How to turn off Driving Effects in Need for Speed Unbound

Need for Speed Unbound divided players with its radical art style when it was announced in October. Criterion’s new NFS game combines realistic cars and environments with cel-shaded cartoon characters and graffiti-inspired visual effects.

This gives NFS Unbound a unique aesthetic that helps it stand out. Some players are finding the art style a breath of fresh air. But if you find them too distracting, here’s how to turn off Driving Effects in Need for Speed Unbound.

How to turn off Driving Effects in Need for Speed Unbound

Responding to fans, EA confirmed before release that the divisive Driving Effects can be turned off. You can’t, however, turn off the smoke and trail light effects.

While this means you can’t turn off the Driving Effects completely, you can tone them down in the settings.

Driving Effects in NFS Unbound are called Tags. These produce colourful smoke and trail light effects when boosting, drifting, and jumping. While you can’t disable them completely, there is a less garish Cloaked Tag you can apply.

To apply the Cloaked Tag, head to a garage or safe house and select Rides to bring up the car selection screen. From here, select Style. Then select Driving Effects > Tags and browse the selection until you find the Cloaked tag.

Compared to the other vibrant effects, this is the most neutral Driving Effect with grey smoke trail lights. It also removes graphics and symbols such as lightning bolts and wings appearing from your car.

At the time of writing, this is the best way to turn off driving effects in Need for Speed Unbound. However, it’s currently not possible to disable Driving Effects on other cars and AI racers.

You can, however, turn off the sound effects that accompany the Driving Effects. To do this, go to Driving Effects > Samples and select None.

Review

Was Need for Speed Unbound worth the three-year wait? Find out our verdict in our Need for Speed Unbound review.