The March update for Need For Speed Heat is available now on Xbox One (7.7 GB), PlayStation 4 (8.38 GB) and PC (7.74 GB), adding new rides through Black Market Delivery and an incredible amount of customizations and fixes.
The first Car Pack includes a free and paid option that adds new rides, challenge sets, character outfits, customization items and vanity items. See below for a full breakdown:
Black Market Car Pack #1
Aston Martin DB11 Volante. Top-down: Mandatory 🥵
No rain forecast, but it might get wet 💦 pic.twitter.com/DnRNAJNvG8— Need for Speed (@NeedforSpeed) March 2, 2020
-
Free – Aston Martin DB11 Volante (2018)
- Narrative setting with VO
- 6x Challenge Sets for the player to complete (3-5 hours of gameplay) featuring both recycled (activites) and new content (exclusive new events)
- Character outfits
- Customization items
- Vanity items
She might be 27 but she doesn't look her age 😉
👉 https://t.co/g1j4MGg2bG pic.twitter.com/12R72FhN71— Need for Speed (@NeedforSpeed) March 2, 2020
-
$4.99 – McLaren F1 (1993)
- Narrative setting with VO
- 6x Challenge Sets for the player to complete (3-5 hours of gameplay) featuring both recycled (activites) and new content (exclusive new events)
- Character outfits
- Customization items
- Vanity items
During Black Market Deliveries, players will meet Raziel – an underground car dealer who imports two types of cars: variants of already existing cars, available for free and spanking new ones available for real money purchases. To get behind the wheel of the imports, simply head down to Port Murphy and pick them up from a shipping container. This opens a small narrative tied to the car where Raziel will ask the player for a few favors in order to receive a reward. Complete the challenges to get visual customization parts for a new ride, character outfits, and effects fitting the car’s theme. Throughout the journey, players will also discover new events that can be replayed once the Black Market challenge is complete.
Need for Speed Heat also received several quality of life improvements, and last January received an update that gave racers the ability to plug in their own steering wheel, a chat wheel function and a Keys to the Map paid option to instantly reveal locations on the in-game map, including collectibles, activities, and gas stations.
When you launch NFS Heat while you’re offline after having the March Update installed, you will notice a tile in the social menu mentioning “Rival Crews”. It is a game feature concept that we were exploring, but unfortunately won’t be releasing. Such is life in game development. There are a lot of ideas and concepts floating around. Some of them are released and some will just remain concepts – like this one. We just wanted to give you a heads up that the tile found its way into the game, but it doesn’t have any functionality – and we’re looking at a possibility of removing the tile in the future.
We’ve posted some of the patch notes below, but you can read them all here. The list is ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS.
Events
- The AI drivers will now follow the proper route during the “Sand in Eyes” off-road event.
- We tweaked some events that have checkpoints covering split roads. Sometimes the AI drivers would slow down unexpectedly when passing through these checkpoints, adjusting their speed when transitioning slightly off-road. They should stick to the road now, preventing sudden brake maneuvers and therefore incidents.
- Added a challenge level to the “Steel Dragon” circuit race.
- When you fall down from the monorail track during “Trail Rail”, you will now correctly be reset on the trail.
- We’ve added some visuals to the finish line of “The Resort’s Circuit” to make it more obvious that it’s both a checkpoint and the finish line.
- The AR icon of the “Aardvark” event is now at the event location instead of a few yards away.
- When quitting the “Eagle” sprint race just after it started, the AI cars should no longer drive straight into the crane.
- The crowd is now visible throughout the outro cinematic of the “Crossfield” event.
- AI cars no longer spawn in the air when restarting “Voyager”.
- Hitting a specific tree at high speed during the “Axiom” event will no longer result in your car falling below the map.
UI
- When you’re busted with a Bank balance of over 10,000 but less than the fine you have to pay, the correct amount is now deducted from your balance.
- The Rainbow nitrous tile in the customization UI in the garage is now showing rainbow colours instead of a plain white symbol.
- High Heat events now show the event name in the event panel.
- Players joining an Xbox party should no longer be muted by default.
- Fixed a rare issue where the open world UI would be displayed during the outro of the time trial “Containers”.
- When you’re sending a party invite while Origin is in offline mode, you should no longer be prompted with “Invite Success”, despite the invite not being sent.
