The Need for Speed franchise has its ups and downs, but a lot of the entries in the series are some of the best racing games of all time. Most of the success stems from its high-octane arcade racing, stellar soundtracks, and, of course, the cars. There’s no shortage of road demons in the NFS franchise, from obvious crowd pleasers like the Toyota Supra to unexpected gems like the Plymouth Cuda.
As a massive fan of the franchise, I was set an impossible task of ranking the best cars in Need for Speed. There are many to choose from, but to make things easier, I’ll be listing cars that you can actually drive. Regardless, these are the sweetest set of wheels you’ll get your hands on in the franchise.
Spoiler: The top pick is obvious; you just can’t help it.
10. Ford GT — Need for Speed Carbon
The Ford GT is at the bottom of the list because using it so sorely feels like cheating at times. No matter what game you try it in, it’s a complete beast. Of course, there’s no way any developer dares to make this car anything less than great in any game. This is the car that famously beat Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966, and the modern GT won it again in 2016, 50 years after the legacy started.
The GT made its first appearance in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, but Carbon is the game where I enjoyed it the most. Everything, from the supercharger whine to the near instant acceleration, is incredibly satisfying. However, the handling is truly terrifying when you’re trying to corner. It’s one of the fastest cars in Carbon, and if you tame the beast, you’re in for raw, unfiltered power.
9. Ferrari 512 TR — Need for Speed
I barely recall the original 1994 Need for Speed game, as it was well before my time. However, I did play the game as a wee kid. The only thing I vividly remember is a red blur: the Ferrari 512 TR. In 1994, this was the very first car to find its way onto the cover of an NFS game.
As the game’s showcase feature puts it, “Italian style, beauty, speed, comfort, exclusivity. The Ferrari 512 TR has it in droves”.
In the original game, this car was fast, flashy, and a truly special thing to drive. By modern standards, the game does not hold up well. It has terrible handling, graphics, and any other problem you can think of that a 1994 game would have. Still, the Ferrari retains its charm. Its inclusion sets the tone for what Need for Speed is about — not just racing, but a celebration of the world’s most desirable cars.
8. Ford Mustang GT — Need for Speed: Most Wanted
There is no muscle car more iconic than the Mustang. Developers understand this, and they also understand that a Mustang needs to be beastly. This car makes an appearance in almost every arcade racing game that is worth mentioning, and you always want to see just how fast it is on a straight line.
But no other game has done the Mustang justice like NFS Most Wanted has. Razor rolls up in this car at the beginning of the game, flame decals and all. It’s the perfect car for an antagonist like Razor. You can get a taste of the crowd surfer if you get a pink slip from Jewels and get her Mustang GT instead.
In terms of driving, it has excellent acceleration and overtaking ability. Still, as a muscle car, it’s obviously bad in tight corners. In Most Wanted, it’s the perfect car for ramming right into police vehicles, something you end up doing a lot in the game.
7. Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII — Need for Speed: Underground 2
This one is an NFS Underground 2 staple. The Evo VIII is a legend in the world of tuning, and Underground 2 perfectly captures its potential. It’s got a turbocharged 2.0L engine, all-wheel drive, and razor-sharp handling, both in the game and real life. This was a popular tuner car in the 2000s because people loved how easy it was to squeeze big horsepower numbers out of it.
When you have a game like Underground 2 where a major focus is on tuning and personalizing, the Lancer is a perfect fit. It’s the perfect blend of raw performance and limitless customization potential. This car was underground, the kind of machine that real car enthusiasts always appreciated.
I could tell you how it drives (explosive acceleration is one detail), but it doesn’t matter. If you ever play Underground 2, you will deck out this car with vinyls, neon, and an over-the-top wrap. It’s a rite of passage.
6. Mazda RX-7 Spirit R — Need for Speed: Heat
Need for Speed Heat is a game that has surprisingly good drifting mechanics, and the Mazda RX-7 is the perfect car for it. Heat has a great performance customization feature, and with the right parts, the RX-7 is a beast for drifting. You’ll be able to get 3 stars in any drift activity with ease, not something you can do with a lot of cars in the game.
