Let’s be clear, you can still whip around hyper-realistic cars in breathtaking locales. In Need for Speed Unbound your self-exploration goes beyond the garage and expands your canvas, exposing you to all of the vast elements that make your need for speed an adventure, a lifestyle and an artform. With this new addition to the Need For Speed universe, your avenues and boulevards to self-expression are unbound – from the cars and clothes, to the streets and the tire marks your car leaves behind.

“We wanted to deliver an art style that matters for gameplay, one that clearly celebrates player actions, enhances the player experience, and rewards them along the way,” explains Darren White, Need for Speed Unbound‘s art director at Criterion Games. “We wanted to take players to that next level in Need for Speed Unbound with our driving VFX, which we call ‘Tags.’”

Just like the street artists who creatively subvert the cityscapes around them, you will be able to tag the world and leave everyone in your dust. Tags come to life when you deploy your boosting powers; which are earned through actions like drifting, jumps and near misses, and appear as dramatic, customizable effects that paint the surrounding world, including illustrative lines that etch around the curves of your car. Through Tags, you and your car become the artists, and the city is your canvas.

“Need for Speed Unbound‘s realistic-looking world and cars really help ground the visuals,” describes White of the game’s art style. “Taking inspiration from street art and other media, we creatively subvert the characters and visual effects, turning them into expressionistic illustrations of ‘you’ and ‘your actions.’ It’s literally ‘graffiti-coming-to-life.’”

Street art has always been an important aspect of street culture, with an irreverence that has long inspired Need For Speed. “It is an incredibly creative form of self-expression, and like street racing, it represents an unruly freedom to express yourself against rules and restrictions,” adds White.

Need for Speed Unbound features a diverse collection of street art styles from multiple artists across the world including Sentrock and JC Riviera. These revered artists are painting Need for Speed Unbound with their signature style, artworks that not only add to the backdrop of the game, but can also be collected and applied to your car in the form of wraps.

Alongside Tags, you can continue to express your personal style through your cars, in greater detail and grandeur. You will now have access to new wrap content and full kit selections, as well as exciting new ways of customization with part removal – where you can expose the mechanical guts of your car and intimidate competition before you even creep up to the starting line.

And it doesn’t end with Tags, wraps and parts; the player’s wardrobe will get an upgrade too! “Need for Speed Unbound‘s characters are unapologetically expressive with new fashion collaborations,” reveals White. “Character self-expression in Need for Speed Unbound goes beyond just the clothes you wear; with additional cosmetic changes and customizable poses, you can truly show off in key moments, like race wins, creating characters that are brimming with attitude.”

The same goes for Need for Speed Unbound. It’s full of attitude, creativity, adventure, style and camaraderie.