Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, the police-chase game and its supercars

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the racing game Criterion Games, the developer of the Burnout series, made for Electronic Arts (EA), released on 16 November 2010 in North America and 19 November in Europe for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, with a separate Wii version. You drive real, licensed supercars on both sides of the law, as a racer or as a police officer in, say, a police Lamborghini Reventón, on more than 100 miles of road in a made-up American county. EA said on 1 February 2011 that it had sold in more than five million copies, and a remastered version followed in November 2020.

For a car magazine it is the car list that stands out: 22 makers, from Alfa Romeo to Subaru, with Porsche and Lamborghini supplying 12 models each, and some cars built in runs of 20 or fewer. The game's UK launch, on 27 October 2010, took three Lamborghinis wrapped to look like their game versions to the Longcross test track in Surrey.

Gameplay in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

It is an arcade racing game built around police chases: in its career you switch between racer events and cop events, and each side has weapons to use on the other. When EA revealed it in June 2010, Joystiq called it a reboot of the long-running Need for Speed series, with a full campaign for both racer and cop. Keith Stuart, reviewing it for The Guardian on 16 November 2010, listed spike strips and electromagnetic pulse systems for both sides, roadblocks and helicopter support for the police, and a one-off turbo for racers. He placed the handling between Criterion's Burnout series and the more simulation-minded Need for Speed: Shift, with muscle cars such as the Corvette ZR1 and Dodge Challenger oversteering and the low exotics sticking to the road.

Races, pursuits and time trials

The career is a set of events spread across the map, unlocked as you go and playable in any order. Eurogamer listed straightforward races, time trials, duels and pursuits. In a Hot Pursuit event, The Guardian explained, racers fight for first place while the cops try to shunt them off the road; in an Interceptor event you are in the police car, trying to smash racers into the barriers. "Preview" events lend you a faster car before you have unlocked it, and The Guardian's examples were the McLaren F1 and the Pagani Zonda roadster. Racers earn gold, silver or bronze medals; cops earn a distinction, merit or pass. Online, Stuart found everything from straight eight-car races to four-against-four racing between police squads and racer gangs.

Seacrest County

The game is set in Seacrest County, a fictional place that EA's own guide to the map sells as somewhere to "feel the thrill of the chase and the rush of escape", with "over a hundred miles of winding roads" inspired by the American west coast states: mountains, forests, deserts and coastal roads, with named areas such as Big Timber Forest, Boulder Desert and the snow-capped Eagle Crest. There is a weather system and a full day-and-night cycle. EA says Criterion and DICE, the Swedish studio behind Battlefield, pushed its graphics together.

Autolog: racing your friends

Autolog keeps records of your times and compares them with those of your friends on Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network and tells you when a friend beats one of them, so even single-player events become a competition. Tom Bramwell, in Eurogamer's 9/10 review of November 2010, described leaderboards for every event and a "Wall" for posting results, and noted that the game keeps its own tracking instead of posting to Facebook and Twitter. Progress is paid in "bounty", which unlocks events, power-ups and cars; Bramwell found the unlocks came so fast that a failed event might still put a McLaren MP4-12C in your garage.

Cars in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Every car in the game is a real, licensed model. EA's car list on the game's website, as it stood at the end of 2011 with the paid packs included, named 77 cars from 22 makers, and promised "absolutely no 'fillers'". The page splits them into police and racer cars, and EA pointed out that many were appearing as police cars for the first time anywhere, citing a "cop-spec Pagani Zonda Cinque".

Source: EA's Need for Speed Hot Pursuit car page, archived 28 December 2011. The page does not list the Gumpert Apollo S, which the Super Sports Pack added (see below).

Is there a Ferrari in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit?

No. There is no Ferrari on EA's car list for the original game, nor on the list for the 2020 remaster. The Italian supercars come from Lamborghini, Pagani, Maserati and Alfa Romeo instead.

The rarest cars in the game

Several of the cars were made in tiny numbers. Lamborghini's Reventón, the police car EA picked out when it announced the remaster's car list, was built in a run of 20, each costing about one million euros plus taxes, with a 650bhp V12 and a claimed top speed of more than 340km/h, according to evo's report from the 2007 Frankfurt show. EA's list also has the Reventón Roadster.

The Pagani Zonda Cinque is rarer still. Evo's road test explains that the idea came from Pagani's dealer in Hong Kong, that Horacio Pagani agreed to build five, and that each cost 1.3 million euros plus taxes (evo's price panel gives about £1,360,000). Its 7.3-litre V12 makes 669bhp. The game has both the coupé and the roadster, and EA's car page invited players to "take down the racers" in the police Cinque.

Porsche 918 Spyder: a concept car you could drive

The 918 Spyder in the game is a concept. Porsche had shown it at the Geneva motor show in March 2010, eight months before the game came out, and, as Porsche's own history of the car records, the board approved series development that same year. EA's list calls it the "Porsche 918 Spyder (Concept Study)". At Geneva Porsche's research chief Wolfgang Dürheimer told CAR magazine the concept used the 3.4-litre V8 from the RS Spyder racer and could lap the Nürburgring in under 7min 30sec. The production car, limited to 918 units and shown at Frankfurt in 2013, had a 4.6-litre V8 and two electric motors, 887PS in all, and lapped the Nordschleife in 6min 57sec.