Even if you put the performance and drift ability aside, the RX-7 is still a JDM icon. It has a lightweight body, a unique Wanker rotary engine, and plenty of opportunities for street tuners to dump power into it. The car has also achieved enormous success on the race track with over 100 IMSA wins in the 80s and endurance victories at Daytona and Bathurst, cementing its racing legacy.
5. Lamborghini Diablo SV — Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
The Lamborghini Diablo SV is a car that perfectly encompasses the wild, no-rules mentality of the 90s supercar era. SV stands for “Super Veloce” here, meaning “super fast”. As you can expect, the car lives up to that name in every way. It features a massive V12 engine, scissor doors, and aggressive styling. The design has a lot of similarities with the Countach, and both of them are my favorite Lamborghinis.
This car was on the cover for Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, which, in my opinion, is the first great NFS game. The game had an exotic car roster, cops always on your tail, and fantastic visuals compared to the earlier games. A Lamborghini Diablo SV was the perfect fit, as it’s blisteringly fast and leaves traffic and police in the dust. The first Hot Pursuit game is all about raw speed, and the thrill of whipping around the Diablo on the game’s winding roads is like no other.
4. Toyota Corolla GT-S — Need for Speed: Underground 2
The Corolla GT-S is an iconic car, mainly because it is associated with drifting, Initial D, and the song “Deja Vu”. You know what I’m talking about, the black and white AE86 Trueno, driven by the Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya. This car is legendary because of its lightweight chassis, balanced handling, and a Rear Wheel Drive setup that makes it the perfect toy for drifting.
In Underground 2, this is one of the cars that you can pick from. Whenever I replay Underground 2, I almost always go with the Nissan 240SX. However, from the few times that I did drive the Corolla GT-S, I can vouch that it has exceptional handling and nimbleness that make navigating the tight, twisting streets of Bayview a joy. While it is a bit lacking in terms of sheer top-end speed, this is a car that is god tier in terms of how it feels to drive.
3. Nissan 240SX — Need for Speed: Carbon (Collectors Edition)
Pop-up headlights, rectangular body, and RWD — the 240X is a quintessential 90s JDM tuner car. This is one of the more exclusive cars in Need for Speed Carbon, as it was only available in the Collector’s Edition as a Tier 1 car (Tier 3 is the highest). While a Tier 1 car is rarely impressive on paper, with fully upgraded performance, the 240SX could smoke many Tier 2 and even some Tier 3 cars in Carbon.
As it is a Tuner car, you can tweak it to have superior handling and cornering compared to a lot of Exotic cars in the game. Unlocking this car early on in the game gives you a significant edge, and I actually beat the entire game once with this sleeper. It’s also a testament to the game’s excellent physics and car tuning mechanics that make a Tier 1 car so incredible.
2. Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (R34) – Need For Speed Underground I/II
The R32 Skyline was dubbed “Godzilla”, and Australian publication Wheels called the R34 GTR “The Return of Godzilla”. This is Brian’s ride from 2 Fast 2 Furious, Eddie’s weapon of choice from the original NFS Underground game, and the undisputed poster child of the JDM golden era. This car was powered by the legendary RB26, a twin-turbo inline-six engine.
Unfortunately, a lot of modern games don’t really do it justice. In Forza, the R34 has a low power ceiling for the engine, and it doesn’t handle well compared to the R32 in NFS Heat. Fortunately, both NFS Underground games get it right. It has raw, turbocharged power and a satisfying level of control, similar to the car in real life. The AWD drive system gives it great grip off the line and in corners, meaning you can launch this out of turns with a lot of confidence.
1. BMW E46 M3 GTR – Need For Speed: Most Wanted
This is the Need for Speed car. A car that arguably became bigger than the series itself. The blue and white livery is instantly recognizable to anyone who was gaming in the mid to late 2000s. It’s also the driving force behind the entire narrative of the 2005 Most Wanted game. You start the game off with this car, and just as you start to enjoy it, Razor takes it away from you.
That series of events immediately lit a fire under everyone who played the game. You’re not putting the game down till you get this car back, no two ways about it. Once you finally get it back, it’s the best payoff in the series. It doesn’t even matter how this car handles, how fast it is, or how it sounds. All of that is great, of course, but it’s all about vindication at the end. It’s one of the major reasons why Most Wanted is considered the best game in the franchise by many fans.
