Need for Speed ​​Carbon: 5 interesting facts about the successor to Most Wanted

Need for Speed is a franchise that has drifted in all sorts of directions over its many years of existence. Not all of EA’s strategies have worked out, but many of them have resulted in remarkable projects.

One of the most successful ideas was to integrate street gang stories and add context to the races with some light narrative to help justify the action — something that Need For Speed Carbon did it masterfully.

Released in 2006 for PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Wii and PC, Need For Speed Carbon is one of the greatest classics of the franchise after the line Underground e Most Wanted. The game’s focus on street racing with team competition strategies, as well as tuning, certainly brought exciting new things to fans at the time.

Conheça Need For Speed Carbon

Set in the fictional town of Palmont City, NFS Carbon continues the story of its predecessor, Most Wantedand puts players back in the shoes of a street racer looking to conquer territories and restore his reputation.

One of the main innovations of Carbon is the introduction of team racing, where the player can recruit and command partners who have specific abilities, such as blocking opponents or creating slipstreams to increase speed. This team dynamic certainly added some spice to the experience.

Drift racing in Canyon Duels brought a lot of excitement to Need For Speed ​​Carbon.Font: EA

Of course, the game is also highly revered for its thrilling drift races in Canyon Duels, where players take on opponents on winding tracks to test their driving skills.

Furthermore, car customization is another striking feature of Need For Speed Carbon and allows players to customize their vehicles with a wide variety of parts and visual styles, thanks to the Autosculpt system.

5 interesting facts about Need For Speed ​​Carbon

Well, now that you know the main aspects that made Need For Speed Carbon one of the favorites for many fans of the franchise, it’s time to learn some curiosities about the racing game. The Voxel separated some and you can check them out below!

Carbon had its content cut to give it time to reach the 7th generation

Despite the development of Need For Speed Carbon having started in January 2005, shortly after the release of Need For Speed Underground 2 in November of the previous year, the game’s shorter and more limited story mode, as well as the slightly smaller city, are often attributed to the need for the game to be released for the new generation of the time — PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Nintendo Wii.

NFS Carbon had content cut to give it time to be released on the 7th generation of consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360).Font: EA

The fact is that NFS: Carbon is the game in the franchise that had the most cuts in its content — and much of it was cut when Blackbox was almost finished developing the game. Some of the cuts include cutscenes, wanted levels 9 and 10, and much more.

Nikki’s actress was much older than her character

Nikki is one of the main characters in Need for Speed Carbon. Before the events of the game’s plot, she was the protagonist’s girlfriend, but after the character left Palmont City, she began dating Darius and became a member of the Stacked Deck group — one of the most powerful gangs in the city.

Nikki (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is a very important character in the plot of NFS: Carbon.Font: EA

Prima Guide, an American publisher of game guides and strategy, states that Nikki is 19 years old before the protagonist leaves Palmont City and 24 when he returns to the city. However, the actress responsible for her, Emmanuelle Vaugier (Two and a Half Man) was already 30 years old at the time he took the screenshot for the game.

Most of the characters had one actor to dub and another for the mocap

Some characters from Need For Speed Carbonespecially those who play the player’s party members, have different actors for their cutscenes and their in-game lines. Check them out below:

• Neville is played by actor Chris Gauthier (who passed away in February of this year) during his cutscenes, while Brian Scolaro voices him during the races;
• Mustela Salt is played by Elias Toufexis during his cutscenes, while Josh Keaton voices him during races;
• Samson is played by Noah Danby during his cutscenes, while Joseph May voices him during races;
• Yumi is played by actress Melody Miyuki in her cutscenes, while Kim Mai Guest voices her during races;
• Kenji is played by actor Ken Kirby in the cutscenes, but Archie Kao voices him in all of his scenes, including the races.

It is also worth remembering that several cast members from the series Supernatural e Stargate SG-1 appear in NFS: Carbonlike Tahmoh Penikett and Danielle Kremeniuk, for example.

Carbon has an iconic Most Wanted vinyl

In the franchise games Need for Speeda vinyl refers to a decal that can be applied to the surface of a car when customizing it. The feature completely transforms the look of the car and there are several different themes to enjoy.

BMW M3 GTR de Need For Speed Most Wanted.Source: NFS Wiki

One of the vinyl options available at Need For Speed Carbonin fact, is one of the first design concepts of what would become the iconic BMW M3 GTR of Need For Speed Most Wanted — the one that has a design similar to Brian’s legendary Skyline in the first films of the franchise Fast and furious.

Need For Speed ​​Carbon has been removed from digital platforms

Finally, did you know that Need For Speed Carbon is no longer available on digital platforms? The classic was removed from stores in May 2021 along with other games in the franchise — which you can check out below:

• Need for Speed Carbon
• Need for Speed Undercover
• Need for Speed Shift
• Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed
• Need for Speed The Run

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