- In the “Trouble” time trial event, when racing “GhostSpecial01”, the ghost car won’t get a head start anymore.
- When swapping the X and O buttons via the PlayStation settings, nitrous activation should no longer occur when closing the map.
- There was contradicting information in the UI about the reward for getting all collectibles in the Cloudbank district. The menu now correctly says “Red & Orange Wave Underglow”.
- When you’re in an event start area during night and not involved in a cop chase, you shouldn’t see cop icons on your screen anymore.
- Replaced the picture for the higher challenge levels of the off-road races with the correct one.
Cars / Garage
- A set of stock rims for the Audi R8 V10 Performance ‘19 was a bit too small for the tires. We reworked them so there won’t be a gap between the rims and the tires anymore.
- The tail lights and rear window will no longer pop as you’re hitting higher speed with the Audi R8 V10 Performance ‘19.
- Slightly toned down the visual effects of the exhaust flames for the Audi R8 V10 Performance ‘19.
- Decals will now be applied to the Speedhunters spoiler for the Audi S5 Sportback ‘17.
- The Aston Martin DB11 will now show visual damage that reflects the status of the car’s health bar.
- When equipping the convertible roof option on the BMW i8 Roadster ‘18, the windows will now be down.
- The calipers no longer change when navigating through the brake disc menu of the BMW i8 Roadster ‘18.
- When you’re driving around in a damaged BMW i8 Roadster K.S Edition, the spoiler will now be properly attached to the chassis and not floating when you’re jumping.
- The wheels should no longer be flickering when you’re in a race loading screen with a BMW i8 Roadster ‘18 and holding down the acceleration button.
- When customizing body parts of the BMW M3 ‘10, decals should now be constantly visible and no longer disappear when swapping a to certain rear fender, rear splitter or rear canards.
- You can now equip a roof on the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 ‘19.
- When selecting the Carbon diffuser and Carbon splitter to the Dodge Challenger SRT8 ‘14, they no longer flicker when changing the camera angle in the garage.
- Adjusted the spoilers for the Ferrari 488 GTB ‘15 so they behave as expected when driving around and jumping with a heavily damaged 488.
- Carbon body customization for the Ferrari 488 GTB ‘15 should now be displayed with the correct texture at all times.
- The window frame will no longer disappear when you drive around in a heavily damaged Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster ‘17.
- The steering wheel should no longer clip through the window when steering right in the Land Rover Defender 110 ‘15.
- Realigned the second set of rims with the third set of fenders for the Land Rover Defender 110 ‘15.
- The rear axle will no longer clip through aftermarket rims for the Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR ‘15.
- When entering and exiting the garage with the Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR ‘15, you will now be able to switch back to the bonnet cam showing the bonnet.
- Decals can now be applied to both side skirts of the Lotus Exige S ‘06 properly.
- Reworked the backfire VFX for the Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec ‘93 so it will only show in the intended area.
- Fixed an issue where one of the bumpers of the Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec ‘99 was transparent in one spot when looked at from a specific angle.
- Decals will now properly apply to splitters and spoilers for the Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R ‘71.
- Fixed an issue that would cause the Speedhunters exhaust to adapt the decal applied to the top section of the Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R ‘71.
- Removed the side skirt and trunk lid interaction points for the Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R ‘71 as there is only one option available for both parts.
- Touched up the looks of the rear window for the Nissan GT-R Nismo and Nissan 370Z Nismo so they are displayed consistently, regardless of camera distance when accelerating and braking.
- Set the correct location for the right and left window interaction points when customizing the Pagani Huayra BC ‘17.
- When applying decals to the Porsche 718 Cayman GTS ‘18, the decal applied to the right window should no longer blend into the left window.
- Similarly, decals applied to the left window of the Porsche 718 Cayman GTS ‘18 will no longer appear in the corner of the back right window.
- Fixed an issue that would prevent decals to be applied to Splitters for the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR ‘73.
- Added the missing sound system interaction point to the customization menu for the Porsche 911 GT2 RS ‘18.
- Made it easier to navigate to the license plate interaction point of the Porsche GT2 RS ‘18.
- When you equip the first aftermarket option for the tail lights on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS ‘19 and exit the garage during night, the lights will now have the correct tint instead of shining bright like a diamond.
- Decals on the left side of the Porsche 918 Spyder ‘15 should no longer be stretched when applied near the rear fender.
