History NightmareFuel / NeedForSpeed

* The secret tracks in for the PSX; they are never unlocked normally and are only accessible through cheat codes. There are five in total; Autocross (a track that takes place in a small groove of a forest), Caverns (which takes place in dark caverns with overhanging rocks), Scorpio-7 (a track that takes place in an underwater city), Space Race (a space station) and The Room (where the player is shrunk down to miniature size and races on a slot car track). While these tracks are very cool and provide a lot of amusement there are several features about them that can unnerve imaginative players. Firstly there is no music playing whatsoever. From start to finish and even at the results screen you do not hear music at all. Secondly these tracks are only playable with no cops, opponents or traffic in single player. That means you are racing all alone on these deserted tracks which can give off a very post-apocalyptic feel. Bonus points for the alien mosaic that appears in the large square room in Space Race. It's all so very creepy but YMMV.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBHA4V7kH64 The Blacklist intros]] from ''Most Wanted'' (2012) are this to some. The Lamborghini Aventador LP 400-7's intro takes the cake for obvious reasons: First, it starts with a [[BlackoutBasement dark, futuristic-looking garage]] turning it's lights on. Each light gets turned on, you'll hear a loud flashing noise as [[NothingIsScarier they get closer]] [[ParanoiaFuel and closer to the gate]]. Once the gate opens, [[SubvertedTrope it simply shows the Aventador closing it's scissor doors and turning it's engine on]]. Think the cutscene is over, right? Well... '''[[DoubleSubversion you're wrong]]'''.

* ''Own the City'' takes the DarkerAndEdgier tone of the console versions, and cranks it to the max. The intro deserves a '''very''' special mention: the PlayerCharacter is racing with their friend Michael, until [[MoodWhiplash a car crash]] [[JumpScare suddenly happens]]. The player survives the crash, but Michael '''''[[KilledOffForReal does not]].'''''

** Its Wii/[=3DS=] counterpart of the opening cutscene is more [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] than its original version, but still counts as a chill to watch. It introduces Matt being TrappedInASinkingCar, all thanks to the goons pushing and submerging his car down into the seas of the San Francisco Bay.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVqaqokqIQ The player on their way to the parts gets ambushed deliberately rammed by an unknown man with a scythe tattoo in a Hummer [=H2=].]] We don't get to see the crash, but the sound of it as well as Samantha worriedly trying to contact the player is unnerving enough. Yet it is later revealed that the perpetrator responsible for wrecking the player's car is no other than [[BigBad Caleb Reece]].

** Speaking of "creepy music", the original score by Photek in the [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeed2015 2015 reboot]] takes a step further while featuring a handful of tracks that wouldn't feel out of place for a horror/thriller movie, with "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrDUoGbLmE Metro]]" being a good example due to its DroneOfDread.
** If the word "panic" had a theme song, then "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07Nj7Ihf-I Pursuit Max]]" is essentially this, which sounds like that the '''[[OhCrap ENTIRE police department are kicking into full gear, out for your blood]]!''' Not creepy enough? Try using a GameMod like "Improved Police Pursuits" in which buffs their AI [[TookALevelInBadass by making them far more aggressive]] to the point [[YouWillNotEvadeMe where you won't be able to easily evade them]] '''at all.'''

** Hell, [[SchmuckBait even outright skipping the intro for the first time]] or [[POVCam even watching the crash in the driver's point of view ]]could induce a JumpScare due to rapid, flashing lights and loud static playing in the background before an image of a man wearing a racing helmet ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou glaring at you]]'' pops out in the middle of nowhere.

* The opening cutscene (pictured above) shows Jack Rourke bound to a steering wheel, trapped in his Porsche 911 Carrera S, [[TheWallsAreClosingIn which has been dumped in a car crusher and is about to be squashed]]. The OST playing in the background is creepy enough to chill your spine.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nfstheruncrusher.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Understatement}} Being duct taped to a steering wheel while getting crushed like a bug isn't a very pleasant way to die]]...]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVqaqokqIQ The player on their way to the parts gets ambushed deliberately rammed by an unknown man with a scythe tattoo in a Hummer [=H2=].]] We don't get to see the crash, but the sound of it as well as Samantha worriedly trying to contact the player is unnerving enough. [[spoiler:Yet it is later revealed that the perpetrator responsible for wrecking the player's car is no other than [[BigBad Caleb Reece]].]]

