It’s time for Need for Speed Unbound fans to return to Lakeshore, as developer Criterion Games and EA have announced a major update that brings a ton of new playability for the racer with anime-inspired graphics that launched on December 2, 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC platforms. At the core of the new “Vol 3” update for Need for Speed Unbound is the Speed Pass, a completely free feature that allows racers to earn new cosmetics, accessories, and even a new ride (i.e., a special Dodge SRT Viper) by ranking up through the game’s races and other challenges, and while that won’t be out until Tuesday, June 20, Criterion has gone ahead and detailed the huge patch that will usher in the big update, which offers “a s**t load of fixes, improvements, quality of life updates,” and more. Some of the quality of life updates that players can expect include NVIDIA DLSS 3.1.11, reduced VRAM usage on the GeForce RTX 40 Series, improved graphics, the ability to quick travel to garages, and even a change that should result in cops that are a bit less annoying. The Vol 3 update for Need for Speed Unbound also introduces Linkups, a new stunt-based, free-roam multiplayer mode that includes the DMC DeLorean (1981) as a prize.
From a Need for Speed Unbound FAQ:
HOW DOES THE SPEED PASS WORK?
Earn XP to progress your Speed Pass level and unlock rewards, up to level 75. XP can be earned from completing Daily or Weekly Challenges, playlists or objectives in Linkups. Each level reached in the Speed Pass will grant you a reward!
WHAT IS OBTAINABLE WITHIN A SPEED PASS?
The Speed Pass boasts the Legendary Custom Dodge SRT Viper (2014) as its ultimate prize as well as brand-new cosmetic and customization rewards such as new driving effects, rims, underglows or even clothes and poses to boost your character’s flow.
DO I NEED TO PAY TO GET THE CONTENT?
No, the Speed Pass content is free and only request you to earn XP by achieving Daily, Weekly Challenges or objectives in Linkups.
I PURCHASED THE MUSTANG LEGENDARY CUSTOM PACK, HOW AND WHEN CAN I USE MY 10 LEVELS BOOST?
Your 10 levels boost will be granted as soon as the pack has been purchased and install. If you decide to get it at level 01 you will therefore skip automatically the next 10 levels and land on level 11.Be aware that the boost is activated as soon as the pack is purchased, therefore, activating at level 66 or beyond will still only result in you reaching the level cap of 75
From a Need for Speed Unbound post:
VOL. 3 PATCH NOTES
NFS Fam, as you are now aware Vol 3 is on its way to you and not only do we have some sweet new features but there’s a s**t load of fixes, improvements and quality of life updates for you. Let’s jump right in.
Quality of Life Improvements
- Vehicles awarded via EA Play Membership, Purchased from the in-game Store, or awarded as part of Speed Pass, will be available to use in your Single Player garage after completing the prologue. Previously these were only available in Lakeshore Online
- Reduced the chances of getting into another chase immediately after a successful escape
- Screen Space Reflections are now enabled for cars on Ultra graphics quality on PC
- Intel XeSS 1.1 added as an Upsampler option on PC
- Improved road reflection quality by including distant buildings
- Improved CPU performance on PC
- Reduced VRAM usage on NVIDIA 40 series GPUs on PC
- Nvidia DLSS updated to version 3.1.11 on PC
- AMD FSR 2 updated to latest 2.2 on PC
- Increased the rewards for escaping and assisting in a cop chase.
- Different cop vehicles are now worth different amounts of cash when taken down in cop chases, instead of a single value that applied to all cop cars.
- Players who purchased the Deluxe Edition will be awarded $250,000 per volume update as a thank you cash boost!
