History YMMV / NeedForSpeed

** The bonus car [=FZR 2000=] of ''Need for Speed II'' is the fastest car to ever have appeared in the series. Its top speed is rivaled by some of the most powerful cars in ''Rivals'' and ''NFS'' 2015 (although, with the "pioneer" cheat, it becomes significantly faster), but its acceleration is humongously powerful [[note]]It goes from 0 to 200 mph practically in a blink[[/note]] and its handling puts that of the [[SkillGateCharacter Ford Indigo and the Lotus cars]] to shame. It says enough that its brakes only really have to be used when jumping would make it leave the track boundaries or crash into a wall due to how impossibly long they are with the [=FZR 2000=].

** However, most fans regardless of era preference are now considering the entire [[Creator/EAGothenburg Ghost Games]] era of ''Need for Speed'' from ''Rivals'' to ''Heat'' during [[UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames the eighth console generation]] to be the nadir or mixed-bag of the franchise, with awkward ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}''-style "brake-to-drift" driving physics ''being recycled over and over'' after the switchover to the Frostbite engine. Compounded to this was the aforementioned inability to pause the game in ''Rivals'', the online-only nature of the 2015 reboot, the loot boxes of ''Payback'', and the cringeworthy plots and characters of the rather brief single-player campaigns in all their games. It's gotten to the point that even many classic fans admit ''Rivals'' wasn't that good, and many ''NFS'' fans agree that Creator/PlaygroundGames' ''[[VideoGame/{{Forza}} Forza Horizon]]'' is now the open world arcade racing game king, and that Criterion--who have changed considerably since their co-founders left--have an uphill battle ahead of them.

** ''Underground''/''Most Wanted'' 2005 fans did not like ''Hot Pursuit'' 2010 for a lack of aftermarket customization, tuners, and a proper open world.[[note]]Although Seacrest County is one continuous environment, it does not have a proper free roam. The free roam is simply just screwing around in a car for as long as you like in single-player with no pursuits or other events on the map.[[/note]] Classic pre-''Underground'' fans, on the other hand, liked the game for those exact reasons. Both sides did have mixed feelings regarding the weapons (especially towards racers) and Autolog though. The flames reignited with ''Hot Pursuit Remastered'' in 2020, with ''Underground''/''Most Wanted'' 2005 fans complaining about a "bad" entry getting a remaster (with some review bombing on Metacritic),[[note]]the Switch release avoid said review bombing for the most part since Nintendo fans finally got both a proper ''Need for Speed'' entry on a Nintendo console for the first time since ''Most Wanted [[UsefulNotes/WiiU U]]'' in 2013, and a version of Criterion's ''Hot Pursuit'' to boot (not a weird soulless version of ''Nitro'' like the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} got)[[/note]] while ''Hot Pursuit'' fans were pleased with that, although there were complaints about how just three cars were removed from ''Remastered'' (even though they were due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers circumstances]] [[{{Misblamed}} beyond EA's control]]). Though the addition of livery customization in the update might rectify some of the complaints from the ''Most Wanted'' 2005 fans, despite the lack of bodykits there.

** The most controversial case was for ''Most Wanted'' (2012). Critics hailed it as the best racing game of 2012 '''hands down''', but it got a backlash from the tuner fandom (and also from longtime fans who saw it as an affront to the franchise for hijacking the name of the [[SacredCow 2005 game]]). The dissonance was so massive that Criterion Games was downsized to around fifteen employees, resulting in the later departure of its founders and a new developer (Ghost Games) taking the reins of the franchise for UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, which ultimately didn't work out so well for the ''NFS'' franchise.

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with earlier games in the series, which was less of a poor port and more of the console not being good enough to keep up with a PC. For instance, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation version of ''Need for Speed II'' was very similar in both graphics and gameplay to the PC version, but as more games were released those ports [[CantCatchUp could not catch up]], up until ''Porsche Unleashed'', which was basically unrecognizable.
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with ''Hot Pursuit 2''. Though the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, and Windows versions all look ''much'' worse than the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version despite all of them being more powerful, as well as having less content and worse gameplay, this is not because of a porting disaster, but rather because the [=PlayStation=] 2 version was developed by a completely different company--Black Box's debut ''NFS'' title for that matter--whereas the rest were developed by EA Seattle as their last ''[=NFS=]'' title.

