Need for Speed Payback Gets A Really Substantial Update

EA and Ghost Games’ new Need for Speed game, Need for Speed Payback, landed with a resounding thud when it launched on November 7, earlier this week. The game was also plagued with a fair number of bugs and issues- thankfully, that latter part has been addressed, to some extent at the very least, by a new patch for the game that resolves some of those problems.

The update fixes things including the game’s performance in multiple areas, addressed some unintended crashes, and fixed how the game acts and how events unfold in multiple areas and points in the story. The patch notes are very extensive, and, if you are actually interested in the game’s story, may have several spoilers- nonetheless, they are posted in full below.

Need for Speed Payback is the third Need for Speed game by Ghost Games, and the first title in the once annual franchise since 2015. It is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

• Improved game performance during the event ‘Solar Sprint’
• The event ‘Aki kimura: The Drift King’ will no longer sometimes cause a game crash
• The ‘Silver Canyon Getaway’ event will no longer cause a crash after the first spike strip
• Improved performance within Ranked Speedlist
• Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur during initial loading
• The game will no longer sometimes crash during the purchase of Shipments on a non-English language
• Repeating the event ‘Drifting the Block’ several times will no longer cause the game to crash
• Fixed a crash that occurred after the race between Mac and Jess to the airfield
• The game will no longer hang on a black screen at the start of the third section of the ‘Convoy’ mission
• While playing through ‘The Highway Heist’ mission, the game will no longer hang after the ‘Get to the Rendezvous’ section
• All checkpoints during the event ‘Safety Last’ will now award bonus time
• Improved cop AI within the ‘Failed Heist’ mission
• The ‘Cavalry’ event now has the correct car requirements assigned to it
• The objective in the ‘Disconnect’ event has been changed to ‘Reach the finish line’
• Cops now take more damage when ramming them from behind at high speed
• Chevrons are now correctly placed during the event ‘Underground Soldier: Sabotage’
• You will no longer received a “checkpoint missed” message during the event ‘Downforce’ drift trial when going through a checkpoint
• AI drivers will no longer drive straight into a wall when starting the Outlaw’s Rush
• The helicopter in the ‘Skyhammer’ event now flies correctly
• The AI drivers during the ‘Outlaws Rush’ event will now drive the correct route
• The mini-map during the ‘Outlaws Rush’ event will now display correctly
• The voice over that takes place at the end of the ‘Racer’s Revenge’ mission will no longer repeat itself
• Improved off-road handling of the BMW X6M
• Fixed an audio issue where the sound of an impact would not always be heard when crashing into barriers
• Cars will no longer get stuck when collecting one of the billboards in the desert
• Courier missions will now display completion time instead of tracked time on the outro screen
• ‘Downtown Escape’ can no longer be started a street away from its intended position
• Traffic vehicles have been sent back to driving school and will no longer attempt to perform an illegal turn
• Improved AI of cops during pursuits
• Tuned the AI (hard difficulty) in the event ‘Junkyard Solem’ on hard difficulty
• Grass and bush debris will no longer duplicate
• The wheels on the 1969 Dodge Charger no longer protrude through the fenders when steering left or right
• Multiple events now have the correct colour of event icons displayed
• Tuned hard difficulty on various events, it’s now harder…good luck
• The ‘Gearbox’ roaming racer has gone back to driving school and will no longer crash into rocks while driving around Fortune Valley
• If you challenge the ‘Gearbox’ roaming racer at the tunnel entrance you will no longer start the race directly in front of a pillar
• Even if you lose to the first race against Rav, you will now receive a Speed Card
• The on-screen text displayed during the Live Tuning tutorial now displays correctly
• Sparks will no longer appear from the front wheels when performing sharp turns on asphalt surfaces
• The AI will no longer take the wrong turn 1.27km away from the objective during the ‘Canyon Brawl’ event
• You can now paint Derelict cars that have been purchased from a dealership
• The AI has been improved in the ‘Holtzman: The Coming Storm’ event
• The body panels on the Volkswagen Beetle Derelict now display correctly
• Derelict wheels will no longer glow a strange orange glow when out in the world awaiting collection
• Fixed a visual issue on the suspension and brakes of the Chevrolet Bel-Air derelict
• Entering a part shop while in hood or bonnet cam will no longer create a camera spin around the shop
• Corrected an issue on the Mazda MX-5 when using a Ghost branded Diffuser that caused nitrous to appear in the wrong place
• Fixed an issue that was blocking decals from being applied to the front of the Dodge Charger 1969
• Failing to make the jump at the end of the ‘Hairping Dragging’ event will no longer result in your car being placed back on the road, upside down
• The last two checkpoints from the ‘Flash Bang’ Speed Run are now activity checkpoints instead of race ones
• The character model no longer clips through the driver seat of any of the 1965 Ford Mustang Derelict Super Builds
• The tires on the Ford Roadster no longer get shiny and black when they get dirty
• The game will now save before the final cinematic resulting in having to repeat the race against Lina in the Outlaw’s Rush
• Starting a race in the Chevrolet C10 Pickup while in bonnet cam will no longer place the camera behind the windscreen
• The Ford Mustang 1965 Super Derelict build of the race class will now look different to the standard race build
• Poker chips and billboards are now marked as completed on both the minimap and the map
• Music now plays correctly during the final credits
• Drag specific rims (The Alchemist) are now available for other car classes
• The camera will no longer shake when exiting the garage
• Numerous audio fixes
• Multiple UI fixes
• Various localization issues have been fixed
• Various improvements to character animation
• Numerous minor fixes, tweaks and improvements