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Racing 101: Advanced Driving

Once you've mastered the basic techniques of racing, you'll probably attract some unwanted attention from the local law enforcement. In some situations, a quick getaway or a clever hiding place are all you need to avoid pursuit. Once you've picked up a police tail, a combination of evasive turns, 180s (or reverse 180s), or well-timed braking could shake them loose. But when the chase gets hot, you'll need more challenging maneuvers to break away. Practice these advanced techniques so that you can outrun or outsmart the police in any pursuit scenario.

Nitrous Oxide

Don’t forget to add a nitrous oxide package to your ride when it’s unlocked; it's essential for boosting your vehicle's speed. The Nitrous Meter is on the right of your dashboard next to the speedometer. Press and hold the Nitrous button to activate it. Let go of the Nitrous button when you want the speed boost to end. The Nitrous Meter will empty on deactivation. Recharge your Nitrous Meter by driving fast and pulling off stylish (aka heroic) moves that increase your Zone Points.

Speedbreaker

Speedbreaker is your most versatile tool for pulling off heroic maneuvers. While active, time slows and vehicle mass and traction increase. Use Speedbreaker to squeeze through tight spots, outmaneuver opponents, and break through cop roadblocks. The Speedbreaker Meter is on the right side of your dashboard next to the Speedometer. Press and hold the Speedbreaker button to activate it. Press it again when you’re ready for time to go back to normal. The Speedbreaker Meter will empty on deactivation. Recharge your Speedbreaker Meter by driving fast and pulling off stylish moves that increase your Zone Points.

GPS Map/Minimap

The GPS Minimap is on the bottom left of the dashboard. During Pursuits, you can use the GPS Minimap to find both pursuit breakers and hiding spots. Watch the radar on the GPS Minimap for signs of the cops. A red radar pulse frequency increases when cops are near.

Pursuit Breakers

Pursuit breakers, or PBs, are obstacles that create an emergency situation once triggered; any cops within the emergency radius will be forced to break pursuit and respond to the emergency. There are numerous pursuit breakers throughout the city: gas stations, water towers, large signs, construction scaffolding, dry-docked boats, cranes, stacked piping, and suspended interstate sections are just a few examples. Each location is marked on-site with a PB sign for immediate hazard recognition, and they can also be detected on your GPS Minimap.

Hiding Spots

Hiding spots can consist of anything from a blind driveway, to an underground parking lot, to a dead-end overpass. Anywhere that almost completely obscures the line of sight from the surrounding area and provides concealment from patrolling officers will do. Hiding spots appear on your GPS Minimap.

J-Turn

Gather some speed while traveling in reverse. Then max the steering to start rotating the car. As soon as the car starts rotating, release the steering and Reverse button and simultaneously hit the throttle. The car should now be travelling forward with minimal loss of speed. J-turns are very useful when you hit a dead end (be it a wall or cop car!) and quickly need to reverse direction.

EXCEL AT ONE DRIVING STYLE

There are three very general driving styles that you can excel in: Drifting, Safety, and Performance Handling. These are based on your style combined with the performance characteristics of your car.

For the Drifter

Set your engine toward Torque and drivetrain toward Acceleration, as you will need this boost to break traction when trying to drift. Also move your suspension more toward the Stiff side, as this will give you the precision to line up your drifts, while the stiffness actually helps initiate the traction loss. Set your tires all the way Loose to allow for even longer, smoother drifts.

For Drifters we recommend: RWD cars from any class.

For the Safety Driver:

If you want to play it safe and never lose grip this is for you. For a tight and safe ride, set your engine and drivetrain toward Horsepower and Top Speed. This alleviates the worries of losing traction coming out of the corners. Set your suspension slightly toward Stiff and max out your tires to full Grip to compensate. You will then have a precise ride that will not lose too much traction.

For Safety Drivers we recommend: FWD cars from any class.

Performance Handling:

Tune slightly toward Torque and Acceleration but be careful of wheel spin; you’ll have to adjust your settings for each car to get the right balance. The best high-performance drivers compensate and feather the throttle coming out of corners to max out their corner exit speeds. Set your suspension toward Stiff but not too far, as it will make it harsh when landing jumps or going over bumps. Set your tires to full traction to carry maximum corner speeds.

For the Performance Handler we recommend: highly tuned AWD (or 4WD) from the tuner, super or exotic classes.

The Concept Art of Need for Speed Undercover

While a lot of the marketing and community talk about the game before launch is focused on the cars, Undercover wouldn't be what it is without the strong art direction. I wanted to know more about the process of creating the look and feel of Undercover so I spoke with Senior Artist, Alan Jarvie.

I started by asking Alan how the art team decided on the appearance of each game: "We have time during pre-production (the design phase of development) to decide what our key differences will be from previous games. We look at what's out there in the market place, decide what we like, what want to achieve and what is possible within our time frame. We're always looking for inspiration and look at a wide range of media including comics, movies, games and everyday life.

In pre-production the art director decides on a visual direction for the game; a strong signature that will differentiate the game from others in the genre."

Before the filming of the cut-scenes the art team decided on a very specific look and light for the game; something that Hollywood calls the Magic Hour: "It’s a very dramatic time of day with long shadows, it’s hard to pull off because of the amount of ambient light in a given direction causing a loss in depth perception but this can also work in your favour." Getting the look right takes time: "It's an ongoing process through the development but we like to hold onto our main vision from art direction but it does tend to evolve a little during the time. Thankfully the art team is one of the biggest departments in the game team with more than 25 artists split between the difference disciplines."

As Alan left the room he promised to send me some of the concept art they created during the earlier stages of the game. Most of the time people outside of the office never get a chance to look at these images which is a shame as there are some very talented artists working here so we thought we'd give their art a chance to shine and show off their skills.