* NostalgiaFilter: [[{{Pun}} All over the road]] with this franchise.

** ''High Stakes'' had a TakeThat towards {{Rice Burner}}s in its opening cinematic, in which a riced-out Honda Civic {{Expy}} joins a race against a bunch of Porsche 911s, Corvettes, Diablos, and all other sorts of CoolCar {{cool car}}s. When the race starts, all the powerful exotics take off at high speeds while the Civic expy [[TheAllegedCar barely moves an inch before its engine explodes]]. Considering that EA would experiment its best ''NFS'' sales when they moved the franchise towards tuning culture with ''Underground'', just 4 years after ''High Stakes''...

* SongAssociation: To be expected when you have an EA soundtrack in your game. Music/SnoopDogg? Spiderbait? The Buzzhorn? Bush? Hot Action Cop? Disturbed? [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground Lil Jon]]? [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Bitchin'.]]

** ''Shift 2: Unleashed'' gets the ''Need for Speed'' name attached to the beginning by fans anyway since it still uses ''NFS'' branding, giving it the [[LongTitle lengthy title]] of ''Need for Speed: Shift 2 – Unleashed'', in reference to the logo, among other things.

** The Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 from the 2015 reboot to ''Heat''. Some of them adore the RSR for [[InfinityPlusOneSword being one of the best cars available once it's fully upgraded]] while others view it as an [[TierInducedScrappy overpowered abomination]] that "takes zero-skill to drive and should be [[{{Nerf}} nerfed to the ground]]" even though it's possible to beat it with other cars that are sufficiently competitive like the [=McLaren F1=] in ''Heat'' or at least with a good amount of skill to do so. However in ''Unbound'', the [=RSR=]'s no longer a meta as it's been heavily nerfed, making it less of an example above.

*** The 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 in particular has been by far the best car in each game from ''2015'' to ''Heat''. On stock parts its top speed is usually nothing to write home about, but it has always the best handling and best acceleration out of the box thanks to its absurdly lightweight chassis. Once you buy it in ''2015'', ''Payback'' or ''Heat'' it will likely be the only car you'll be using from that point onwards, particularly in ''Heat'' where it even got ''BUFFED'' in its best areas. In ''Payback'' it was joined by the Volkswagen Beetle and the Koenigsegg Regera, but both received sizable nerfs in ''Heat''. And finally in ''Unbound'', the [=RSR=] has recieved a huge, painful nerf and acceleration, as the car will now choke when attempting to compete with far more powerful cars like the Regera and the (recently added) Bugatti Chiron in S+ Class (as the latter two can reach more than 240 MPH while leaving the former in the dust).

*** The 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 in particular has been by far the best car in each game from ''2015'' to ''Heat''. On stock parts its top speed is usually nothing to write home about, but it has always the best handling and best acceleration out of the box thanks to its absurdly lightweight chassis. Once you buy it in ''2015'', ''Payback'' or ''Heat'' it will likely be the only car you'll be using from that point onwards, particularly in ''Heat'' where it even got ''BUFFED'' in its best areas. In ''Payback'' it was joined by the Volkswagen Beetle and the Koenigsegg Regera, but both received sizable nerfs in ''Heat''. And finally in ''Unbound'', the [=RSR=] has recieved a huge, painful nerf and acceleration, as the car will now choke when attempting to compete with far more powerful cars like the Regera and the (recently added) Bugatti Chiron in S+ Class (as the latter two can reach 245 MPH while leaving the former in the dust).

** The Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 from the 2015 reboot to ''Heat''. Some of them adore the RSR for [[InfinityPlusOneSword being one of the best cars available once it's fully upgraded]] while others view it as an [[TierInducedScrappy overpowered abomination]] that "takes zero-skill to drive and should be [[{{Nerf}} nerfed to the ground]]" even though it's possible to beat it with other cars that are sufficiently competitive like the [=McLaren F1=] in ''Heat'' or at least with a good amount of skill to do so. However in ''Unbound'', the [=RSR=]'s no longer a meta [[{{Nerf}} as it's been heavily nerfed]], making it less of an example above.