** [[spoiler: '''[[JumpScare VRRROO]][[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou OOOOM-]]''' (*Cue SmashToBlack*)]]

* Its overall atmosphere being a DarkerAndEdgier incarnate, featuring and AlwaysNight but with an even darker setting, a troubled backstory and very dramatic and ominous soundtrack.

* Its Wii/[=3DS=] counterpart of the opening cutscene is more [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] than its original version, but still counts as a chill to watch. It introduces Matt being TrappedInASinkingCar, all thanks to the goons pushing and submerging his car down into the seas of the San Francisco Bay.

* Its overall atmosphere being a DarkerAndEdgier incarnate, featuring and AlwaysNight but even darker setting, a troubled backstory and very ominous soundtrack.
* Canyon races is what welcomes you to one of the most challenging races you will experience. Intense and dramatic soundtrack plays as you plow through the twists and turns of the DangerousClifftopRoad while you chase the lead opponent or try to escape from your pursuer. Falling off the cliff is horrific enough complete with a ScareChord.

[[AC: ''Shift 2: Unleashed'']]

** Speaking of "creepy music", the original score by Photek in the [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeed2015 2015 reboot]] [[UpToEleven takes a step further]] while featuring a handful of tracks that wouldn't feel out of place for a horror/thriller movie, with "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrDUoGbLmE Metro]]" being a good example due to its DroneOfDread.

[[AC:''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' [[Creator/CriterionGames (2012)]]]]

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-C1M7pwhFo Koenigsegg Agera R's intro]] also deserves a special mention as it depicts a liquid metsl blop groing and shifting. *Shudders*

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-C1M7pwhFo Koenigsegg Agera R's intro]] also deserves a special mention. *Shudders*

!![[VideoGame/NeedForSpeed The video game franchise]]:
* ''Shift 2: Unleashed'' and its [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] atmosphere. It's pretty much established with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQRHLcNUoc the intro]] that it would have a much different vibe than the original ''Shift''. The cutscene contains a still scene of a nighttime [=GT1=] race at Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps in the middle of a multi-car pileup, [[CarFu complete with flying cars and debris]]. In the style of stereotypical horror films, the camera slowly pans around the scene of the accident, and into closeups of the hapless victims of the crash [[OhCrap gazing]] and screaming in horror at the inevitable impact. To seasoned circuit racing fanatics, this scene came off as rather hammy, but to those more familiar with the lighter side of the series, this scene was rather disturbing.

* The secret tracks in ''III: Hot Pursuit'' for the PSX; they are never unlocked normally and are only accessible through cheat codes. There are five in total; Autocross (a track that takes place in a small groove of a forest), Caverns (which takes place in dark caverns with overhanging rocks), Scorpio-7 (a track that takes place in an underwater city), Space Race (a space station) and The Room (where the player is shrunk down to miniature size and races on a slot car track). While these tracks are very cool and provide a lot of amusement there are several features about them that can unnerve imaginative players. Firstly there is no music playing whatsoever. From start to finish and even at the results screen you do not hear music at all. Secondly these tracks are only playable with no cops, opponents or traffic in single player. That means you are racing all alone on these deserted tracks which can give off a very post-apocalyptic feel. Bonus points for the alien mosaic that appears in the large square room in Space Race. It's all so very creepy but YMMV.
* ''Need for Speed: The Run'' stands out the most. The opening cutscene shows Jack Rourke bound to a steering wheel, trapped in his Porsche 911 Carrera S, [[TheWallsAreClosingIn which has been dumped in a car crusher and is about to be squashed]]. The OST playing in the background is creepy enough to chill your spine.

** Speaking of "creepy music", the original score by Photek in the 2015 reboot [[UpToEleven takes a step further]] while featuring a handful of tracks that wouldn't feel out of place for a horror/thriller movie, with "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrDUoGbLmE Metro]]" being a good example due to its DroneOfDread.

