NFS WORLD

World takes on the gameplay style of 2005's Most Wanted and 2006's Carbon, focusing on illegal street racing, tuning and police chases, and adds classic MMO elements to the mix such as special abilities. World also features the cities of Rockport and Palmont, the cities of Most Wanted and Carbon, into its map design, with redesigned graphics and new locations on the map to make travel between the two cities easier. The game currently features over 100 licensed cars consisting of tuners, muscle cars, exotics and race cars. In Rockport, there are signs on the Downtown Rockport beltway that read "Tri-Cities", along with roads that lead to a bridge with tollbooths on the other side. However, the road past the tolls is locked to all drivers. Need for Speed fans assume that there are plans to add Tri-City from Undercover into the game.

On December 2010, car performance customization was made available to players. Players can win parts from lucky draw. The coveted Pro and Ultra series parts are extremely rare. Free players have a lower chance of winning a part compared to those who purchased SpeedBoost. Special card packs can be bought with SpeedBoost that give the greatly coveted parts. On March 16, 2011, visual aftermarket customization was also made available. All the in game cash bodykits from previous versions were removed. Most body kits require SpeedBoost to purchase. On March 31, 2011, Electronic Arts introduced a new game mode called Team Escape, a cooperative version of a police pursuit where up to four players must race as a team driving from point A to point B while avoiding numerous cops. For this mode, two co-op versions of the game's power-ups have been released. On July 26, 2011, a new game mode called Treasure Hunt was released. In this mode, played during free roam, players collect fifteen gems around a randomly selected area once a day in the World to earn boosts of reputation and in-game cash. Playing the Treasure Hunt mode multiple days in a row can build up what is known as a Treasure Hunt Streak. Players can earn high-end performance parts or additional power-ups after completing every hunt based on the day count of the streak (for example, if the player completes Treasure Hunt for twelve days in a row, they will receive a tier 1 pro performance part). Skill customization was released, replacing the old level-up skill point system. All players that had the old skill points invested got skill mods corresponding with the skills they had invested points in. Players could only receive a maximum of 125 skill mods regardless of how many skills or cars they had. 4-star (highest) skill mods can be won from lucky draws or purchased through card packs. One-star mods are purchasable for in game cash.In late 2012, another new racing mode was released. Named "Drag mode", this mode allowed players to drag race other players in various strips of semi-straight roads. So far, single player mode is not an option and there is no traffic.

Before September 8, 2010, after reaching level 10 and access to only first tier and some second tier cars, the player would not be able to progress further in the game and would cease to earn any more experience points or cash. To continue the game, the player had to purchase the Need for Speed World Starter Pack. Without it, the player was allowed to play the game for as long as he or she wants, but he or she would cease to earn experience and cash. On September 8, 2010 World had passed 1 million registrations. To celebrate that, the game was made free-to-play and the level cap was removed.