A small patch has been released for Need For Speed Unbound today. Patch 5.1.0 adds a few quality of life changes but most noticeable is the addition of a realistic driving effects tag, called Original.
The Original driving effects tag isn’t the same as the Cloaked one, which still produce the stylised tyre smoke effects but just in a grey shade. Original disables it all entirely. And that includes all the visual feedback the driving effects produces.
This is what Creative Director for NFS Unbound John Stanley has to say about the addition to Original driving effects:
“We know that many people have requested this feature, but this version of smoke couldn’t possibly work like other tags whilst remaining realistic. Ultimately this is about you expressing what you want, realistic or stylistic. We feel it’s important you now have that choice!”
NFS Unbound has some of the most vibrant, out-there, and rather in-your-face style in a car racing game, yet this feature has been polarising. A quick search on YouTube shows plenty of guides on how to “turn off” driving effects (which just amounts to go equip the Cloaked Driving Effect), but it shows the demand to turn off the effects are quite a lot.
In fact, a lot of Unbound’s criticisms among fans have been the vibe and aesthetic choice this title took. We’ve seen discourse among fans about the game’s soundtrack being terrible (either for a racing game, or just in general), and the stylised look it got going.
And if you’re one of the fans who wished Need For Speed can hear you and have take on a different direction, you can post feedback on the EA Answers forum.
Since its inception, Need For Speed has been a racing game about driving supercars while chased by cops, driving tuner cars and upgrading them to their max potential, taking revenge on someone who wrongfully took your car, a cop thriller, a game where you only drive Porsches, a festival of racing, an attempt of being a racing sim, an attempt of being a casual arcade racer, an attempt of making a cinematic blockbuster (which later did as a film adaptation), a remake-but-not-a-remake, and many, many more. So it can always change direction should Unbound seems like a bridge too far.
We like this game a lot, though.
Source: Need For Speed