This was the game that started it all. With more than 100,000,000 copies sold worldwide, Need for Speed is the world’s most popular racing series. Road and Track Presents: The Need for Speed, which was released in 1994 on the fledgling 3DO console, was the first truly 3D racing game.
Police chases, full-motion videos introducing each car, as well as traffic trying to make you wreck your dream machine pushed this game ahead of its competition. It had an impressive number of tracks for its day (seven), and a distinguished car list which included such supercars as the Lamborghini Diablo, Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, and Ferrari 512TR.
A range of camera views were available, including a groundbreaking "in-car" view, giving the player more of a connection with their vehicle, rather than just the "chase cam" view present in most racing games of the day.
Staff at Road and Track magazine worked with the Need for Speed team for countless hours to get the handling and performance of the cars as close to spot-on as possible, making this a one-of-a-kind title.
Cars
Separated into three classes, the cars in The Need for Speed included some of the supercars of the day, such as the Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari 512, but every car featured in the game had outstanding performance on the road and track. There was also a hidden car that could only be accessed through a cheat code, called the Warrior PTO E/2, a purple-and-teal machine that had acceleration and handling beyond any other cars in the game.
Acura NSXChevrolet
Corvette ZR-1Dodge Viper RT/10
Ferrari 512TR
Lamborghini Diablo VT
Mazda RX-7
Porsche 911 Carrera
Toyota Supra Turbo
Warrior PTO E/2
Acura NSXChevrolet
Corvette ZR-1Dodge Viper RT/10
Ferrari 512TR
Lamborghini Diablo VT
Mazda RX-7
Porsche 911 Carrera
Toyota Supra Turbo
Warrior PTO E/2
Tracks / World
With seven tracks -- one needed to be unlocked -- in its first release, and two more added by the "SE" edition that came out later, The Need for Speed was the most complete representation of racing available at the time.
Alpine
Autumn Valley Speedway
Burnt Sienna
City
Coastal
Lost Vegas
Rusty Springs Raceway
Transtropolis
Vertigo Ridge
Alpine
Autumn Valley Speedway
Burnt Sienna
City
Coastal
Lost Vegas
Rusty Springs Raceway
Transtropolis
Vertigo Ridge