Ahead of next week’s Volume 2 DLC, which adds new cars, events and online police chases, a massive patch update has arrived for Need for Speed Unbound across all platforms.
Compared to January’s underwhelming patch, this is a substantial update with much-needed community-requested quality-of-life improvements ahead of next week’s Volume 2 DLC.
Let’s take a look at the Need for Speed Unbound Vol 2 patch notes to see what you can expect.
Need for Speed Unbound Volume 2 Update
Absent at launch, online police chases are finally coming to NFS Unbound’s online multiplayer in free-roaming events.
The Volume 2 update also adds three new cars: the 2021 Lotus Emira Balmain Edition, the 1971 Nissan Fairlady ZG and a mystery Hot Laps challenge reward car “Ultimate Luxury”.
There are also four new Endurance events, two new Rumble playlists and 40 new daily challenges.
Improvements in the quality of life
While the new Volume 2 update doesn’t launch until March 21st, the patch brings several community-requested quality-of-life improvements.
One of our main issues with NFS Unbound’s online multiplayer is that progression is separate from single player. Because your progress resets, your unlocked garage cars in single player do not carry over to multiplayer. Cash payouts for winning races were also frustratingly low, making it difficult to acquire cars to race online.
Fortunately, Criterion Games has addressed this by making some significant changes to the game’s economy. Race playlists and free route challenges now reward higher payouts so you can buy cars faster.
Ever since NFS Unbound launched in December of last year, players have been using an exploit where the Ferrari 488 Pista could be downgraded to participate in B-class races, giving an unfair performance advantage. To level the playing field, cars can now only be downgraded by one level.
Additionally, driving effects can now be applied to different cars instead of being restricted to characters, and music tracks can be skipped in online multiplayer races.
Another welcome change is the ability to switch cars between races in online playlists.
Need for Speed Unbound Vol 2 Patch Notes
We’ve shared some highlights below, but you can check out the full patch notes for Need for Speed Unbound Vol 2 here.
AI Rivals & Cops
- Fixed a number of issues where traffic cars would spawn in unexpected locations
- Fixed an issue that caused AI opponent icons to flicker on screen
- Fixed an issue where AI rivals were destroyed during events and completed the race early
- Fixed an issue where cops would remain inactive in some areas after breaking the player
- Fixed an issue where helicopters would not chase correctly during a chase
- Fixed an issue where the “Old Town Road” event had level B opponents instead of level A
- Fixed an issue where Waru’s vehicle had a default player “NFS” license plate
- General fixes and balancing for AI racers
- Improved police chat activation conditions
Balance and meta tweaks
- Limited ability to downgrade cars below stock
- Fixed an exploit where players could access additional gear using third-party hardware
- Fixed an issue where A$AP Rocky’s custom vehicle only allowed 3 engine swaps
- Fixed an issue where track reset could give an unfair advantage to “Fast Transit”
- The top-end acceleration of the Aston Martin Vulcan balanced in the S-Class
challenges
- Added the ability to pin a challenge directly from a locked item
- Fixed a number of UI issues related to challenges
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to only receive a complete challenge popup notification after completing multiple challenges
- Fixed an issue that caused the Return to Garage rewards screen to appear twice after completing challenges
- Fixed an issue where certain challenges were displaying incorrect information
- Improved challenge unlock criteria feedback to player
Personalization
- Added the ability to select a driving tag per vehicle
- Improved the performance customization flow to show if performance parts will move the car below a level
Map and mini map
- Added district names to the map
- Closed but purchasable safe houses can now be seen on the map
Multiplayer
- Added the ability for players to see what other players are doing while on the map, in meetings, and in the match menu server list.
- Fixed an issue that caused traffic cars to have delayed responses to collisions in multiplayer
- Improved how player position is handled in multiplayer lobbies, smoothing gameplay in playlists
- Fixed a number of issues that prevented players from sending multiplayer invites
Playlist and races
- Added the ability to swap cars in each race in a playlist, so players can choose the most suitable cars for each type of event
- Added visual feedback to the playlist UI to indicate if the player was using a rental car.
- Increased base payouts for all multiplayer playlists and added a larger payout scale with more players
UI
- Added option to reverse the sort order of cars in the garage
General fixes and improvements
- Added an option to reset the camera in snapshot mode
- Added an inactive camera to the garage
- Added the ability to skip music tracks in races
- Fixed some inconsistencies in how race routes are displayed on the map, in the meeting and in game
