Need for Speed: Carbon

A heavily modified Audi Le Mans quattro compared to a stock Lamborghini Murciélago LP-640, showing the "Autosculpt" feature of the game.

In the game, players take part in illegal street races that focus on different styles of races, utilizing a variety of licensed real-world cars (available at the time of the game's development and release) that can be upgraded and customized with new parts, while contending with the involvement of the police in their efforts to impede the player. Racing Events focus on competitive races with other drivers on circuits or point-to-point routes, checkpoint races, and races involving sprints or drifting (the latter being absent in its predecessor), with players able to use Nitrous Oxide and Speedbreaker whenever needed – either to help win races or get out of tight spots – both of which recharge over time. The game itself features four game modes – Career, Quick Race, Challenge Series, and Multiplayer – with the latter featuring online gameplay available in all console and PC versions of the game, except the Wii's edition.

The game operates on the same gameplay mechanics used in previous entries in the series, including its predecessor Most Wanted, though Carbon introduced new elements. A new element exclusive to Carbon is Canyon events – special racing events styled after Japanese Tōge racing, in which players compete in competitive racing on canyon roads outside the game's main setting. These events consist of sprints, drifting and duel events, in which the latter two feature a majority of destructible guardrails that the player must avoid crashing through or risk losing these respective events as a result. Duel events on these circuits operate differently to events involving major rival racers in Need for Speed games, as these are conducted across two stages on a canyon circuit – in each stage, one driver acts as the chaser and pursues the other at close proximity, with the first stage seeing the player as the chaser and scoring points the closer they can tail their opponent, while in the second stage their opponent becomes the chaser and the player must keep as much distance as possible to avoid losing too many points before the stage is completed. At the end of both stages, the car who took the lead wins if their score is positive, otherwise, their opponent wins if they turned it negative. Apart from scores, an instant win is possible depending on which mode the Duel is conducted in – in Career mode, the player can win instantly if they can stay ahead of their opponent for ten seconds, but lose if they fall behind for too long; in Online Multiplayer, a player wins if their opponent crashes through a guardrail.

Police pursuits, a staple of the series, function similar to Most Wanted in that police can turn up at any time during a race and attempt to impede the player during the event, except in Canyon Race events and checkpoint races; in Career mode, the police can also turn up during Free Roam, but will not act against the player unless they have a warrant (for evading a previous pursuit) or committed an offence in their sight, whereupon they focus on blocking in and arresting the player unless they can lose them and find a safe spot to hide until they lose their heat. As the player is pursued, they can either attempt to evade the cops or knock them out of action by ramming their cars or using destructible props called Pursuit Breakers to impede their pursuit, though extensive pursuits will cause the player's heat level to rise, leading to stronger pursuit tactics including spike strips, roadblocks, and the involvement of state/federal authorities. Carbon modified the pursuit function by making police less dominant in arrest tactics at higher heat levels, and reducing the chance a Pursuit Breaker blocks/destroys a pursuing vehicle.

Licensed real-world cars used in the game are divided into three tiers (performance level) and three classes – Exotic, Tuner, and Muscle. For example, a Nissan 240SX is a tier 1 tuner car, while a Corvette Z06 is a tier 3 muscle car. Each car class also has advantages and disadvantages in terms of driving styles. Tuner cars are the best ones about handling and cornering capability, while they have lower top speed and acceleration rates than the other two classes. Muscle cars have the best acceleration but they are very difficult for handling than the Exotics and Tuners. Exotic cars have the highest top speed rates, better handling than the Muscle cars but the lower than the Tuner Cars. Cars receive visual damage during the game, but no physical damage. Cars can be upgraded in performance through new components and fine-tuning of each component – such upgrades can help, for example, to improve speed, or improve braking. Carbon added the ability to customize visual parts via autosculpt parts, which allow adjustments of components for example, while adding flexibility with vinyls and decals by allowing them to be placed in layers over each other, with the ability to modify these in shape and size, and place them anywhere on the car. Additional cars and customization parts can be acquired through completing Reward Cards – each card consists of a set of challenges for the player to complete across the game modes, and reward the player either with a new vehicle to use or new parts for customization.

