Under the Hood: March Update

As we touched upon in January’s edition of Under the Hood, additional rides are arriving with the next update on March 3, through a Black Market Delivery.

Meet Raziel – underground car dealer who’s in the business for both money and the thrills. In this update, he will import two cars. A spanking new one is available via real money purchase, while a variant of an existing car is available for free.

To get behind the wheel of the imports, simply head down to Port Murphy and pick them up from a shipping container. This opens a small narrative tied to the car where Raziel will ask you a few favors – as well as rewarding you in return. Complete the challenges to get visual customization parts for your new ride, character outfits, and effects fitting the car’s theme (such as underglows). Throughout your journey, you’ll also discover some new events that you can replay once you’ve completed them during the Black Market challenge.

Note that the cars obtained via the Black Market Delivery will require you to get to a certain REP level before you can pick them up. The free car becomes available at REP level 20, while the paid car can be picked up at REP level 30*. With this, we aimed to find a sweet spot so your progression early in the game is meaningful, while also getting access to the car before you reach the endgame.

Aside from cars, there’s also a bunch of bug fixes and Quality of Life changes based on your feedback coming with the March update: 

• When you’re receiving a new part in the garage, it’s now easier to spot. We removed the feed that showed your new items on the right side of the screen. Instead, there’s now a yellow banner saying “new” next to the category and the item.
• We added more variation to race intros during both day and night races, as well as more victory celebration animations to enjoy when crossing the finish line.
• Additional vanity items are introduced. You will be able to customize the color of the Backfire, and through the Black Market, you can also unlock Beat Sync underglows that will sync up with the in-game music.
• You will now be able to adjust the camera shake in the settings.
• And more...

As usual, we will release complete update notes just before the update arrives, including an extensive list of changes. We’ll see you on the streets of Palm City!

*REQUIRES NEED FOR SPEED HEAT ON APPLICABLE PLATFORM (SOLD SEPARATELY), ALL GAME UPDATES, INTERNET CONNECTION AND EA ACCOUNT TO PLAY.