** The Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 from the 2015 reboot to ''Heat''. Some of them adore the RSR for [[InfinityPlusOneSword being one of the best cars available once it's fully upgraded]] while others view it as an [[TierInducedScrappy overpowered abomination]] that "takes zero-skill to drive and should be [[{{Nerf}} nerfed to the ground]]" even though it's possible to beat it with other cars that are sufficiently competitive like the [=McLaren F1=] in ''Heat'' or at least with a good amount of skill to do so. However in ''Unbound'', the [=RSR=]'s no longer a meta [[{{Nerf}}as it's been heavily nerfed]], making it less of an example above.

*** The 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 in particular has been by far the best car in each game from ''2015'' to ''Heat''. On stock parts its top speed is usually nothing to write home about, but it has always the best handling and best acceleration out of the box thanks to its absurdly lightweight chassis. Once you buy it in ''2015'', ''Payback'' or ''Heat'' it will likely be the only car you'll be using from that point onwards, particularly in ''Heat'' where it even got ''BUFFED'' in its best areas. In ''Payback'' it was joined by the Volkswagen Beetle and the Koenigsegg Regera, but both received sizable nerfs in ''Heat''. And finally in ''Unbound'', the [=RSR=] [[AuthorsSavingThrow has recieved a huge, painful nerf]] where it's given a much more sluggish turning angle, weaker top-speed (where it's capped between 220-225 MPH) and acceleration, as the car will now choke when attempting to compete with far more powerful cars like the Regera and the (recently added) Bugatti Chiron in S+ Class (as the latter two can reach 245 MPH while leaving the former in the dust).

** The Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 from the 2015 reboot and onwards. Some of them adore the RSR for [[InfinityPlusOneSword being one of the best cars available specially when fully upgraded]] while others view it as an [[TierInducedScrappy overpowered abomination]] that "takes zero-skill to drive and should be [[{{Nerf}} nerfed to the ground]]" even though it's possible to beat it with other cars that are sufficiently competitive like the [=McLaren F1=] in ''Heat'' or at least with a good amount of skill to do so.

*** The 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 in particular has been by far the best car in each game from ''2015'' onwards. On stock parts its top speed is usually nothing to write home about, but it has always the best handling and best acceleration out of the box thanks to its absurdly lightweight chassis. Once you buy it in ''2015'', ''Payback'' or ''Heat'' it will likely be the only car you'll be using from that point onwards, particularly in ''Heat'' where it even got ''BUFFED'' in its best areas. In ''Payback'' it was joined by the Volkswagen Beetle and the Koenigsegg Regera, but both received sizable nerfs in ''Heat''.

* CharacterTiers: The series as a whole tends to divide cars into "Classes", putting similar cars into different classes (for example, putting high-performance sports cars like the Lamborghini Diablo VT and the Ferrari [=512TR=] in their own Class).

** The current era (the 2015 reboot onward) goes up against ''Gran Turismo Sport'' and ''Forza'' (especially ''Forza Horizon'', but only during that series' off-years) per the norm, plus ''VideoGame/TheCrew'' 1 and ''[[VideoGame/TheCrew2 2]]'' (although the fans of the ''Underground'' era -- which the reboot took its overall gist from -- tends to [[FriendlyFandoms get along just fine]] with ''The Crew'' series' fandom, although there are the more rabid fanboys which take the trope to its logical conclusion). ''VideoGame/{{Driveclub}}'' also competed early on, but lost out to everyone else.

* ''YMMV/NeedForSpeedMostWanted'' (both 2005 and 2012)

** The incredibly unforgiving crash physics of ''High Stakes'' (on the EA Canada version) and ''Underground'' hardly give you control over your car. You'll just have to hope to get back on your wheels as soon as you can.

* SignatureScene: The legendary races in the exotic area from the old era, the introduction of the hot pursuit, underground races, slow-motion airborne moments, totaling your car, to name a few.

** The incredibly unforgiving crash physics of ''High Stakes'' (on the Electronic Arts Canada version) and ''Underground'' hardly give you control over your car. You'll just have to hope to get back on your wheels as soon as you can.

* SignatureScene: The slow-motion airborne moments and totaling your car.