- Subtitles text size can now be changed from three presets. The backing opacity and colour can also be adjusted
- Players can now change their default time of day in Lakeshore Online. This setting only affects Free Roam – events in playlists have their own defined time of day
- Players can now teleport to Safehouses and Meetups when not in a cop chase. Perfect for quickly getting around map, or swapping cars before the next Linkup
- Players will receive $5000 in bonus cash for every rank they reached prior to the release of Volume 3 with the new Speed Pass ranking system
- Players can now view their whole character before purchasing clothing to see how it looks with their whole outfit
Campaign
- Fixed an issue that allowed the player to hide the UI in the campaign calendar, leading to a broken camera
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to lose campaign progress when the PS5 is forced shut
- Fixed a number of clipping issues with Vehicles
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to spawn inside the garage after the prologue
- Fixed an issue that caused the initial campaign car select vehicles to have coloured windows
- Fixed an issue that occasionally spawned the player in freedrive instead of the tutorial after selecting a car
- Fixed an issue that caused the safehouse description to not update after purchase
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to sell their first vehicle in campaign, leaving them with no cars
- Fixed an issue that caused the Milestone 1 meetup icon to appear during the qualifier races
- Fixed an issue that allowed the player to receive two starter vehicles if they close down the game immediately after car select sequence
- Fixed an issue that showed rivals as available to beat in the UI even if they have already been beaten
- Fixed an issue that caused police helicopters to run out of fuel whilst the game is paused
- Fixed a campaign exploit that allowed the player to replay the Week 3 qualifier
- Fixed an issue that occasionally caused no Audio SFX to be triggered when accepting a phone call mission
- Fixed an issue that caused AI rivals name cards to sometimes obscure the players view
- Fixed an issue that caused all collectable bears to reappear in the world when progressing to the next day
- Fixed an issue that caused Cop roadblock items to persistently show up on the map even when progressing to the next day
Client & Performance
- Added multiple stability improvements across both Campaign and Lakeshore Online
- Fixed an issue that caused the screen to freeze whilst recording with Nvidia Shadowplay on PC
- Fixed an issue that could cause the controller to not send any inputs if it was disconnected and reconnected
- Fixed an issue that caused vehicles using the brushed metal material to appear visibly dirty when they spawn
- Fixed an issue that caused certain HUD UI elements to be blown out by bright lighting courses when the game is run in HDR
- Fixed an issue that could cause vehicle input to become stuck whilst driving
Cops:
- Fixed an issue that caused the player vehicle to float during the busted transition screen
- Fixed an issue that caused cash rewarded from challenges to be treated as volatile cash if completed during a cop chase
- Fixed a number of issues that caused Burst Nitrous to work inconsistently with cop cars
- Fixed an issue that caused the button callout to route to patrolling cops to be invisible
- Fixed an issue that caused both “COP CHASE JOINED” and “COP CHASE STARTED” to appear one after another when assisting other players in a chase
- Fixed an issue that caused other cops to appear to be spotting the player at the start of a cop chase if 2 cops are near each other
General Fixes & Improvements
- Fixed an issue that rarely caused the character model to disappear whilst previewing hair customization
- Fixed an issue that rarely caused the camera to unfocus whilst previewing hair customization
- Fixed an issue that occasionally caused vehicle or character modifications to not save
- Fixed an issue that caused some players to be unable to boot the 10-Hour Trial via the EA app
- Fixed an issue that caused text to speech words to overlap the text box when enabled
- Fixed an issue that caused a broken camera once the user resets it in snapshot mode
- Fixed an issue that disallowed a child Xbox profile access to Lakeshore Online even when given access to multiplayer features by a parent
- Fixed an issue that caused the Banner Snapshot contrast to behave inconsistently
- Fixed an issue that caused car skid marks to flicker on pavement
Map & World
- Fixed an issue that caused checkpoints to be missing on the mini-map when the player is in an event
- Fixed an issue that caused some breakable assets to remain stuck under the car resulting in the car spinning uncontrollably
- Fixed an issue that caused Street Art and Bears to disappear from the main map when collected
- Fixed multiple issues that caused “i” icons to sometimes appear in lieu of safehouses, players, and cops
- Fixed an issue that caused a straight line to be drawn if routing from the player to a cops location in Lakeshore Online
Multiplayer
- Fixed an issue that caused the wreck reset transition to not display the fade animation