How many cars are in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit?

The answer depends on the version. EA's 2011 page named 77 cars, the Gumpert Apollo S making 78 with the packs. EA's car list for the 2020 remaster also has 77 entries, but not the same 77: it drops the Carbon Motors E7, the Ford Taurus SHO and both Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarens (the 722 Edition and the Stirling Moss), and adds the Gumpert, a Ford Police Interceptor Concept and two "NFS Edition" Zonda Cinques.

DLC: the downloadable car packs

EA and Criterion sold extra cars after launch as downloadable content (DLC) for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The first was the Super Sports Pack, with the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, the Gumpert Apollo S and the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport plus 13 events; EA's announcement gave a price of $6.99 and release dates of 21 December 2010 in North America and 22 December on the European PlayStation Network.

Criterion announced three more on 17 February 2011, as VG247 reported: Armed and Dangerous, with two online modes (Most Wanted, in which the police hunt one racer while the others protect him, and Arms Race, a free-for-all with weapons); Lamborghini Untamed, from 1 March, with the Diablo SV, the Countach and the Sesto Elemento; and Porsche Unleashed, with a 1982 911 Turbo, the 959 and the 911 Speedster. On the PlayStation Store the three came together as the Three for All Bundle at $19.99 from 22 March 2011.

The fastest car: the Veyron Super Sport

On paper the quickest car in the game is the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, which held the production-car speed record when the pack came out. Bugatti's July 2010 press release records that it averaged 431.072km/h (268mph), the average of two runs in opposite directions by Pierre Henri Raphanel at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track, in front of the German TÜV and Guinness World Records. It has 1,200hp and 1,500Nm, and the customer cars are limited to 415km/h to protect the tyres.

The Sesto Elemento in the Lamborghini Untamed pack was a concept too. Evo's report from the 2010 Paris show gave it a carbon-fibre monocoque, a 562bhp V10 from the Gallardo and a kerb weight of 999kg, just over two thirds of the 1,410kg Gallardo LP 560-4's, with a claimed 2.5sec to 62mph.

Release dates and platforms

EA revealed the game at its E3 press conference on 14 June 2010. On the day, Joystiq reported a North American release of 16 November and, from an EA press release, 19 November for Europe, along with a Wii version by another studio, Exient. Criterion made the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions. The Guardian's review listed a UK price of £49.99. A SkiddMark report of October 2010 gave the on-sale date as 11 November 2010 for all formats (Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Wii), with a demo already out on Xbox and PS3.

The Wii version

The Wii game was made by Exient, not Criterion, and reviewers rated it far lower: Metacritic's average for it is 50, against 86 to 89 for the other versions.

The UK launch at Longcross

EA held the game's UK launch event on 27 October 2010, before it went on sale, at Longcross Test Centre in Surrey, with three Lamborghinis wrapped to look like the cars in the game. A SkiddMark report published two days later recorded the details. The vehicle-wrapping firm Totally Dynamic did the work at its south London centre: the cars were wrapped on 25 October, driven at the launch on the 27th, unwrapped the same day and returned in mint condition on the 28th. The game's Lamborghinis included a Reventón and a Gallardo LP 560-4, and the wraps copied their on-screen colours.

Members of the grime collective Roll Deep, who SkiddMark noted had won at that year's Urban Music Awards, drove the Lamborghinis around the track. Ben Collins drove a selection of Porsches. Collins's autobiography, The Man in the White Suit, says he was Top Gear's Stig, and on 1 September 2010, the BBC reported, the High Court refused the corporation an injunction to stop it being published.

What is Longcross?

Longcross is a former military vehicle test site near Chobham. Colin Goodwin, writing in Autocar in 2021, explains that it was built during the Second World War as an extension of the Fighting Vehicles Proving Establishment at Farnborough and became the Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment in 1970. It has an outer circuit with banked corners and two long straights, and a section called the Snake that cuts across the circuit; the original Mini was launched there in 1959. By 2021 the site was Longcross Studios, where film and television crews shoot driving scenes, among them scenes for James Bond films.

Reviews and awards

Critics rated it highly. On Metacritic the PlayStation 3 version averages 89 from 59 reviews, the Xbox 360 version 88 from 73 and the PC version 86 from 14. Eurogamer gave it 9/10. Bramwell found the speed "beyond anything we've seen since the Nürburgring sprints of Project Gotham Racing 3", even in "the lowliest cars", which he named as RX-8s and Boxsters. Keith Stuart, in The Guardian, called it a "technically demanding racer that takes its array of beautiful motors seriously", and found the four-against-four races between police and racers "just ridiculously enjoyable". His one complaint was that the roads lacked the "free-roaming anarchy" of Burnout.

Before release, the Game Critics Awards named it Best Racing Game of E3 2010. In March 2011 it won the Multiplayer award at the British Academy Video Games Awards, ahead of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, as Engadget reported.

