The Need for Speed
| Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed | |
|---|---|
3DO box art featuring a Ferrari 512TR and a Porsche 911 (993) | |
| Developer(s) | EA Canada |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Studios (MS-DOS, Windows) |
| Producer(s) | Hanno Lemke |
| Programmer(s) | Brad Gour |
| Artist(s) | Markus Tessmann |
| Composer(s) | Jeff van Dyck Saki Kaskas |
| Series | Need for Speed |
| Platform(s) | 3DO, MS-DOS, Windows, PlayStation, Saturn |
| Release | 3DOMS-DOS
|
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed is a 1994 racing game developed by EA Canada, originally known as Pioneer Productions, and published by Electronic Arts for 3DO. It was later ported to other platforms with additional tracks and cars, including to MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Microsoft Windows in 1996, on which it was subtitled SE (Special Edition).
The Need for Speed allows driving eight licensed sports cars in three point-to-point tracks either with or without a computer opponent. Checkpoints, traffic vehicles, and police pursuits appear in the races. Electronic Arts collaborated with automotive magazine Road & Track to match vehicle behaviour, including the mimicking of the sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers. The game contains precise vehicle data with spoken commentary, several "magazine-style" images of each car's interior and exterior and short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music.
The game was a commercial success. Video game publications praised the incorporation of realism into the gameplay and graphics, as well as the inclusion of full-motion videos. It became the first installment in the influential Need for Speed series.