Whoop whoop! It's the sound of the Police! Yes yes, we’re back with Vol. 8: Cops vs Racers* inspired by NFS heritage of Hot Pursuit. Listening to you and hearing that gameplay is key, we are adding Pursuit Tech, a wealth of Cop Cars both in the Speedpass and new Cop progression as well as Cop car customization…and that's just for the Cops! Of course, there are new customizations, playlists, challenges and an updated league for the Racers. Race or Chase? Why not both? Check out all the HP-infused and inspired play, art and content across this Volume, as well as shouts to other Cops of NFS past! As always, let us know what you think, full details below, now go bust some perps “right now…I SAID RIGHT NOW!”

    -Team Kaizen, Criterion Games

Drift - Check… Drag - Check… Playing as a Cop and Pursuit tech… big check! Adding to our mission this year of creating the Ultimate NFS destination in one place, it's time to take to the streets to bust some fools. Inspired by Need for Speed Hot Pursuit remixing, as always, with some old and some new!  

• Added Hot Pursuit Mode in PVP and Free Roam

It's back, the OG Cops Vs Racer experience, and you get to play as both! Here is the APB:

• 4v4 mode
• Play a round as a Cop (catch the racers) and a round as a Racer (win the race)
• If you get busted, you’ll come back as a Cop for a chance to score some points by taking out the remaining racers
• Pursuit tech is back with Spike Strips, EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse), and ESF (Electrostatic Field) to take down the Racers
• Pursuit tech can be changed and equipped before you take part in the event in Cop Garage so don't forget to set your load out before your roll out!

Cop and Racers also have a few tweaks and differences to look out for in this mode:

• Cops do not need to hit and follow checkpoints, allowing you to cut corners (literally) and get the right ramming angle for maximum effort!
• If you are lagging behind as a Cop you can execute a tactical jump ahead of the race pack to get back into the action

Escape the long arm of the law as a team, or be the last person standing to grab a bonus.

• Added Cop Career

To aid you in your “fight for justice”, we have a whole bunch of Cars and Pursuit tech for you to unlock in the newly added Cop progression. Get XP from playing as a Cop in Hot Pursuit mode in both PVP and Freeroam to unlock new and more powerful versions of Pursuit tech. You will also unlock Cop cars inspired from around the world, such as a Japanese police inspired Nissan GTR R34 and a UK police inspired Range Rover Sport SVR. 

Cop progression will be sticking around in Unbound from now on, unlike Leagues which have been refreshing each volume, allowing you to be a racer’s biggest pain in the ass at your own pace!

• Added Cop Customization

What’s the point of chasing down a racer and smashing them off the road if you can't look enforceable while doing it?! Well lucky for you there are loads of Cop customization options to earn through the Speedpass. Customize things like light bars, bull bars, rims and even radio tech to give some personality to your busting mobile. 

• Updated League

League is back with a new set of challenges, Racers to beat and new rides to earn. New racers will be available over the course of the volume, so make sure to come back and take them on to win some of their rides. 

• Added Community Challenge

Racer X is back with a new challenge! While some are chasing in HP mode, he wants us escaping… Heat level 5 chases are the flavor for this Vol., apparently. Hmm, he really seems to want to give the Lakeshore PD the run around, spreading them pretty thin, taking down Cops last volume (which you all smashed!) and now baiting them? Meh, escape the chases and it sounds like there will be a new custom up for grabs. Still, what's he up to?!

• Added New PVP Races
  • 18 Hot Pursuit Events - The most challenging Cops vs racers experience in NFS history.
  • Evija vs Regera Playlists - Has it finally Meta its match… pick your side and go head to head on the new longest race ever in Lakeshore.
  • Porsche 959s only Playlists - All racers in the new 959s, use the event loaner or bring your own.
  • Lotus Evija only Playlists - The most electrifying test of speed in Lakeshore.
  • NFS Legends Playlists - Celebrating NFS 3, the first "Hot Pursuit" titled game in the franchise.
  • Gauntlet Playlists - 2 additional playlists added.
  • 16 new Vol. 8 race routes to discover across all game modes.

• Increased Max Rank

Max rank will now be increased from 250 to 280. 30 new ranks, themed with NFS Cop badges from across the franchise, unlocking along with titles and banner art every 5 ranks. 