Sales

In its third-quarter results of 1 February 2011, EA said Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit had sold in more than five million units, one of five games it launched in 2010 to pass that mark, alongside FIFA 11, Medal of Honor, Madden NFL 11 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered

A remastered version came out on 6 November 2020 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, and on 13 November for the Nintendo Switch. EA's launch notice lists up to 4K at 60 frames a second, cross-play between all four formats, and the content of five downloadable packs folded into the career, which EA put at six hours of extra play and more than 30 challenges. EA called it "this timeless experience remastered for today's hardware", and its car list says all the packs' cars are included on every format, the PC for the first time.

The developer of the remaster was Stellar Entertainment, though EA's launch notice still called it "Criterion's action-racer classic". EA's Seacrest County notes list higher-resolution models and textures, longer draw distances and better shadows and reflections. An update on 25 February 2021 added a wrap editor.

Questions

Who made Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit?

Criterion Games, the British studio behind the Burnout series, made the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions for Electronic Arts, which published it. Exient made the Wii version.

Is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit open world?

Seacrest County is one connected map of more than 100 miles of road, but you play the career as a series of separate events chosen from the map. The Guardian's reviewer missed the free-roaming of Criterion's Burnout games.

Can you play as the police in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit?

Yes. The career alternates between racer and police events, and as a police officer you use spike strips, roadblocks, helicopters and electromagnetic pulses to stop racers. EA's car page split its list into police cars and racer cars.

Is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on PS4 and PS5?

The 2020 Remastered version is on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch. EA's February 2021 update improved resolution and performance on the newer PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Does Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered have a wrap editor?

Yes. EA added a wrap editor in an update on 25 February 2021, the same update that improved resolution and performance on the newer consoles.

What is the fastest car in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit?

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, added in the Super Sports Pack in December 2010. In real life it set a production-car record of 431.072km/h (268mph) in July 2010.

Sources

• Electronic Arts, The Cars, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit website, archived 28 December 2011: the car list, police cars, "no fillers".
• Electronic Arts, Under the Hood: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered Car List, October 2020, archived 21 November 2020: remaster car list, all pack cars on every format.
• Electronic Arts, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered is Available Now, 6 November 2020, archived 8 November 2020: release dates, cross-play, pack content.
• Electronic Arts, Under the Hood: Welcome Back to Seacrest County, 2020, archived 8 January 2025: map size and areas, DICE, weather, remaster graphics, wrap editor update.
• Electronic Arts, NFS Hot Pursuit Super Sports Pack Arrives December 21st, December 2010, archived 10 March 2012: pack cars, price, dates.
• Electronic Arts, Hot Pursuit Three for All Bundle is Live on PlayStation 3, 22 March 2011, archived 5 September 2011: bundle and price.
• Electronic Arts, Electronic Arts Reports Q3 FY11 Financial Results, 1 February 2011, archived 8 February 2011: five million units sold in.
• David Hinkle, Joystiq, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit races to retail November 16, 14 June 2010, archived 17 June 2010: E3 reveal, release dates, Wii version by Exient.
• VG247, Criterion announces Hot Pursuit DLC triple whammy, 17 February 2011: Armed and Dangerous, Lamborghini Untamed, Porsche Unleashed.
• Keith Stuart, The Guardian, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit review, 16 November 2010: gameplay, power-ups, handling, UK price.
• Tom Bramwell, Eurogamer, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit review, November 2010: score, Autolog, bounty.
• Metacritic, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, read 28 October 2026: average scores by platform.
• Game Critics Awards, 2010 winners: Best Racing Game.
• Engadget, BAFTA names Mass Effect 2 as game of the year, reveals all winners for 2011, 17 March 2011: Multiplayer award.
• SkiddMark, It's a wrap for the UK launch of EA's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, 29 October 2010, archived 31 October 2010: UK launch at Longcross, Totally Dynamic wraps and dates, Roll Deep, Ben Collins, 11 November on-sale date.
• Colin Goodwin, Autocar, Seen it all before: a deja vu-laden visit to Longcross Studios, 6 June 2021: history and layout of Longcross.
• BBC News, Stig court case: BBC loses battle over Ben Collins book, 1 September 2010: Ben Collins and The Stig.
• Porsche Newsroom, 10 years of the Porsche 918 Spyder: Geneva 2010 concept, production approval, 918 units, outputs, Nordschleife time.
• Tim Pollard, CAR magazine, Porsche 918 Spyder (2010) at Geneva motor show, 1 March 2010: concept engine and lap-time claim.
• Bugatti Newsroom, Landspeed world record with the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, July 2010: record speed, power, limiter.
• Evo, Pagani Zonda Cinque review, November 2009: origin, production of five, price, power.
• Evo, Lamborghini reveals stunning Sesto Elemento carbonfibre supercar at the 2010 Paris show, 29 September 2010: Sesto Elemento construction, engine, weight.
• Evo, Frankfurt: Lamborghini Reventón, September 2007: production of 20, price, power, top speed.