Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered drifts home in November

Today’s driving games, whether competition-heavy sims like iRacing or downshift-and-chill haulers like SnowRunner, are clearly better than ever. Graphics and physics and everything else has come a long way over the past decade or so. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t important to stop and enjoy the classics once in awhile, and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is surely a classic — a classic that’s about to get a reboot.

In November, EA will release Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. It is, by and large, the same game that you probably fondly remember from 2010. I know I played the hell out of it back then and I was mighty happy to get an early opportunity to break a few laws in the new version.

What’s changed? The graphics, primarily. While still perhaps not quite up to par with current-gen racers like your Forzas and Gran Turismos, Hot Pursuit Remastered looks decidedly modern and won’t leave you wanting for more.

What isn’t so modern? The car selection, and frankly that’s perhaps my favorite thing about Remastered. It’s actually refreshing to take a step back and get behind the wheel of 2010’s hottest cars, like the Porsche Boxter Spyder, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and the Subaru WRX STI — in its dearly departed hatchback flavor.

Mind you, some of the offerings are a little less memorable, like the Nissan 370Z, but that’s only because it’s still on sale today.

The game now has a custom vinyl wrap editor, an improved photo mode and “multiple quality of life updates” that I didn’t get a chance to iterate through in my brief (24-hour) period behind the wheel.

What struck me most is just how modern this game still feels in terms of its gameplay. Hot Pursuit had a really compelling, cinematic chase feel to it that still works as well as it did 10 years ago, and the Autolog system (no, not Autoblog) pioneered many of the asynchronous online multiplayer features we’ve come to know and love in modern racers.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered drops on Nov. 13 on Nintendo Switch and Nov. 6 everywhere else. No plans on native support for next-gen consoles yet, but $40 on consoles and $30 on PC means this dose of drift-heavy nostalgia at least won’t sting your wallet too badly.