Week 3's twist had done wonders to set the stage for the finale week of Need For Speed Unbound. Friends aren't who they turned out to be, moves were made behind your back, and now the cops have increased their street presence. However, your real friends come in unexpected places and there's still the glory of victory to be had, so it's best to lace up those racing gloves and finally take your car back.
Due to the nature of end games, story spoilers come with the territory as everything begins to wrap up. Need For Speed Unbound is no different, so while I'll do my best to avoid any story beats here, there may be some details that will naturally reveal themselves. One such detail is the S+ lineup you have to race against. If you've been paying attention to the story, you'll hear mention of Rydell's first apprentice, Shimizu, and how he introduces you to Takeover events in Week 1.
Partying Like A Cowboy And A Rockstar
The second racer added to the fray is none other than Pretty Flacko himself, A$AP Rocky. After giving us some pep talks in the past week, Rocky joins the races for S+ tiered cars. He's also the racer with the highest payout although I didn't find him too tough to beat. It was Shimizu who would give me the most work, yet the payout wasn't nearly as lucrative as betting against him. Players should always bet against Rocky due to this. Look, Flacko's one of my favorite modern-day rappers and he's incredibly underrated but easy pickings are easy pickings.
Speaking of easy pickings, you'll be getting calls at night to retrieve the cars that you delivered in the previous weeks. As it turns out, the original stories behind these deliveries weren't 100% lies, but they weren't truths either. Since the player has caused more harm than good, it's only best to set things right. Right? These deliveries are done in reverse, with the drop-off point being the original pick-up point and vice versa. Rydell still has some cars for you to pick up, so be sure to look out for them as well.
I Got A [V8] Block In My 'Rari
Remember that Ferrari 488 GTB we acquired for free? Time to put it to good use and unleash its full potential. Unlike previous builds, S+ tier cars can go as far as the car's potential, meaning it's absolutely okay to go all out. Decking it out in all Elite parts and equipping it with a Supercharger will ensure that the car revs back up to speed after a corner. Since you'll have to apply racing lines to take advantage of its insane grip, changing your Auxiliary loadout to Nitrous Grip is not a bad idea. You get more nitrous for driving cleanly at high speeds, which leads to being rewarded with more speed.
Be careful when changing the handling sliders to their grip capabilities. If the car is too grippy it'll be difficult to turn as you'll expect a "drift." Learning how to take racing lines at high speed without running into a wall may be the most difficult skill to master, but doing so will ensure you're knowledgeable in handling a supercar. This is good practice for when you enter Online mode. While I hadn't mentioned Need For Speed Unbound's "online mode" before, this week will be an important segue.
Lamborghini Mercy
As in the actual Lamborghini Murci. The Murciélago SV is one of the three cars you can earn this week as a car prize, making it a formidable S+ car if you hadn't unlocked the 488. It's also an amazing S-Tier car, perfect for The Grand if you're deciding on what car to use for it. The second car is a BMW, another solid choice and an all-arounder. The final prize car in the game, aside from The Grand's prize, is A$AP Rocky's Mercedes-Benz 190E.
You unlock this by defeating Rocky in a head-to-head, on his home course, with his music playing in the background. It gives off this aura of facing the penultimate boss before The Grand, but you'll already know how the story goes. The 190E is an amazing vehicle but it's a shame that it's one of the final cars unlocked. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to take the Cossy-tuned behemoth for a spin.
'The Grand' Finale
The Grand is nothing you hadn't done before in Need For Speed Unbound --- consisting of four races, one for each car tier you own. If you've been collecting cars, you don't have to buy any new cars for this event. What I used for each tier was the Lotus Exige for A, the Alfa Romeo for A+, The Murciélago for S, and the 488 GTB for S+. Of these races, the S+ race is the most difficult as you are racing against two other super-tuned cars in a winner takes all approach. You could get lucky and influence the final results of the race, however.
I was able to take out my rival in one of the previous races, eliminating her chances of progressing to the next round. This meant that my final grid consisted of drivers who I don't think were meant to make it past the third round. While this made the final race anti-climatic, all's fair in love war and street racing.
Regardless of how you do it, you'll win The Grand, get your car back, and everyone involved gets a happy ending. Even those that don't exactly deserve one. Following the credits scene, you can free roam at your leisure, grabbing any more collectibles, and overall racing, earning money and buying cars. You're basically done with the story, now it's time for the online mode. If you enter online mode, provided you've been following this guide immediately after finishing story mode, you'll unlock an achievement for having ten cars in your online garage --- What?
Getting A Head Start Online
After creating a character and selecting a starter car amongst the R32, Golf GTI, and the Mercedes G-Wagon, you should notice that you'll have a hefty number of cars in your garage. Do any of them look familiar? These are the cars you'd have earned in Story mode via races, including the qualifiers, prize cars, and The Grand's car. This gives the player an unbelievable advantage in beginning their online career as many nuances will have a shortcut.
Online works differently in that you are given a B-Tier car and the only way to unlock more is to compete in playlists. In order to purchase cars, you'd need to unlock them first by completing challenges. The Porsche Carerra RSR for example, one of the most infamous cars in Need For Speed online is unlocked by competing in a number of A+ tier races while driving a Porsche.
Having already obtained a Porsche is one thing, but most Porsches require challenges themselves, meaning it'll take work to obtain a Porsche, tune it to A+, and enter enough races to have the chance to earn an RSR. This makes playing through story mode a huge advantage as you'd have more than one car from each tier, widening the net of possible playlists to enter.
I believe that covers everything I have learned during my story playthrough of Need For Speed Unbound. Although most of the tips I've mentioned are listed in the loading screens, these are overlooked. Hopefully, this guide was able to explain some phenomena that happen in Unbound and it's a stepping stone for online gameplay. Don't stress it, have at it, and win races. Enjoy driving and tearing up Lakeshore, racers!
Need For Speed Unbound is available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.