• Added New Cars

New volume, new cars! This time around, as you expect, we are going heavy with Cop cars and customization. We bring the old, with the iconic Porsche 959 S ‘87, which isn't just packing junk in the trunk, and the new with the supercharged, electric powered (new Meta in town) the Lotus Evija 23’. Of course, both have our revised Kaizen handling model. Full car breakdown below:  

*** Added Porsche 959s ‘87 w/ 3 bodykits 
^ Added Lotus Evija ‘23 w/ 3 bodykits 

• Added New Customs

*** Speedhunters Racer Custom Lotus Evija ‘23 
^ Lotus Evija ‘23 Criterion Edition 

• Added Cop Customs

*** Sgt. Cross’ Custom Chevrolet Corvette from Need For Speed Most Wanted 
*** Speedhunters Cop Custom Porsche 959s ‘87 
*** Need For Speed Hot Pursuit series inspired Cop Custom Porsche 959s ‘87 
*** Porsche 959s ‘87 SCPD Edition 
*** Ford Crown Victoria ‘08 – Undercover Cop Edition
*** Porsche 959 S '87 – Undercover Cop Edition
> Ford Crown Victoria (2008) US Edition
> Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR (2018) UK edition
> Porsche 911 GTS (2018) DE Edition
> Nissan Skyline GTR V-Spec R34 (1999) JP Edition
> Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 (2017) US Edition

• Plus

# 4 Rival Racer vehicles (check back each week for what!) 
# Community Challenge Custom…. 

*** Available in Premium Speed Pass
^ Available in Free Speed Pass
/ Available for free in Leagues play in Freeroam 
> Available in Cop progression
# Available in League

As always, though, there is more than cars up for grabs. Some Cop themed, some racer themed, all awesome!

• Cop Customization - Bull bars 
• Cop Customization - Light Bars
• Cop Customization - LED License Plates 
• LED Message bar - A selection of LED message bar with enforceable phrases, sure to strike fear in Racers
• Racer Sets - Colour matched smoke and infinity rims
• “Light walls” Tags - Give the Cops something to chase! 
• “LED Trails” Tags - Think digital ticker tape, that will stop those pesky racers…
• And of course a whole lot more:
  • Banner frame and stickers
  • Body kits
  • New Rims
  • License Plates
  • Decals
  • Character skins
  • And projections
  • XP boosts

• Fixed performance issues that occurred when progressing challenges and during the results screen at the end of an event, which would result in a framerate drop on PC and PS5
• Fixed a bug where players would get stuck in a “missed checkpoint!” and “wrong way!” reset loop if they crash into traffic and get knocked off course at the end of a Drag event
• Fixed a bug where players could miss checkpoints to skip ahead on “Takahashi Special”
• Fixed a bug where cars would continue to travel forward with momentum after passing the finish line in Drag playlists instead of coming to a halt
• Fixed a bug where players could get incorrectly reset in the “Goin’ Uptown” street race if they cross the bridge near the end of the race while it has been lowered
• Fixed an issue where the names of “Pro Quarter Mile” events could be too long and extend off the PVP playlist card
• Fixed a bug where the color of the League tab would be incorrectly inverted if colorblind settings had been enabled
• Fixed a bug where “Original” signature style smoke VFX would disappear during a burnout if another player’s burnout also produced smoke nearby
• Fixed a bug where decals were not visible on the rear-right fender of Melissa’s Custom Eclipse GSX ‘99
• Fixed an issue where hovering over the Honda Civic Type-R (2015) in "My Rides" would rarely result in a crash on PS5

• Various crash fixes

• Fixed there being an over-abundance of cop helicopters in SP & MP in some circumstances- effectively making helicopters "less annoying" to escape.
• Gamemode lobbies now skip down to 5 seconds if all players on the server have joined
• Gas stations now repair burst tires in SP & MP
• Some network performance optimizations to improve conditions for players with poor connections
• Fixed - issues in player search where the banner wasn't correctly updating to the selected player 
• Fixed - The "Buy Premium SpeedPass" tile on the main menu doesn't disappear if you have Keys To The Map installed. 
• Fixed -  Some issues around buying vehicles where parts could go missing.

Ok people, patch notes done! Go get your Cop on!

We got you. Hit up Answers HQ, where you can report bugs or issues for a member of the team to check out.

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*Requires NFS Unbound (sold separately) and all game updates.