Need for Speed Unbound’s cartoon driving effects can be turned off

Ever since rumours the new Need for Speed game will have anime elements, Need for Speed Unbound’s unusual art style has been divisive. Yesterday’s new gameplay clip gave us a first look at Unbound’s customisable driving effects that appear from the car, from colourful tyre smoke to cartoon wings when performing jumps.

Known as tags, these driving effects are fully customisable. Tags are earned from drifts, jumps, and near misses and appear when activating boosts.

Fortunately, if these colourful visual effects don’t appeal to you, they can be turned off.

Need for Speed Unbound’s cartoon driving effects can be turned off

EA and Criterion Games have confirmed that Need for Speed Unbound’s cartoon driving effects can be turned off.

"Yes, you can turn the effects off,” a post on the official Need for Speed Twitter account reads. “In fact, you can choose to never put them on in the first place. Just like any other part of a car.”

So if you want to make Unbound look like a modern version of Need for Speed Underground with realistic graphics, you can.

Not every effect can be disabled, though. A separate post clarifies that “Basic Tail Smoke and Trail Lights can’t be disabled” but “everything else can be.”

While it arguably gives Unbound a unique identity, the graffiti-inspired effects won’t appeal to everyone so it’s reassuring to know there’s an option to turn them off.

Aside from applying driving effects, you can also customise cars with wraps and full body kits, and also remove parts such as bumpers and roofs.

Release date

The Need for Speed Unbound release date is less than two months away. Need for Speed Unbound will release on 2 December for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. If you can’t wait until then, pre-ordering the Palace Edition unlocks the game three days early on 29 November.