- Decals applied on the left window of the Porsche Cayman GT4 ‘15 will no longer bleed into a small area of the back right window.
- Added the missing sound system interaction point to the Subaru BRZ Premium ‘14 customization menu.
Visual
- During a specific outro sequence after a race event, the player character should no longer clip through the car while sitting next to it.
- After completing the first day race event, Lucas’ subtitles are now in sync with the voiceover.
- The reflection of your car in the transition screen when entering the garage during daytime should now be displayed consistently.
- Character models should no longer clip through clothes during night race intros.
- When you were playing chapter 3 while having the game set to Korean, you could notice a chunk of subtitles displayed at once instead of being split into multiple pieces – we fixed that.
- Resolved a rare issue that would allow you to see a party member in day time, despite them driving at night time.
- Fixed an issue where the camera could clip through the wall when you were driving through one of the entrances to Palm City Raceway.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some rims to flicker in the customization menu until a different coat of paint was applied.
Audio
- Audio changes made in the Accessibility settings will now take effect without having to access the audio settings tab.
- VOIP should now work more reliably when forming a party.
- When scrolling through the character head slot customization menu, the correct sounds should now play for all items.
World
This is a very extensive list of changes to the world. There are a lot of minor tweaks for LOD issues, or instances where you could go to the middle of nowhere and drive through a rock because it was missing a collision volume. Then there’s buildings that were missing an entrance and other fun things.
We divided this into sections, as there’s a bunch of changes related to three different categories.
Collisions: We have tweaked some collisions. When we talk about collisions, we’re usually talking about your car hitting any other object in the environment, sometimes even another car. Or being able to drive your car into objects or below terrain, as the textures are not matching the collision models.
Reset points: This second category includes instances when your car would reset, when the game would think that you’re out of bounds. Most of these occurrences were in very specific places far off the busy streets, and not places you would frequent during races or challenges.
Visual: The last category covers changes that are mainly or purely visual. Slightly misaligned textures, floating vegetation, houses that are just slightly too high or low compared to the ground.
Collisions
- You can now drive between the pillars and the front of a building next to a billboard in Downtown Palm City.
- Fixed a collision issue in Southern Rockville, where you could drive into the wilderness and disappear underground. It was a good hide & seek spot.
- Added collision to a concrete wall surrounding a parking lot in Mendoza Keys. That should prevent some water-related incidents.
- Another rock was reworked to have proper collision in Grenada Wetlands.
- You should no longer get stuck between two trees in Blackwood Heights.
- Polished a spot next to the Palm City Raceway to prevent you from becoming stuck on a ramp near the flamingo collectible.
- Added collision to a small tree in East Sandpiper Forest. Now that physics will affect it: Please don’t hurt it.
- Reworked physics for beach huts so their destruction feels more natural.
- A bunch of barrels at the end of a bridge in Mendoza Keys are now smashable.
- We touched up the collision volume of a rock in the Northeastern area of Frontera Hills.
- There’s a loading ramp near the border between Edgewood Valley and Sandino Ranches which you could get stuck under, which should no longer happen now.
- Removed an invisible collision near a cliff in western Blackwood Heights.
- A bunch of bushes in Grenada Wetlands will now be properly flattened when you drive through them.
- Added missing collision to some stairs in Downtown Palm City, so you can no longer drive into them.
- There was a cement block next to a railroad track in Frontera Hills that was missing a collision. To make your life easier, we lowered it a bit more into the ground, as it was the top of a pillar.
- Reworked a few ramps in Mendoza Keys and the Palm City Raceway to prevent damaging the car when driving over them.
Reset points
- Driving into a spot between a pile of wood, a metal pillar and a wall in Port Murphy no longer resets your car.
- Removed a reset point between a shed, a wooden building and a trailer in Sandpiper Forest.
- Fixed an issue where you could access an out of bounds area in Mendoza Keys.
- We removed a reset that would trigger when driving between a trailer and a wooden residential building in Sandino Ranches.
- Similarly, in Edgewood Valley, this should no longer occur when driving through a part of a barn or a hay shelter near it. Or a barn in Frontera Hills.
- Removed a reset point in Port Murphy, between a metal fence and an electric pole.
- Crashing and flipping your car in the concrete tube during the “Up Up and Away” time trial won’t reset you below the concrete tube anymore.
- During the “BayClock” time trial event, your car should no longer be reset during the last jump.