The game's main mode focuses on the player competing in races against rival street racing crews, instead of individual racers like in Most Wanted and Underground 2. When starting in Career mode, players must choose a class that is not only permanent for their playthrough in this mode, but also dictates which of the initial three districts in the game's setting they begin in and which racing events are available first. Additional cars and classes become unlocked as the player progresses in this mode; any cars earned from Reward Cards for Quick Race mode are also available but without limitation. Players operate their own crew in Career mode and can recruit AI wingmen to assist them, each of whom operates under a different role – Blocker, Drafter, and Scout – and specialty – Fixer, Mechanic, and Fabricator. The type of role and specialty that each wingman operate under dictates how they assist the player – some can find shortcuts during races, while others can help to reduce police heat – with their role also dictating which car they drive in; the first two wingmen the player unlocks have their cars match the player's chosen class. During races, players may use their wingmen for a period of time, after which they must wait a while until their wingmen gauge has recharged before they can use them again.

To win career mode, players compete in races against other crews to secure territory – each district has a number of territories, each controlled either by the district's main crew or a minor crew through a series of racing events. Winning a majority of the races in a territory converts control to the player's crew and unlocks additional races elsewhere. Races that have been won can be engaged again, but the prize money offered is reduced as a result. Taking control of all territories will unlock a duel event with the main crew's boss, in which winning the event will allow the player to unlock special rewards, in a similar manner to the rewards offered in rival events in Most Wanted. As the player accumulates territories, they can lose any earned by losing control over its racing events to minor crews, either by failing to defeat them in takeover challenges or forfeiting the right to do so.

Quick Race mode allows players to create custom events for single-player or multiplayer – both splitscreen or online – making use of any circuit and cars in the game, and altering various factors such as the difficulty of opponents, track conditions and so forth; what cars and circuits can be used depends on the player's progress in Career mode, though all players can be allowed to use wingmen they have unlocked in these events, provided this option is allowed.

Challenge Series consists of a series of racing events that are divided into 12 categories, each divided further into three difficulty levels. Each challenge event requires the player to complete a specific goal, depending on the type of event, using a set car on a specific course in the game. Players may choose any category to begin with, unlike in Most Wanted, but must complete in order of Easy to Hard. Completing all of the difficulty levels of a challenge unlocks either a new car or customization option for the player to use in other modes.

Online Multiplayer mode focuses on two exclusive events for multiple players – Pursuit Knockout and Pursuit Tag:

• In Pursuit Knockout, players compete in laps of a circuit, with each player in last place being knocked out and returning as cops to hinder the other players. The winner is the player who ends the race in first place.
• In Pursuit Tag, one player is a racer and must evade the others, who operate as the cops. If the player is arrested by another, they switch roles. The winner is the player who spends the most time as the racer.

Carbon takes place within the fictional city of Palmont, which encompasses four boroughs linked by a highway system; Kempton, which houses the city's industrial complexes; Downtown, which houses the city's metropolitan and financial buildings; Fortuna, which houses the city's residential area; and Silverton, which houses the city's casino & resort facilities. The city is also surrounded by three canyons known as East, West, and Carbon, which feature their own layout of the route, but which are not connected to Palmont. In the game's story, which takes place during a fixed period at night, the player is not able to access Silverton until they have made progress in career mode and only can access the canyon routes during events.

The player assumes the role of a street racer who, several years prior to their involvement in the events of Most Wanted, took part in a major street race around Palmont for a large cash prize against three other racers, each leader of a street racing crew: Kenji, leader of the Bushido; Angie, leader of the 21st Street; and Wolf, leader of the T.F.K. (The Fortuna Kings). However, the racers were ambushed by the Palmont Police Department (PPD), who had SWAT immobilize the player's opponents with an EMP and began arresting everyone involved. The player escaped with the help of Darius (Tahmoh Penikett), another street racer, and their former girlfriend Nikki (Emmanuelle Vaugier); before leaving she handed over the bag containing the race's prize money, which later turned out to contain paper.