- Fixed an issue that caused volatile cash to be lost when accepting a playlist invite during a cop chase
- Fixed an issue that could block the player from opening the banner of other players in Lakeshore Online
- Fixed an issue that caused the banner sticker to disappear when in the “edit snapshot” menu
- Fixed an issue that caused 2 cars to be present in the Banner Snapshot after completing a playlist with a different car
- Fixed an issue that caused the currently equipped car to unequip after quitting the game and rebooting if the player doesn’t leave the garage
- Fixed a number of issues that caused daily challenges to refresh inconsistently
- Fixed an issue that caused the user to see both the enter garage and busted cinematics when entering the garage whilst almost busted
- Fixed an issue that caused the in-world AR pin of a routed player to only appear at short distances
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to clip through the garage wall if exiting a safehouse at the same time as multiple other people
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to appear as leaving a game when attempting to join a full multiplayer server
Playlist & Racing
- Fixed an issue that caused players to be respawned unexpectedly in certain areas of the City Viper race
- Fixed an issue that caused players to be respawned unexpectedly in certain areas of the Downtown Chaos race
- Fixed an issue that caused players to be respawned unexpectedly in certain areas of the Don’t Sweat The Technique race
- Fixed an issue that caused misleading UI prompts and directional arrows in the All Eyes On Me race
- Fixed an issue that caused players to be spawned unexpectedly in certain areas of the Meridional Mist race
- Fixed an issue that caused misleading UI prompts and directional arrows in the Industrial Action race
- Fixed an issue that caused the perfect start boost to carry over if the player left the race during the race start countdown
- Fixed an issue that caused the tier icon to be missing or incorrect in playlist cards
- Fixed an issue that prevented the player from spawning next to the nearest garage at the end of a playlist
- Fixed an issue that caused the player to be stuck in a Rumble event when it finished
- Fixed an issue that caused some car windscreens to open during playlist into cinematics as if it was a side window
- Fixed an issue that caused the timer to overlap the 8th player in the post-race results screen
- Fixed an issue that caused traffic in certain events to behave unexpectedly
User Interface
- Fixed an issue that caused sub-menus in the hair selection screen to be difficult to navigate
- Fixed an issue that caused players to lose input when navigating through the banner menu
- Fixed an issue that caused a number of inconsistencies with displaying breadcrumbs for newly unlocked content
- Fixed an issue that caused the playlist invite UI element to overlap in the car customisation, character customisation, and banner snapshot menus
- Fixed an issue that caused the platform icon for crossplay players to show as the players own icon in the player cop assist popup
- Fixed an issue that caused sorting by “most recent” in the community wrap screen to not function
Vehicle Customisation
- Fixed an issue that caused the old tag effect to play when equipping a new tag in the garage
- Fixed an issue that caused the Aston Martin DB5 wing mirrors to stick to the side of the car when damaged
- Fixed an issue that caused wrap corruption around the headlights of the Mercedes Benz AMG GT (2015)
- Fixed an issue that rarely prevented players from applying decals to their cars
- Fixed an issue that caused decals to overlap on the front window of the Honda Civic Type-R (2015)
- Fixed an issue that caused decals to display incorrectly on the rear fenders of the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 (1988)
- Fixed an issue that caused decals to overlap on certain side skirts of the BMW M3 (1988)
- Fixed an issue that caused the garage idle camera to show the undercarriage of the Mercedes 190E
- Fixed an issue that caused the default wrap on the Mercedes Maybach to be positioned incorrectly
- Fixed an issue that caused the wheels to clip through the bodywork on the Mercedes Maybach with air suspension applied
- Fixed an issue that caused the wheels to clip through the bodywork on the epic build Nissan Fairlady
- Fixed an issue that caused placeholder text to show when selecting certain side skirt sets for the Volkswagen Golf GTI (1976)
- Fixed an issue that caused the Toyo Tires Proxes R888R thumbnail to display the incorrect ‘Need for Speed’ picture
- Fixed an issue that caused the front canards to be selectable for the NISSAN Skyline GTR V-Spec (1993) when the front bumper is removed, causing them to float
- Fixed an issue that caused a section at the rear of the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster (2019) to not display decals
- Fixed an issue that caused some sections of the Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SV Roads to not display decals
- Fixed an issue that caused some sections of the Ferrari F40 to not display decals
- Fixed an issue that caused decals that were applied with 100% opacity to appear as having less opacity in the garage
- Fixed an issue that caused the Volvo 242 DL to have no trunk modifications available