Under the Hood: January Update

Happy New Year to all our players – and thank you for playing the game since its release and through the holidays! Today, we’re giving you a rundown of what’s coming in the next update, arriving on January 28.

Also, a big thank you for all the feedback you’ve provided. You’ve told us what you’re enjoying, but also what could be improved. Two updates have been delivered so far, focused on bug fixes and technical improvements.

Here’s what’s next.

At the end of the month, you’ll be able to plug in your own steering wheel to play Need for Speed Heat. We have tested the following models, but a few others might work as well:

• Thrustmaster T300RS (PS4, PC*)
• Thrustmaster TX (Xbox, PC*)
• Thrustmaster T150 (PS4, PC*)
• Thrustmaster TMX (Xbox, PC*)
• Logitech G29 (PS4, PC*)
• Logitech G920 (Xbox, PC*)
• Fanatec CSL Elite Racing Wheel (PS4, PC*, XB1)

Make sure to connect your equipment before launching the game, and that your steering wheel is assigned to your user profile.

*When using a steering wheel on PC, some extra steps might be necessary. Please read the full update notes for the January Update.

Remember the emote wheel from Need for Speed Payback? We’ve used it as the basis for the chat wheel, but instead of emotes, you can send pre-made messages to crew members and rivals in the game session.
Ask racers to follow, challenge them to races, or compliment their driving. Now you can communicate with friends through the touch of a button, even if you’re not in voice chat. 

The name gives it away – getting the Keys to the Map will uncover Palm City’s secrets. Available through a real money purchase, this will instantly reveal locations on the in-game map, including collectibles, activities, and gas stations.

It won’t complete any activities or collect street art for you, but their locations will be revealed. No need to slow down to explore. Plus, you will have access to all safehouses straight away except for one, which is unlocked through story progression.

Among the feedback you provided, a couple of items stood out which are being addressed in the January Update.

Driving through a gas station will now clean paint damage and remove scratches. Also, some players using manual shifting have mentioned that it’s too easy to accidentally enter the garage after exiting it or start an event. Now, we’re changing the input settings, so that you’ll have to hold down a button instead of just pressing it in order to perform an action.

We’ll go into more detail when we release the extensive update notes with more improvements, changes and fixes.

Oh, and one more thing! Beyond January, we do have another update in the works. We’ll talk about that more as it comes closer, but we can tell you one thing: there will be more cars.