This guide is for the original Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed, also known as The Need for Speed. It is not for the 2015 reboot, later sequels, Special Edition-only additions, or regional Nissan-focused variants.
This is a beginner guide, but the original game can still be demanding once you move from easy routes into traffic, blind corners, manual shifting, and tournament pressure.
Essential Tips
1. Learn Control Central Before You Race
Set the race up deliberately.
The original game does not throw you into a modern career menu. Control Central is where you choose your car, route, race type, opponent, skill level, and driver aids. Spend a minute checking those windows before starting. A good beginner setup is easier route, automatic shifting, and a car you can control consistently.
2. Start With City Before Coastal or Alpine
Route choice changes the whole learning curve.
City is the friendliest place to learn the game’s braking, steering, and speed sense because it gives you more straight road and simpler traffic flow. Coastal adds two-way traffic, blind hills, corners, and more mixed rhythm. Alpine is the hardest early test, with longer running, tight bends, tunnels, elevation changes, and harsher visibility. Do not judge your car control from Alpine first.
3. Treat Every Car Like It Has Its Own Mood
The fast car is not always the easiest car.
The game is built around exotic and performance cars with different acceleration, braking, sound, and handling. Pick a car because you can place it cleanly through corners, not just because its top speed looks exciting. A smoother car that stays off walls and traffic will beat a faster car that spends every segment recovering from spins.
4. Use Automatic Shifting Until the Road Feels Familiar
Manual is a skill step, not a requirement for your first wins.
Novice and Intermediate let the car shift automatically, which frees you to focus on steering, braking, traffic, and police. Pro asks you to shift manually. Save Pro for after you can finish routes cleanly, because missed shifts add one more distraction at exactly the moments where the game already wants your attention.
5. Brake Early for Blind Corners
The safest fast line starts before the corner.
The road edges are not forgiving, and the game does not reward modern open-world shortcut thinking. Stay on the paved course, brake before blind hills and tunnels, then accelerate when the road opens. If you enter every unknown corner at top speed, you will lose more time bouncing off boundaries than you gain on the straight.
6. Do Not Panic When Police Appear
A chase is a time-management problem.
Police pressure matters because penalties can wreck a segment. If you hear a siren, decide quickly whether you can escape cleanly. Beginners should avoid turning every stop into a desperate drag race, especially when traffic or a turn is close. Repeated tickets can end a run, so one cautious response is often better than gambling the whole route.
7. Respect Traffic More Than Rivals
Traffic creates the biggest sudden mistakes.
Opponent cars are predictable compared with civilian traffic. Leave space on narrow sections, avoid late swerves around crests, and do not sit in the wrong lane longer than necessary on two-way roads. A clean pass at slightly lower speed is better than clipping traffic and handing the segment to X-Man or the clock.
8. Read Checkpoint Results Like Coaching
Each segment tells you what went wrong.
Checkpoints show your segment time, average speed, top speed, and running total. Use that information. If your top speed is high but average speed is poor, you are probably crashing, braking too late, or losing too much time in traffic. If both are low, you may need a faster car, better exits, or more confidence on straights.
9. Use Replay to Learn Hazards
Replays are not just for crashes.
Instant replay and highlight viewing can show where a line failed, where traffic surprised you, or where you braked too late. When a segment feels unfair, review it once instead of immediately restarting with the same habits. You can often find one corner or police moment that explains the whole loss.
10. Keep Special Edition Expectations Separate
Do not plan around features from a different release.
The original release family and Special Edition overlap in name, but they are not the same guide target. If you are playing a version with extra tracks or different technical behavior, treat those additions as version-specific. The core beginner habits still help, but route lists and unlock assumptions may not match every copy.
Race Mode Priorities
| Mode | Beginner Use | What to Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Time Trial | Learn a route without race pressure | Braking points, clean exits, top-speed sections |
| Head to Head | Practice traffic and police while racing one opponent | Passing, siren decisions, recovery after mistakes |
| Single Race | Build comfort around multiple opponents | Starts, positioning, avoiding contact |
| Tournament | Test consistency across events | Clean finishes, point discipline, fewer risky moves |
Time Trial is the calmest way to learn a course because the road itself is the lesson. Once you know the route, Head to Head teaches the extra pressure of another racer, traffic, and police. Single Race and Tournament are better after you can finish without leaning on lucky escapes.
Route and Driving Habits
| Situation | Best Habit | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Long straight | Accelerate fully but plan the next braking zone | Speed only helps if you survive the next turn |
| Blind hill | Lift or brake before the crest | Traffic and corners can appear late |
| Two-way traffic | Return to your lane after passing | Reduces head-on surprises |
| Police siren | Choose caution or escape immediately | Delayed decisions cost more time |
| Checkpoint menu | Review weak segments before continuing | Prevents repeating the same mistake |
| New car | Run a simple route first | Handling matters more than brochure speed |
| Manual shifting | Practice after route knowledge | Gear changes are easier when corners are familiar |
| Tournament run | Drive for reliable points | One reckless segment can ruin several good races |
The main beginner skill is rhythm. Accelerate hard where the game gives you space, brake before the road becomes uncertain, and keep the car centered enough that small surprises do not become crashes. The original game feels better when you treat it like fast road driving rather than a shortcut-heavy arcade racer.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
-
Do not start on the hardest route - Learn car control on simpler roads before testing Alpine-style corners and elevation changes.
-
Do not pick cars by top speed alone - A car you can brake and place cleanly is more useful than one you constantly overdrive.
-
Do not rush into Pro shifting immediately - Manual shifting is rewarding, but it adds workload before you know the roads.
-
Do not ignore police penalties - Getting caught repeatedly can cost time or end the run, depending on version and situation.
-
Do not treat traffic like scenery - Civilian cars can ruin a good segment faster than a rival racer.
-
Do not chase every pass into a blind corner - Backing out early is often faster than crashing and recovering.
-
Do not skip checkpoint feedback - Segment time, average speed, and top speed can show whether your problem is route knowledge or car choice.
-
Do not assume off-road shortcuts exist - The game keeps you on the course, so focus on clean pavement lines.
-
Do not mix up releases - Special Edition and regional variants can differ, so keep your expectations tied to the version you are actually playing.
Summary
| Category | Top Tip |
|---|---|
| Setup | Use Control Central to choose a beginner-friendly route, mode, and skill level |
| Routes | Learn City first, then move toward Coastal and Alpine-style challenges |
| Cars | Favor controllable handling over raw speed |
| Shifting | Use automatic until you know braking points and traffic patterns |
| Police | Avoid repeated tickets and make quick siren decisions |
| Traffic | Leave room, especially on two-way sections and blind hills |
| Checkpoints | Use segment stats to diagnose mistakes |
| Replays | Review hard moments before repeating a bad run |
Did this answer your question?
Your feedback helps keep the useful answers visible.Sources
4 checked for this guideEvery factual claim in this guide was checked against at least two independent sources before publication. These are the references used for The Need for Speed.
Next answers
Community notes0
No community notes yet.
Sign in to contribute