How to Build Cars in Need for Speed Games

Build and tune your car for urban racing.

Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed" series of games cover a wide range of game-play styles within their shared theme of fast-driving, arcade-style, automobile racing. Some games emphasize high-speed highway races, while others feature inner-city cops-and-robbers chases. The "Need for Speed Underground" games, meanwhile, are the "Fast and Furious"-style street-racing members of the franchise, and as such include car-building and customization modes. If you want to build your own vehicle in the "Need for Speed" games, these are the games that will let you do it.

Things You'll Need

• "Need for Speed Underground" or "Need for Speed Underground 2" game disc

Instructions

1. Launch a game of either "Need for Speed Underground" or "Need for Speed Underground 2."

2. Choose "Customize" from the main menu.

3. Choose the basic car you wish to use as a template for your vehicle. Templates are displayed onscreen and rated for their Acceleration, Top Speed and Handling capabilities, but these can be altered and augmented depending on which components you choose to install.

4. Choose "Visual Mods" to browse a selection of dozens of bumpers, spoilers, scoops, lights, skirts, hoods and mufflers, with subcategories in each field offering hundreds of parts for the outside of your car. At the end of your time in the "Visual Mods" section, your car will be graded for its "Visual Star" rating, but the bottom line should be whether you enjoy the look you've given the vehicle.

5. Enter the "Performance Mods" section of the menu to choose between weight-reduction kits, turbos, nitrous oxide injectors, onboard computers, fuel systems, hydraulics and suspension kits. These options will not change the look of your car, but they can have a huge impact on the way the vehicle performs in a race, so tailor the vehicle to the way you like to drive and the kind of contests you intend to use the car in.

6. Open the "Vinyls" section of the menu to change the color and surface design of your vehicle. Just like real vinyl decals, it's possible to stack multiple vinyls atop each other, matting them one over another or blending them to create custom designs.

7. Choose "Save Profile" when you have finished building your custom car. The vehicle will be saved to your system or memory card, depending on the gaming machine you are using. The car is now selectable from the vehicle menu of any game mode.

References

• "User Manual: Need for Speed Underground;" Electronic Arts; 2003
• "User Manual: Need for Speed Underground 2;" Electronic Arts; 2004