TNFS Restomod

An unofficial restomod of The Need for Speed SE (PC, 1996). The original game, recovered piece by piece and rebuilt so it runs well on a computer from today.

The renderer is still 1996. The horsepower is 2026.

What the restomod adds

• Widescreen in 16:9 or 21:9, with the same chunky pixels, just more of the road.
• Smooth motion at 60, 120 or 144 Hz. The physics still run at the original rate; the frames in between are interpolated.
• Sharper 3D at 2x or 3x render scale, spread over all your processor cores.
• Night racing, dawn and dusk, with headlights on the road, brake lights, street lamps and police lights that glow.
• Gamepads and wheels: bind any action, set dead zone and sensitivity, force feedback.
• Cut content back on the road: Lost Vegas, Lunar Springs with moon gravity, mirror, rally and reverse tracks.
• Network races over the LAN or the internet.
• Records kept apart for every variant, and a separate table when cheats are on.

You need the original game

TNFS Restomod brings no game data with it. You need your own copy of The Need for Speed SE for PC, the 1996 CD. The first time you start the game it asks for the CD's folder, checks it, and copies what it needs. After that the CD can go back on the shelf.

We can't help you find a copy. Second-hand ones turn up often on marketplaces and auction sites.

This is their game

The Need for Speed was made by Electronic Arts Canada together with Road & Track magazine, between 1994 and 1996. We took it apart to learn how it worked, and found a lot of care in it. The restomod keeps their work exactly as it was in Stock '96, and their credits open the game's own credits screen.

The code is a reimplementation we wrote by studying the original program. We say so openly: nothing here pretends to be new.

FAQ

Is it free?

Yes. No price, no ads, no paid extras.

Is it official?

No. It's a fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Electronic Arts.

Which systems will it run on?

macOS 11 or later first, on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Windows and Linux come after.

macOS says it can't open the app.

The beta isn't signed with an Apple certificate yet. Open it once with right-click → Open, or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway. You only need to do it the first time.

How does it update?

The game checks for a new version when it starts and tells you in the main menu. You can turn the check off in Options.

I found a bug.

Report it on GitHub with your game version and the log file. Questions and ideas are welcome in Discussions.

Can I see the code?

Yes, it's open source under the GPL-3.0 licence, on GitHub.