For years, the Need for Speed video game franchise was the go-to game for car enthusiasts looking for arcade fun with the world’s greatest supercars. The franchise is still chugging along with the last entry, Need for Speed Payback, debuting in 2017 to middling reviews. Electronic Arts announced this year it’s developing another NFS game; however, one YouTube channel, likely impatient for the next entry, decided to take to the streets with the ingenious video above.
While there’s now a slew of racing games available for nearly every skill level – Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport and Horizon, Project Cars, The Crew, and Mario Kart, to name a few – Need for Speed is burned into the consciousness of a generation. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 with the yellow Lamborghini Murciélago on the box will always have a special place in my video game library.
The video opens at the car selection screen that’s eerily similar to what you’d see in any NFS game. Cars include the Honda Integra Type R, Toyota Celica, Toyota Supra (locked), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII (locked), and a Nissan 350Z we don’t get to see. The Celica is selected, parts are installed, and the black exterior is changed to a subtle, soft blue. The Celica drives off down the highway to race.
The race is brief and appears to happen on an open road, though there’s no traffic, and the actual driving speeds look legal. However, the video feels like an NFS game with the exterior camera following the race, shaking with blur when the Celica hits the nitrous, passing the Mazda RX-8, Subaru WRX STI, and Honda Integra Type S that lined up to race.
Recreating video games in the real world isn’t new. There’s a fun quirkiness to taking a digital recreation of real life and recreating it again in the real world. Not everything matches between the game and the recreation, but the video does capture the feeling of the NFS franchise, and that’s enough for us.
Source: Владислав Чекунов via YouTube
