On Saturday, the NFS Demo was released, which is similar / same to the XBOX 360 / PS2 demo (haven't exactly played either).

GamersHell Download Link

Anyway the game feels fairly similar to Most Wanted in terms of looks and control.

Drift mode is pretty fun in game, and it is fairly easy to string a few combos together to get a high score, of which I ended up getting over 300,000 I think, and will post a screenshot when I get home of it.

Canyon Race was ok, and definitely looks straight out of Initial D / Tokyo Drift, with some weird AI where I was able to have different start patterns with the same, some where I was able to overtake the other car within 5 seconds, others with a perfect line, and no crashing took me to about half way through the map to overtake.

Screenies when I get home :)

Why is it that the Need for Speed threads are always in the PC forum, each and every year? :P

I have posted my thoughts on the Carbon demo for the 360 in the 360 thread, but even with my feeling that it was missing something I still am looking forward to getting my hands on it in the next few weeks. Hopefully it is as good as Most Wanted, although I'm not sure it will be.

Because nothing else happens in the PC thread?

I'll give this one a miss, I've played NFS:U, NFS:U2, NFS:MW and have been disappointed with every single one. To put simply, I just don't find the word "fun" in it. All I see is crappy handling, drab environments and not much reason to complete them.

Give me the original NFS any day

The original need for speed was dog shit, I can't wait for carbon it is focusing on my favorite element of the series drifting :D

From what I've played of it and the many preview articles I've read on it, Carbon seems to be basically a combination of Most Wanted and the Underground games. The neon-soaked, urban-at-night atmosphere is more or less lifted straight out of the UG games, whereas the cop chases, FMV intros and involved storyline are taken from MW.

Drifting in Carbon is a lot like the first Underground's drifting (in that you do the course on your own and not with your opponents) but with a much better physics model. It's very different from UG 2's drifting model because, for me, the emphasis is much more on speed. I used to go around UG 2's drift courses quite slowly while making up the points on drift angles, combos and the Bonus Zone, whereas I've been going around Carbon's drift track at least twice as fast. The Bonus Zone is still there, but I've found I can get better scores when I keep my speed up, go for the Speed Bonus (keep that meter in the green to get good points) and link as many drifts as I can. For me, linked drifts seem really important this time around.

I'd also like to add that EA seem to have done a much better job of differentiating between the different vehicle types, particularly with the introduction of Muscle cars (which was a better introduction of a new car type than the SUVs of UG 2 ever were). The Muscle cars really feel like they should - stupidly powerful, stupidly fast and stupidly hard to handle. :P

Overall, having played the demo on the X360, I'm really looking forward to the game coming out (apparently it's November 16, though I'm hoping that EB is totally wrong and it's actually the 9th like PALGN said).

I never did get around to posting images did I...



My top score in the drift mode, more screenies later, probably when I get around to putting fraps on.

Mainly my drifting was done in the blue extra speed area, with a fair few combos done.

Shorty, I do think it will be released when PALGN says actually. DVDCrave also have it up for the 9th, so hopefully that is indeed the date.

Well, that's what I'm hoping, too. Hopefully PALGN and DVD Crave are right and I can wonder into an EB or JB Hi-Fi on the 9th and pick up a Collector's Edition (though the Collector's Edition content, as well as immediate access to other in-game unlockables, is now on sale in the XBL Marketplace, oddly enough). That would be cool.

Yeah, I noticed the content on the marketplace earlier this evening and well there is quite a bit there. Is it all from the Collector's Edition or the CE content plus a little more?

Currently the online content consists of the demo, the Collector's Edition content and some quick unlocks (ie. pay $5 to unlock all Muscle upgrades or something). Good for people with a lot of money and not a lot of time, but pretty pointless for those of us with skill. :P

Which would be most of the NFS players then considering it isn't too hard of a game. ;)

Should be getting this for PC next week once my pay clears. Sweetness ahoy! :D

My PC Collector's Edition came today. Too bad I can't play it though, stupid fucking PC is playing up. :( A real bitch, because AoE III + Expansion came too.

I'm a PC gamer through and through but at times like that I envy console gamers, if my PC so much as sneezes when I get carbon i'll hit the roof.

Mine is so rat shit at the moment, barely even stays on for 10 minutes at a time. :( Hopefully we'll get it fixed soon.

Even though this is obviously the official thread for the game, if you're interested in my initial impressions of Carbon (for the 360) then check the Xbox 360 thread.

heh i ordered my copy of carbon, but doubt this piece of shit will handle it lol, spose i shoulda tried demo first..

Autosculpt + new paint and vinel systems = fucking amazing customisation. I'll post some screenies in the next couple of days.

I can't say I'm a fan of the new drifting though, I have to re-learn to drift in this game. :(

I think the drifting is awesome in the game actually. Probably the best drifting system that the NFS games have had so far. It takes a little bit to get used to but once you do you can 'mess' with it to get the most out of it. Very rewarding too if you give it time...

Yeah, I think I'll get the hang of it eventually, keyboard doesn't help though. :)

Well, here are my profile cars.


Here are some other cars that I've made.

Downloading demo now.

Very nice cars there Resident ;)

I didn't really find a problem playing the demo with a keyboard though, maybe I'm just used to it though.

I can race pretty well using the keyboard, it's just the drifting that I need to get used to, as it seems fairly different from past games.

One thing that I miss from these games though, is Farrari and BMW, they should have at least 3 cars each. :( I miss the Spyder, and I love the BMW M6.

The BMW from Most Wanted is in this game though so don't forget that...

Nice car designs Resident. I lost all of my career designs when I sold my cars (to buy others) for some achievements so I have none to post as of yet, but I plan on going through the career a second time anyway to try some new cars so I can post some designs once I'm done. If you want. Civ should get in here too, the bastard. ;)

Can you actually modify the BMW this time? Still, the M6 and Z8 (or is it Z3) should be in there.

Is there anyway to unlock the "exclusive online reward cards" without actually going online?

I believe the answer to both of your questions is no, unfortunately.

That sucks. I fail to see the point of including that BMW, but not others, and not the ability to mod it.

So how many cars are there in total this time, I currently only have 27.

Also, is that Konisegg (so spelt wrong) moddable, or only availibe in the black and the orange?

Hm, despite my love for the Koenigsegg I haven't actually used it in the game yet so I'm not sure yet. I can give it a try though if you want? Hell I probably will anyway because of the aforementioned love for the car.

I've only used it in the quick race section, where you can use it in either black or orange. Is there a list anywhere that tells you what you need to do to unlock the different cars?

Haha, so awesome to create a car with Ben Hur style wheels :D

Fun, but not as good as Most Wanted.