When Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed came out for the PC and PlayStation in 2000 it was completely different from prior games in the series. Before, Need For Speed (NFS) would offer cars from different manufacturers for players to choose from. Unleashed focused only on the Porsche, but this focus was deep and thorough.
Looking back at the game today, one might overlook how revolutionary this was at the time.
In order to immerse the player into the history and company culture of Porsche, NFS developers provided two game modes: Factory Driver and Evolution.
Factory Driver is self-explanatory; you start as a test driver for Porsche and work your way up doing challenges. The challenges are linear races — you don’t get to pick which ones you do or what track you race on. You are told what you will be doing and then you do it. You learn how to race against the clock, how to race and not get damaged. Essentially, it’s a longer and more complicated version of a time trial.
The Evolution game mode is more elaborate and in-depth. You begin by racing cars in the classic era — 1950s-70s. Winning races earns you money and, as you work up through the eras by competing in tournaments and racing classic cars, eventually gains you the ability to buy new vehicles.
In the races, the cars feel great. The physics feel “real,” the cars handle in corners just as you would expect actual vehicles to. Minimizing sliding demands serious consideration. You will go a lot faster around corners if you break, slow down and keep your momentum instead of sliding all over the place. Yes, sliding will happen, but try to keep it down as much as possible.
You can change how your car handles by customizing it and upgrading parts. For tracks that have a lot of turns and curves, for example, pick the close-ratio or low gearbox and for tracks where you are constantly accelerating or braking. Choose the high gearbox for tracks with long straights, and for tracks that mix both choose the default gearbox.
I suggest that you modify your car before each race, as it will make your vehicle a lot faster. Everything from the ride high to camber can be changed, but explaining everything could take forever. Gamefaq.com has a great guide on their site that I highly recommend.
What more can I say? Well, Porsche Unleashed is my favourite NFS game. I wish they would make more like it. Perhaps a Ferrari or Ford version — now that would be amazing! It’s a blast to play and I wish you could still play with others online.
As far as racing games go, car customization has come a long way in the past decade. Still, it’s always nice to pay tribute to one of the innovators.
