Need for Speed: a Treat for Car Fans!

The new Need For Speed movie came out last week, on March 14. Car Guide was there to make sure the movie was living up to its hype!

First of all, let’s get this out of the way: I am by no means a movie expert. I've seen a lot of them, but I have no idea how to judge the quality and emotional depth of a scenario, and I have no clue about whether or not the director correctly captured the psychological struggle of the characters on screen. I specialize mostly in cars. That is why I went to see Need For Speed, actually.

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This movie is probably not going to be remembered as one of humanity’s greatest works of art. The story is simple and clichéd (hero wants to avenge the death of a friend by defeating the bad guy in a high-stake street race) and the actors are good, if not especially convincing (those of you who watched Breaking Bad will recognise Jesse Pinkman immediately - he may have stopped doing drugs and he now drives a lot better, but it’s the same guy).

The movie focuses more on the action scenes, thankfully. Street racing through deserted city streets, high-speed chases on the highway, final duel on a treacherous mountain road, this movie has it all. It is very reminiscent of the video game series, in fact. The whole movie was filmed with cars doing real stunts. No CGI was used; everything you see in the movie was performed by stuntmen. The director of the movie wanted to pay tribute to the great car movies of the 60’s and 70’s, so everything had to be real. Okay, not everything. The cars used were not actually multi-million dollar supercars. The prop team built tube chassis, which they covered with fiberglass bodies made to look like real cars. The final product is very convincing. Put the fake next to a real Bugatti Veyron SS, and it would be pretty hard to spot the differences.

The sound is also very important throughout the movie. The sound engineers took the time to go to car shows across the country to select particular vehicles for the perfect sound (tough job, but someone has to do it…). They then recorded the engine’s audio from different angles in 7.1 surround, while concentrating on specific aspects. For example, the supercharger pulley of a Shelby Mustang, or the blow-off valves on a Koenigsegg Agera R were individually recorded, then added to the final sound mix. The result sounds absolutely amazing. Even better, when the time came to record muscle cars, the producers enlisted the help of Magnaflow, who tuned special exhausts for the big American V8s. They also created a one-off exhaust kit for the Ford F450 Power Stroke (nicknamed The Beast) in the movie.

Long story short, if you go see Need For Speed thinking this movie will change your perception of the human race, you will be disappointed. However, if you are looking for a fun, entertaining movie about expensive cars, high-speed chases and ludicrous stunts, this is the film to see!

And by the way, the extra price for the D-BOX seats, which move and shake according to the movie, is totally worth it. The feeling of an idling american V8 engine right in front of you is unbelievably cool!

(You can take a look at the best cars from the movie here)