The Need for Speed and its sequels are racing games that employ the same fundamental rules and mechanics. The player controls a race car in a variety of races where they look to win the race. In the tournament/career mode, the player must win a series of races in order to unlock vehicles, tracks, etc. Before playing each race, the player chooses a vehicle to race in and has the option of choosing the transmission of the vehicle, which includes automatic and manual transmission. During each race the player can perform, burn outs, powerslides, and use nitrous, which all enhance the performance of the vehicle. Each game in the series is based on realistic modeling of cars, as the player is able to accelerate, brake, drive in-reverse, and has the ability to turn, similarly to real life vehicles. The player may use these features during each race to enhance their performance in it and improve their ability to win each race.

           Almost all the games in the franchise included the game mode of police pursuit, which started with the first game in the series The Need for Speed and returned with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. On the first game, the player races against the X-Man, the objective is to beat him without getting arrested. From the third game onwards, the player can play as the felon or the cop; as in a real police pursuit, the player must elude the police, or if playing as the cop, must pursue the felon.Introduced in Need for Speed: Underground was the concept of drifting and drafting, which are used in drift and drag racing, respectively. These new mechanics are included in the tournament/career mode aside from the regular street races. In drift races, the player must defeat other racers by setting higher points than the other racers; these points are earned by the length and timing of the drift made by the player’s vehicle. In drag races, the player uses a car set in manual transmission. The objective in this type of race is to follow an opposing car and mimic its performance to gain a boost in the player’s speed. Like an ordinary street race, the player must finish first to win the race, though if the player crashes into an obstacle, the race ends.

The idea of car tuning evolved with each new game and it focused mainly on the mechanics of the car rather than the looks of it. The more the player knows how the car behaves to each setting, the easier to get the right setup which in turn helps to win races. Underground introduced customization of vehicles based on the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious. With this feature, the player is able to modify cars to their choosing. The two categories in which the player can choose to modify his cars are visual and performance. In the performance section, the player can customize their vehicle’s racing performance, including changing the horse power of the car’s engine, the suspension, the traction of the tires, and the shock absorbers among other features. In the visual category, the player can modify how the car appears from the outside, which includes the car’s paint, vinyls, rims, and body kits alongside other features.^[4] The visual of the player’s car becomes an important aspect in tournament/career mode after the release of Need for Speed: Underground 2. The way your car appears is measured by a visual rating out of ten possible points; the more visual points the player’s car has, the more likely it is for the car to be featured in fictional automobile magazines. When a car has a high visual rating, the player is told that their vehicle is eligible to be on the cover of a magazine; thereafter, the player must drive to a specific location to take the photo of the vehicle.^[5]

Like all racing games, the Need for Speed series features an extensive list of cars that are available for the player to use. The vehicles included in the game are modeled and named after actual cars in real life. Cars in the franchise are divided into four categories, the exotic cars, the muscle cars, the tuners, and special vehicles. The exotic cars feature cars like the Lamborghini Murciélago and the SLR McLaren, the muscle cars refer to cars like the Mustang GT and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, the tuners are cars like the Nissan Skyline and the Mitsubishi Eclipse. The special vehicle category refers to the police cars that are available for use in the game.Originally the series took place in international settings, such as race tracks in Australia, Europe, and Africa among other settings. Beginning with Underground, the series has taken place in fictional metropolitan cities. The first game featured traffic on “head to head” game mode and on later games traffic can be toggled on and off at the options screen. Starting with Underground, traffic is an obstacle added during a race.Unlike the Midnight Club series, a racing video game series developed by Rockstar Games, the Need for Speed series does not included civilians in the game, which is an “avoided distraction.,” as stated by IGN.

The Need for Speed series was originally developed by Distinctive Software, a video game studio based in Vancouver, Canada. Prior to Electronic Arts‘ purchase of the company in 1991, it had already created popular racing games such as Stunts and Test Drive II: The Duel. After the purchase was made, the company was renamed Electronic Arts (EA) Canada. The company capitalized on its experience in the domain when it began developing the Need For Speed series in late 1992. EA Canada continued to develop and expand the Need For Speed franchise up to 2002, when another Vancouver-based gaming company, named Black Box, was contracted to continue the series with the title Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. Black Box Games was acquired by Electronic Arts shortly before the game’s publication and the company was renamed Electronic Arts (EA) Black Box and became a subsidy of EA Canada. Since it’s renaming, EA Black Box has been the series primary developer.

When V-Rally was released in 1997, it was developed by the European based company, Eden Studios, and had nothing in common with the preceding Need for Speed games. EA however, bought the rights to title of the game and produced it in North America as Need for Speed: V-Rally. Eden Studios would develop V-Rally 2 in Europe, while EA would publish it in North America under the Need for Speed title. V-Rally 2 however, followed the same formula as the other Need for Speed titles.In 1999, EA announced plans to make a spin-off of the Need for Speed series with the release of Motor City Online. The game however, was later confirmed that it would be included into the Need for Speed franchise and the spin-off series was never produced.