Following their time in Rockport, the player returns to Palmont but is pursued along a canyon route by former police sergeant Jonathan Cross, who now works as a bounty hunter and seeks revenge against them. After a long & heated canyon chase the player’s BMW M3 GTR gets totaled, and Cross attempts to arrest them for the bounty on their head but is stopped by Darius, now leading his own crew called the Stacked Deck, who pays him off. Offering to help them, Darius asks Nikki, who now dates him, to assist despite her belief that the player betrayed everyone for the prize money. With Nikki's help, the player receives two crew members to help in races and a safehouse to operate from. On Darius' advice, the player begins taking part in street races for control over territories controlled by rival crews across three of the city's main boroughs. In the process, they also engage against Kenji, Angie and Wolf, defeating them and securing a member of their crew to aid them, each of whom confides in the player that they suspect someone else set up both them and each crew member's former bosses as Yumi, Colin, and Samson were all at the race between the player, Angie, Wolf, and Kenji, and each of them saw a vital piece of evidence to confirm the race had been rigged and doomed to an ambush by the PPD all along.[13]

After securing all three boroughs, Darius calls a meeting with the player, only to reveal that he sought to use the player to take control of the city from the other crews, betraying them to Cross. After leaving, Nikki arrives to save the player after making a secret deal with Cross. She soon reveals that Darius was responsible for setting up the player for the theft of the prize money  – Darius had tipped off the police, and in the chaos that ensued, switched out the prize money while leaving the player to take the blame by helping them escape the police sting.[14] Now aware of the truth, Nikki sides with the player to help take control of the last city borough, leading Darius to reinforce his crew with assistance from Kenji, Angie and Wolf to prevent this.[15] The player eventually defeats Darius and his crew, gaining control of all of Palmont's territory and wins Darius's Audi Le Mans quattro in a pink slip, despite Darius warning them to enjoy their victory before someone faster than them takes over.[16]

Own the City features similar gameplay to the console editions, but while the Autosculpt function, Canyon Race events and drifting events are absent, the portable edition allows for free-roaming around the game's setting of Coast City, offers three new racing events, and modification to some of the gameplay mechanics. The new events consist of Escape, in which players attempt to escape from a rival crew's territory; Delivery, in which players and their crew race to a designated area with a package and attempt to beat other racers doing the same thing; and Crew Takedown, in which players to eliminate a set number of rival racers to win. During free roam, the player can explore the city and seek out crates scattered across the game's setting, in a similar manner to the hidden package system in Grand Theft Auto, which when broken unlock rewards ranging from cash to game art. Police pursuits can occur in Own the City, but only in free roam; the player is not pursued during racing events.

Players can hire up to five wingmen for their racing crew, in which two members may be active for use in racing events, though like Carbon they cannot be used in the game's Lap Knockout, Escape, and Crew Takedown events. Wingmen are divided into three classes – Brawlers, Drafters, and Assassins. While the first two classes operate in a similar manner to Carbon's wingmen roles of Blockers and Drafters respectively, Assassins replace the console's role of Scouts, and can be used to take out multiple rivals with deployable spike strips. The game's main mode of gameplay requires players to take control of territory – unlike the setting of Palmont, Coast City features around 13 areas of territory across 6 districts, with each area that is conquered unlocking new items for purchase and a new wingman for the player to recruit.

The player and their brother Mick compete in an illegal street race with two other racers, seeking to see who will own the whole of Coast City amongst them. However, the race ends in a terrible car crash that kills Mick and leaves the player in the hospital with amnesia. In the aftermath of Mick's death, his control over the city's territories is divided up between various street racing crews. When the player wakes up six months later, they are greeted by Mick's girlfriend Sara and his wingman Carter, both of whom help the player regain their memories of the race when visiting their brother's grave.

The player sets out to find who killed Mick, forming a crew to help them race and defeat the other crews, regaining territory and asking the defeated crew bosses what they know about the race's accident. During this time, Sara disappears. Eventually, the player is informed that a young driver named Buddy caused the crash, whereupon a crew boss known as EX helps the player to locate Buddy. When they confront the driver, the player learns that Buddy was hired by someone to kill Mick, and hands them a phone. Upon completing more races, the player encounters and defeats an undercover police officer named MK, who uses his connection with the city's police to trace Buddy's employer. The player soon discovers that EX planned Mick's murder, and so pursues after and defeats him, leaving him to be apprehended by MK and the city police.

Sara soon returns and instructs the player to race her, whereupon she reveals that the player arranged for EX to kill Mick. Sara reveals that the player's brother had a monstrous personality that led to her and the player being hurt, so the player arranged for Mick to be killed in an accident during a race to be rid of him, thus allowing Sara and themselves to be free. Sara soon embraces her freedom, handing over Mick's watch and stating how different the player is to him.