This year we’re celebrating 16 years of Speedhunting, which means there are people now learning to drive who weren’t even born when Speedhunters first launched in 2008.
Obviously, this fact is slightly terrifying, because in our minds 2008 is only a few years back, not more than a decade and a half ago. But what it does mean – given the length of time Speedhunters has now existed – is that we have grown up alongside multiple generations of car fans from all over the world.
Many of you have been with us since day one and are now fully-fledged adults in society doing important things. But there’s also many of you who may only just be discovering what Speedhunters is – the kind who might also be learning to drive this year.
Speaking of anniversaries that are met with a surely not response, 2024 also marks the 30th anniversary of the Need for Speed franchise, which has resulted in 25 individual racing games throughout that period. To our knowledge, that makes it the longest-running car racing series of all time. And it continues deep into this year with the launch of Need for Speed’s new Year 2 Roadmap for NFS: Unbound.
So why bring up Need for Speed now? It’s a little-known fact that Need for Speed – specifically its publisher, Electronic Arts – has powered the Speedhunters project since day one, allowing us to bring you all the weird, wacky, and exciting parts of global car culture all year round.
And this hasn’t remained a one-sided affair either. Cast your minds back to 2018, when our very own Dino Dalle Carbonare even appeared within the NFS: No Limits mobile game as a character. Not to mention Speedhunters heroes such as Magnus Walker, Akira Nakai and the late Ken Block, who all helped blur the lines between real-life Speedhunting and the virtual world of Need for Speed.
That’s why our 2024 mission is to bring this partnership even closer by providing both Speedhunters and Need for Speed fans with a more immersive experience.
Before you warm up the keyboards, that doesn’t mean Speedhunters is changing or selling out. What it really means is more content for car culture fans across both platforms, crafted in the familiar photography-led storytelling that we’ve strived for since day one.
How does that look for you readers? Think of it as an insight into the world of Need for Speed beyond the gameplay; a deep dive into the cultures, characters and storytelling which make up every game. We want your feedback both as gamers and car culture fans, and we’ll cover everything from the design and development phases right through to unpacking how tasks like scanning vehicles and environments make the jump from the real to virtual world.
If you’re still feeling sceptical, know that this is all in addition to our daily Speedhunters car content, which we’ll be ramping up further in 2024. Thanks to our awesome list of global contributors – something we want you to be a part of too – we’ll be uncovering more avenues of car culture than ever before. And that’s our promise to you as readers, because we know the proof is always in the pudding. Talk is great, but action is better.
What can you expect in the coming weeks? First of all, we’ve got a whole load of special feature stories incoming from Japan, including a glimpse into the controversial world of street drifting.
To kick-off our Need for Speed: 30th Anniversary celebrations, it’s history time as we head all the way back to the genesis – the very first Need for Speed released in December 1994. We’ll be looking over its inception, gameplay, and how it’s aged compared to the racing games of today.
We’ll also be shedding light on the plans Need for Speed has for 2024, including multiple large updates bringing new cars, multiplayer functions and more throughout the year.
So without us sounding like some hyper-positive Instagram personality, watch this space, people. We’ve got some big things coming this year, and we want all of you to be a part of it with us.
The Speedhunters
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