The Need for Speed

The Need for Speed is regarded today as the starting point of one of the longest-running racing franchises of all, and it made its debut on the 3DO. The original game was far more of a simulation than later entries: it featured a handful of exotic sports cars, each with a detailed encyclopedic section including video footage and technical specs, and a driving model that punished careless braking and overly aggressive cornering. The tracks weren't closed circuits but long stretches of country road split into stages — through mountain switchbacks, desert plains, and coastal overlooks. Regular traffic and police patrols also shared the road with you, and the police would start a pursuit and hand out a fine once they pulled you over.

On the 3DO, the game showed off what the console could do with fast 3D graphics. The car models were honestly shaped for their time, a cockpit view with working gauges was available, and the engine sounds came from real recordings of each individual vehicle, so every car sounded different. It was precisely this attention to sound and detail that made driving feel like an experience quite unlike the purely arcade racers of the day. Music took a back seat in favor of engine roar, tire squeal, and a co-driver calling out upcoming turns and road conditions.

Reviews praised the combination of technical polish, licensed cars, and the atmosphere of a lawless road race, and the game was often cited as one of the main reasons to buy the console. The series it launched later turned toward arcade drifting and police chases, but the motif of a chase with a patrol car is present right from the start. Today the original version feels slower and stricter than a player used to modern entries might expect, and the tracks are at times less readable due to the short draw distance. But anyone wanting to see where the whole franchise grew from will find a surprisingly coherent game with its own calm pace and a respect for cars that later entries never quite matched again.