In Need For Speed Unbound you will rely heavily on in-game cash. You will need it for buying cars, entering races, upgrading your car, and changing its looks. As such, it's important to know how to make as much money as possible — and in some cases as quickly as possible.
Luckily, there are a few options to earn money in the game to make sure you can buy all the cars you need. If you are strapped for cash and looking to boost your finances, then this guide should help.
Place Well In Races
Sometimes you need to spend money to make money, and the same goes for Unbound. The main way for you to get cash is to win or place highly in races. Some races have very high payouts, and you can win good money just for coming inside the top six, while others have high payouts only for the top three. Choose wisely.
It also pays to check for free entry races. These will earn great money, as any winnings you get are in full, instead of having the entry fee taken off.
Place Wagers
At the start of races you can place a wager against another driver, if you beat them then you get the money, and if you lose then you lose the money. When making wagers you need to be sensible with it though, to make sure you do not end up out of pocket. If you are not feeling too confident then make a wager with someone lower down the rankings — that way you are almost guaranteed the money, even if it's not much.
Complete Challenges
In the pause menu, you can see all the challenges you have completed and can complete. There are challenges such as destroying a certain number of billboards or smashing a certain number of bears. These challenges will give you cash for completion, from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand. Every dollar counts.
Other challenges you can do are Speed Traps, Speed Runs, Drift Zones, and Long Jumps. These are scattered all over the map, and you can complete them for as many stars as you can get. Each challenge has the potential for three stars, and you get money for each star you collect.
- Speed Traps are speed cameras that you need to drive through as quickly as possible. Try and get the top speed for three stars.
- Speed Runs are average speed checks, where you pass through checkpoints as quickly as possible. Try to have the highest average speed for the whole run.
- Drift Zones are stretches of bendy roads for you to drift through. Pass through specific checkpoints and drift enough yards per star to get the reward.
- Long Jumps are jumps for you to take as fast as you can. Try to travel as far as possible in the air, unlocking stars for hitting certain yardages.
Complete Missions
As you are going through each day, Rydell will occasionally contact you with a mission to deliver a car. These missions will not only unlock the car delivered for purchase, but also rewards you with cash. These missions are timed, so your reward is based on how quickly you can get the car to its drop-off point. There are four tiers — gold, silver, and bronze — and completing them rewards several thousand dollars.
You can also be given missions by Yaz early on in the game, and Tess when you meet her. However, these will be mainly at night, and you have to have a certain Heat level to activate the call from these characters. These are not timed missions — you will have to lose the cops before delivering the car — and you will be paid based on the condition the car is delivered in.
A way to make sure you get the perfect condition every time is to find a Gas Station on the way. This will repair the car to pristine so you can get the maximum reward.
Complete Collectibles
A great way for a quick bit of cash is to gather the collectibles dotted around the map. There are multiple collectibles for you to find and smash:
- Bears to smash
- Billboards to smash
- Street Art to collect
For each collectible you will get $250, while also having the chance to complete the challenges for a further amount. The collectibles are all over the map and relatively easy to find, so if you have some time to kill and want to go on a collecting spree for some easy money then this is a great option.
Evade The Police
If you are able to escape a police chase while racing around the map, then you will be rewarded. There are five heat levels that you can go through when being chased, and your heat level will get higher through completing races. The higher the heat level, the more reward money you will get if you escape.
If you want to make the most of escaping the police you can install an auxiliary mod on your car that will give you double the money if you escape the police. This is a great investment if you are always evading the police for a burst of income.
The Auxiliary Mod will also shorten the time it takes for the police to get reinforcements, making it harder to escape and for heat levels to rise quickly.
Sell Cars
An easy way to get big cash is to sell your cars. This is usually a last resort, but is easily done. For some races in a week you can win cars as well as cash, making collecting cars a little easier. This means that if you do not need the car then you can sell it for more money than you would get for winning a race. If you win a better car you can then sell your current car too, and this may be worth more money — especially if it is upgraded.