Ultimate guide to drifting. Get Gold Plated Achievement in NFS 2015

NFS Heat, have a lot to offer.

There is a Need For Speed, however, that lives in the shadows, yet lives nonetheless. In 2015 Ghost Games created an entry in this franchise that just refuses to die, and despite many problems, it still draws people in. It is not great, nor especially interesting, yet many fans agree that it’s the most beautiful representative of this racing series. This subtitle-less reboot has many flaws like brain-dead police and AI opponents. It is plagued by the most ridiculous “always online” requirement, screaming about servers being “restarted for maintenance” almost constantly. Handling is odd, to say the least, and the story is practically nonexistent. Why do we still play it though? The answer is simple: amazing atmosphere. It is not all, though. Many people are drawn to this game to find the ultimate drifting challenge. Mastering this art in NFS 2015 is extremely difficult. I was looking for a guide to help me do that but couldn’t find one. So, here I am.

• Why bother with drifting in NFS 2015 at all
• You can’t drift without a ride
• Tune it till it slides like an ice skater
• Turn sideways and pedal to the metal or how to initiate drift
• Getting in control and maintaining the slide
• I drift like a champ now, where are my points though?
• Conclusion, or sliding into the sunset

Why bother with drifting in NFS 2015 at all

It is not very hard to get through Need For Speed 2015 and its cringe-worthy cutscenes, as the title is simply trivial and does not require any particular skills to finish. Completing prestige mode, added with one of the updates, is a completely different story. At some point, someone in Ghost Games studio must have read through the reviews on the Internet and thought to themselves “It’s too easy, huh? Now I’ll show you…” and cranked the challenge to 11.

Related:Mordheim: City of the Damned releases November 19th

Many people struggle to get even bronze, the easiest of the medals, begging the developers to tone down the requirements, but they stand unwavering with their decision. However, as normal races, like sprint or circuit, can be quite easily learned and mastered by using overpowered Porsche RSR, drifting is on the whole other level. Combine it with clunky handling and you have a recipe for disaster.

There are many great videos on YouTube explaining how to complete the events, yet I’ve found none that would actually tell how the drifting mechanics works and how to master it. After spending countless hours and getting through Manu’s prestige list with all gold, and eventually all the prestige events attaining Gold Plated trophy effectively maxing out the title, I’m now confident that I finally have a full understanding of how this system works.

If you are stubborn as heck and you want to get all the achievements in this title (especially Gold Plated) without resorting to cheats, trainers or mods, I have something just for you.

You can’t drift without a ride

Not all cars are created equal, and definitely not in NFS 2015. While aforementioned Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 dominates races and is the easiest way to get through speed challenges, it doesn’t work that great with drifting.

The theme of this guide can be concluded in one word – preference. However, many fans (me included) agree that the best car for tackling this endeavor is Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 (2015).

I have seen people over the Internet pulling out gold medals with whips like Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, yet if you are not set on any specific ride and just want to have this achievement eventually completed, Lamborghini Huracán should be your pick.

Tune it till it slides like an ice skater

It’s all up to you how you would like to have your car handling tuned. I went the simplest way possible – tweaked all the sliders to max drift. After experimenting with many settings, I found it the easiest to initiate and maintain the drift, however, it can become hard to control on straight lines.

Since you are going for prestige, I probably don’t have to mention that in order to get the full range of sliders you have to buy the best parts, and without them, you shouldn’t even consider going for bronze in those challenges. Keep in mind that some sliders, like downforce, are unlocked only after buying a specific cosmetic part. In this case it’s a spoiler. Also, a lot of impact in handling is provided by tires, which can also be only adjusted from parts menu.

Speaking about parts, a very important one is nitro, as it will let you extend your drift and maintain momentum. Obviously, when it comes to this challenge, use Action Nitrous that charges when performing driving actions. Since you will be sliding a lot, it will be full most of the time.

Moreover, there are some crucial settings like Breaking Drift Assist that you would like to have definitely enabled. Additionally, you may want to consider turning Launch Control and Drift Stability Assist on if you are not very confident with your skills, yet they can hinder you later on, so keep that in mind. Especially Drift Stability Assist can make it easier to maintain the drift, yet the car will become a lot stiffer and less responsive, resulting in problems with very fine and precise control.