** If the word "panic" had a theme song, then "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07Nj7Ihf-I Pursuit Max]]" is essentially this, which sounds like that the '''[[OhCrap ENTIRE police department are kicking into full gear, out for your blood]]!''' Not creepy enough? Try using a GameMod like "Improved Police Pursuits" in which buffs their AI [[TookALevelInBadass by making them far more aggressive]] to the point [[YouWillNotEvadeMe where you won't be able to easily evade them]] '''at all.'''

!![[Film/NeedForSpeed The film]] based on the games:
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_12_14_at_24138_pm.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Sure hell is one way to kill a friendship.]]
* The death of Pete Coleman, where [[BigBad Dino Brewster]] [[CarFu rams the former's Koenigsegg Agera]] ''on purpose'' by causing it to flip into the air and burst into flames upon landing into rocks down a ravine, killing him in the process. And then, Dino kept speeding towards the finish line while Tobey Marshall turns back to help Pete but to no avail [[FrameUp before framing the latter for the murder]].
* Dino also kept the car he used in the fatal race like some kind of sick trophy (he's a car dealer, he could find someone to repair or junk the car)... and most of all, kept dating and ''became engaged'' to Pete's sister Anita, fully intending to lie to her the rest of her life about her beloved brother's death.
* Anita's growing dread, first finding out that Dino's business (which she also works at) is in deep financial trouble, her eroding trust in the man she loves, and her lurking suspicions that Dino lying about more. Culminating in her discovering the fatal car, and realizing the man who consoled her throughout her grief over her brother's death, and her ex going to jail for being involved, was the one who caused it all; and that he intended to hide this from her, his future wife and mother of his children, for the entirety of their lives together. Creator/DakotaFanning really sells Anita's quiet devastation in her final scene with Tobey. For any woman in real life who's been hit hard over badly misjudging a husband or lover, this storyline really resonates.

* Dino also kept the car he used in the fatal race like some kind of sick trophy (he's a car dealer, he could find someone to repair or junk the car)... and most of all, kept dating and ''became engaged'' to Pete's sister, fully intending to lie to her the rest of her life about her beloved brother's death.

* Nighttime racing is [[TruthInTelevision more realistic than in the street racing incarnations]]. That being said, the only source of illumination is from your headlights, [[NothingIsScarier meaning that you have a]] [[RealityEnsues VERY narrow amount of visibility]]. Once again, those familiar with "Simcade" or full-blown racing simulators were underwhelmed, but on the other hand, the casual gamer may end up with a JumpScare or two. Don't think of it from a gameplay perspective; imagine real night driving in your car at 50 MPH along an unlit highway. If that's terrifying to you, imagine what real endurance racers deal with at nearly 170 MPH in that same kind of darkness.

* Remember the [[SongsintheKeyOfPanic pursuit soundtrack]] from ''Most Wanted (2005)''? The said score in ''Undercover'' and ''World'' by Paul Haslinger manages to be more intense and spine-chilling than the former. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YW055WnVWw Here's an example]].

* ''Need for Speed: The Run'' stands out the most. The opening cutscene shows Jack Rourke bound to a steering wheel, trapped in his Porsche 911 Carrera S, [[TheWallsAreClosingIn which is going to crushed like a tin can]]. The OST playing in the background is creepy enough to chill your spine.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Understatement}} Being duct taped to a steering wheel while getting crushed like a bug isn't a rather pleasant way to die]]...]]

* The death of Pete Coleman, where [[BigBad Dino Brewster]] [[CarFu rams the former's Koenigsegg Agera]] ''on purpose'' by causing it to flip into the air and burst into flames upon landing into rocks down a ravine, killing him in the process. And then, Dino kept speeding towards the finish line while Tobey Marshall turns back to help Pete but to no avail [[FrameUp before framing the latter for the murder]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Understatement}} Getting duct taped to a steering wheel while getting crushed isn't a rather pleasant way to die.]]..]]

** If the word "panic" had a theme song, then "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07Nj7Ihf-I Pursuit Max]]" is essentially this, which sounds like that the '''[[OhCrap ENTIRE police department are kicking into full gear, out for your blood]]!'''