Need for Speed Wiki
Need for Speed Wiki

Power-ups are a series of single use items that will actively effect an aspect of the player's vehicle for the duration that they are active. There are two categories of power-ups; Race and Pursuit resulting in some power-ups being only allowed in certain game modes. The two categories are displayed with either a blue (race) or orange (pursuit) colour scheme.

Race power-ups are most effective in competitive game modes such as Circuit and Sprint. Pursuit power-ups are most effective in game modes that involve police vehicles such as Pursuit Outrun and Team Escape.

Some power-ups can be combined with another to create instances of increased acceleration, extreme ramming abilities and rapidly disabling multiple police vehicles. Power-ups can not be used in Drag events.

Power-up List[]

Icon Name Duration Cooldown
pursuit Emergency Evade 1 Second 120 Seconds
Forces police vehicles away from a player's car for a small instance during a Pursuit.
pursuit Instant Cooldown Instant None
Ends a cop Pursuit immediately when the player is in Cooldown.
pursuit Juggernaut 10 Seconds 30 Seconds
Increases the player's car's speed and weight whilst negatively impacting car handling.
race Nitrous 3 Seconds 30 Seconds
Provides a short duration of increased acceleration.
race One More Lap 3 Seconds 30 Seconds
Adds one more lap to a circuit race with only 1 use per event.
race Ready Instant 30 Seconds
Eliminates the remaining cooldown period for Power-Ups making them ready to use again.
pursuit Run Flats Instant 30 Seconds
Restores the tyres of a player's car after running over a spike strip.
race Shield 20 Seconds 90 Seconds
Grants a player an immunity from targeted Power-Ups for a brief period of time.
race Slingshot 15 Seconds 60 Seconds
Increases a car's performance when not in the lead.
pursuit Team Emergency Evade 1 Second Duration 120 Second Cooldown
Forces police vehicles away from all players for a small instance during a Pursuit.
pursuit Team Slingshot 15 Second Duration 60 Second Cooldown
Increases the acceleration performance of each player's car for a short amount of time.
race Traffic Magnet 20 Seconds 60 Seconds
Attracts traffic vehicles to the event leader for a short period of time.

Patch History[]

  • Closed Beta 4
    SpeedBoost: SpeedBoost has been added to each persona. Items such as power-ups and rental cars can now be purchased using SpeedBoost.
  • Closed Beta 5
    The One More Lap power-up is disabled after the first racer crosses the finish line.
  • August 24th, 2010
    Powerups should now display correctly for players with more than 999 of the same powerup- Race Gadget should no longer disappear after a user teleports while queuing for a race.
  • September 29th, 2010
    An issue preventing some power-ups from appearing in the SpeedBoost store has been resolved.
  • November 16th, 2010
    Booster Packs are now available for purchase. These packs each contain 5 Reward Cards, granting you additional performance parts, cash, and powerups.
    Shield powerup has been updated, and can now be used to remove active Traffic Magnets on players.
    Various interface/UI improvements have been made throughout the game, including an improved Powerup Console, and pre-race screen.
  • December 9th, 2010
    The Nitrous powerup will now grant a minor boost of speed even if players are already at their car’s top speed.
    Fixed an issue that was causing powerup icons to appear blurry on certain settings.
    Fixed an issue that was causing the powerup HUD to disappear after skipping the tutorials.
    The ‘Shield’ powerup visual effect no longer sticks to the ground if it used while under the effect of a ‘Traffic Magnet’ powerup.
  • December 16th, 2010
    Resolved an issue where the ‘One More Lap’ powerup was not affecting all players in a race.
    Players can no longer activate ‘Shield’ or ‘One More Lap’ powerups within a Meeting Place event.
  • February 1st, 2011
    Fixed an issue that caused the Event Mode selection buttons in the Powerup Console to display “Page Menu Item” when clicking and dragging on them.
  • March 2nd, 2011
    Fixed an issue that caused Powerup Card Packs with a quantity of x40, to not display a quantity.
  • March 29th, 2011
    With the introduction of this new mode comes 2 brand new Powerups (Team Emergency Evade + Team Slingshot).
  • April 12th, 2011
    Fixed an issue that caused drivers to not receive a set of Team Escape powerups by default.
  • June 28th, 2011
    The Differential on the Nissan GT-R (R35) has been reconfigured to distribute power evenly which affects its overall responsiveness.
    Fixed an issue which caused bird sprites to appear behind a player’s car after activating the Slingshot Powerup.
  • July 26th, 2011
    Fixed an issue that caused Power-ups to render white when used during the night cycle.
  • May 1st, 2012
    Fixed an issue that sometimes allowed players to use the Slingshot or Traffic Magnet Powerup while in 1st place.
  • June 27th, 2012
    The quantity of Powerups rewarded will now display when purchasing any Card Pack.