After many attempts, I haven’t noticed any difference when adjusting Spring Stiffness and Sway Bars so, don’t take my words for granted, but you can fiddle with those as you see fit.

Turn sideways and pedal to the metal or how to initiate drift

Initiating drift is something very basic, but as it often turns out, the simplest things are neglected, leading to numerous problems and frustrations later. You just turn your wheels, tap breaks and voila, right? Yes, but that’s only a part of the story. Below you will find a cheatsheet of default NFS control settings.

There are a couple of ways to initiate drift in NFS 2015:

Assuming that you have your car tuned for drifting, starting it can be as simple as just turning on a curve for time long enough while pushing hard on the throttle.

A slightly more advanced technique that can be used is releasing the acceleration button and pressing it again when you want to break traction. It is useful especially when chaining drifts.

Instead of relying on the drift happening on its own, you can nudge a car to slip and start sliding by breaking. There is a lot more to it, though, as you have to keep your gas pushed, and use your (normal) brake.

To have even more control over the slide, and to be able to attack sharper corners, in addition to what was said in the previous point, you can push the E-Brake button before using your regular break but releasing it before you let go of the usual one. This will slow you down more, yet the drift initiated that way will immediately put you at a greater angle. Depending on how fast you’re going and the curvature of the road ahead, you can use this method with acceleration button pressed (for greater speeds on the slide), or released (for more controlled, sharper, yet slower drifts).

This is just a start that will get you going, but that’s only where the story about mechanics begins, as without any further input you’ll either make a 180 turn or stop the drift quickly without obtaining any significant number of points. What’s next then?

Getting in control and maintaining the slide

Here’s where the fun really begins. If you start drifting and keep pushing the analogue stick (or the key) used for steering in the same way that you have initiated the drift, you’ll eventually make a full turn and end the slide rather not spectacularly. In order to prolong it, you have to steer in the opposite direction and keep pushing the button / stick.

The physics in this NFS is rather wonky, as many players were kind enough to notice, and despite the fact that you are counteracting the drift, you will keep sliding for some time, like an invisible force dragging you. This will let you travel almost straight ahead in some instances, while still being turned sideways and accumulating points.

It will take some practice, but you can hold a very long, unilateral (without a flick) drift even on a straight road, providing it’s long enough. All you need to do is alternate the steering from one side to another. The exact moment when to change direction is rather short, but after a while of trying you’ll get the hang of it. It will make the back of your car look like a dog wiggling its tail. Basically, whenever you feel like the car is straightening out, about to stop drifting, just steer in the inside direction of the drift. On the other end of the spectrum, if the angle becomes too steep, start steering like you would like to move forward. Sometimes this can also help a lot with adjusting the correct angle of the car for the next turn. In other circumstances, it’s simply better to flick the car to the other side. You’ll get the hang of it eventually to decide what’s needed when.

This is very important and lets you adjust the car in such a way that you can maintain the drift while still being in full control over the direction your ride is going. It will allow you to outmaneuver your opponents (if there are any) but also avoid any incoming traffic.

There is one more vital technique – releasing the acceleration. Doing so will slow you down, allowing you to maneuver more, but not finishing the drift immediately. This can help you overcome understeering that would otherwise make you bang into an outside barrier and losing all the points or cause an unfortunate meeting with a civilian car.

Releasing the gas can also be helpful when making a drift flick in the other direction. Sometimes it is enough to just push on the acceleration again while steering in the opposite way. However, if you want to make a sharp and quick switch, it is advised to use the E-Brake technique described in the previous section.

Finally, the last, very quick matter – ending the drift. Usually all you need to do is to straighten out the car and cash in the points, but there are situations where you would like to end the drift earlier, to maneuver better or accelerate faster. In such scenarios all you need to do is to tap the E-Brake. Be careful, though, as sometimes, if you turn in the other direction than the drift and hit the E-Brake, the car can aggressively regain traction slinging you right into the opposite side of the road.

I drift like a champ now, where are my points though?

The scoring system is the biggest unknown of this title. There are no visible indicators that would tell you if you are doing a good job at drifting other than the overall score. Nothing that would validate your style and allow you to learn easily by adjusting to those criteria. As this hardly matters in a normal game, it is of vital importance in prestige mode, where the tiers of rewards are so tight that you need to make a near perfect run if you strive for gold, and you are, of course.

