over and over despite having equal car level is a literal drag, and so is having to go back and earn more cash to get more Speed Cards in order to have any chance of succeeding. It’s like I suddenly hit a progression wall at about 120mph and it hurt. That’s especially true of the drag questline. Instead, you’ll find yourself repeatedly going back to old races over and over again just so you can get enough cash to progress. Simply repeating races isn’t enough, as you won’t have enough cash to splash on a set of Speed Cards to boost your level. But with every race earning you around £7,000, and every Speed Card costing upwards of £11,000, levelling up your car for the later stage story quests becomes a serious grind. These can be won at the end of every race and applied straight to your car, or bought from tune-up shops.

They come with perks that boost stats and the overall level of your car. Every car has six slots, each one representing elements under the hood, including your gearbox and the Need for Speed essential, nitrous. The only way to level up your ride without having to buy a new one is to use Speed Cards. Each race you tackle has a level, and if your car’s not of equal or greater level to that indicator, you’re going to struggle.

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