The first thing that I’ve found is that the angle of the slide matters. The sharper the angle, the more sideways you are towards the direction of the road, the more points you get. Speed itself doesn’t seem to play that important role, yet it definitely helps a lot with pushing you forward while you are turned near 45 degrees towards the street. The more distance you cover while being sharply sideways, the bigger the score, and velocity allows you to do just that.

Now, if you really hunt the gold, in Drift Trial events, it might be beneficial to completely ignore the route of the race and use branching streets to maximize the score, as they do not restrict you with time and have no opponents. Obviously, after travelling some time in the wrong direction, the points will stop counting, but more often than not it will allow you to accumulate just enough to comfortably the gold star requirements. I’m not going to cover it in details, though, as every track has its own places where you can veer off. There are a ton of materials on YouTube that can help you with that, and after a while, you’ll be able to identify such places yourself.

It goes without saying that Togue will require you to be at the front of the pack as much as possible because doing so will multiply your score significantly. Drift Trains are similar to Togue, yet in those you will have to stick close to the pack, not outrunning it to get the max points. Gymkhana blends Drift Trial with Drift Contest – there you are all on your own, while being time limited.

There are a couple of points worth noting that relate to the scoring system:

1. Collisions with other cars (other racers or civilians) do not reset your score. Unless you crash completely, the drift won’t break. However, it is interesting that the complete crash with other cars also won’t reset your score – it will only cash it in, providing that in the crash you haven’t touched any outside barriers.
2. NFS is ridden with connection issues. You might have 1Gb+, super stable internet connection and it will still often tell you that there are problems with your network. Those pesky messages will hinder your score effectively, stopping the points from flowing. There is nothing that we can do about it, sadly.
3. The collision system in this game is a mess. Sometimes a very slight touch of your car with a road barrier will make you lose your points, while other times a full-on collision with them will let you preserve the points. It’s a lottery and it’s hard to tell when your score will vanish. Obviously, the best way to prevent it is to avoid hitting barriers altogether, but it’s worth knowing that it might not necessarily kill your run.
4. To maximize the length of track, before starting the event, position yourself as much to the back as possible. That will let you cover ever so slightly more length in the track, allowing you to get some more points, and better starting conditions. You will be surprised how much difference it can make, especially when you find yourself missing 3k points for the gold medal.
5. While drifting, and generally while driving, pay special attention to curbs and uneven surface of the road. It can make the initiation of the slide extra hard, throwing your car out of balance or, in some extreme situations, even totaling your ride. Due to that, avoid any instances when your car can lift wheels above the road, even if it’s the “optimal” path marked by the blue arrows. Try to stay on tarmac as much as possible.

Conclusion, or sliding into the sunset

According to HowLongToBeat, completing all prestige events (there are 40 of them plus the Final Challenge) will take you around 100 hours. Considering everything that you will have to learn and how much grind is necessary, this seems to check out. Getting Gold Plated achievement took me exactly 100 hours, however that also includes the main story of NFS 2015 and all the side missions plus a bit of extra.

The most important tip is to just not give up. If you feel tired or frustrated, leave it for some time. Take five, several hours, or even a couple of days of rest doing something else. Don’t pressure yourself too much as it’s the best way to break and burn out. Getting Gold Plated is meant to be the ultimate challenge that requires all your skills and can take days if not weeks or months depending on how much time you want to devote. Sometimes you might have a great run that is killed by a random event, an unfortunate traffic car going your way, or even a disconnect. If you’ve ever played Dark Souls, finishing prestige in NFS can be even more frustrating and time consuming, but it can be done.

At the end of the day, it is only a game that is supposed to bring a lot of fun and joy. Just try to cherish the beautiful scenery and cars while listening to screeching tires. There is a lot to enjoy and even despite the weird as heck handling system, it can be satisfying when fully understood. I hope that thanks to this guide, you’ll be able to achieve it.

As a parting gift, I’ll leave you one of my most fun runs on Manu prestige – “Clamping down”. There were so many things going wrong, but also right, that I just can’t bring myself to hate this game. Good luck!

Need for Speed

November 3, 2015

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• Overview

• arcade games
• NFS / Need for Speed (franchise)
• EA / Electronic Arts
• multiplayer
• EA Gothenburg / Ghost Games
• racing games
• Need for Speed (2015)
• PC
• PS4
• XONE