Is it possible to CHEAT, IN RACE?

[wonderpookie]

Hi all.

This is my first NFS experience and I have now mustered up 900H+. In that time, I have never suspected anyone of cheating during a race. Sure - I've seen my fair share of OP/broken builds, de-sync and players seemingly ganging up to ensure wins, but I've never thought "hold up... wait a minute... sumthin aint right!".

Just now, I ran the "Scenic Route" (S) and "Old Town Road" (A) playlists, back-to-back. Both times THE SAME one other player joined, last second. Then in race... his car absolutely floored mine, both times. First time my Audi R8 vs his F40, then second time my Audi S5 vs his Nissan GTR.

I'm not the greatest racer, and I do sometimes lose. But never by huge margins. ALSO, another suspect thing - the guy left half way through the race both times. Just vanished. Again - suspect.

I know money cheats and unlock cheats exist for NFSUnbound. There was even that cheat for drift racing recently. But I didn't think you could actually cheat IN RACE as I'd never really seen it.

A quick google brought up a thread on the official EA NFSUnbound forums from Jan 2023. The OP is complaining about crossplay PC racers cheating. Then people start arguing back and forth about cheating vs skill etc. Not sure there was any conclusion.

THOUGHTS?

Honestly - first time in 900H+... "sumthin aint right!".

[MARIUSZ PIETRUSZKA]

it is sadly possible
example:
you can edit hp and lower the class for certaing car and edit the handling of the car add more grip etc
you can also make infinite nos

example:
https://www.nexusmods.com/needforspeedunbound/mods/129


1588 HP NISSAN SILVIA SPEC R AERO (2002)

This mod tweaks the stock I4 engine to 1588 HP for the Nissan Silvia Spec R (2002) including fine tuning.
Optionally you can download the RB26 mod to use it in the Silvia, it's in BETA so it's not fully fine tuned yet.
Also many other adjustments were made, read in description below. Hope you have FUN!

i don't advocate, recommend or support using this Mod online as it's unfair to other players and gives you advantage.
So please only use in singeplayer mode. Enjoy! :)


Adjustments:
- Tweaked the Stock I4 Engine

- Adjusted HP

- Adjusted Torque

- Adjusted Gears

- Adjusted Gearshifts

- Adjusted RPM

- Adjusted Boost

- Adjusted Aerodynamics

- Adjusted Handling

- Adjusted Downforce

- Adjusted Mass

- & overall tweaks to balance everything

- Top Speed Capped to 373 for good balance

btw this man that pretends to be some fake girl makes more but paid mods like this

[wonderpookie]

I really appreciate the in-depth reply, thanks brother.

How bad is the cheating? I noticed for the first time after 900H+, although, if you can tweak to such a high degree of precision, "smart" cheaters would surely only make subtle changes that you are unlikely to notice, yet changes that still make all the difference. The guy I was up against clearly just didn't give a damn and it was blatant something was up.

I don't often hear people complain about cheaters so let's hope it's not an upwards trend.

TWO THINGS THOUGH...

1. Hard to believe this can be done so easily/no anti-cheat.
2. You can't report players for cheating. When you interact with a player card to report a player, you are given all types of categories to choose reason for reporting EXCEPT CHEATING.

Something to be aware of now. It will help protect my sensitive male ego the next time I lose!

Thanks also for the times you listed in the other thread. I have now bought an R8, tuned it for a build I like and am now trying to get faster times on certain tracks.

Thanks again, take care brother!

[Kita]

the cheating is a big part of the frostbite nfs games, they are heavily client sided and have no anticheat, the game engine is very well understood and easy to modify, and for about 7 years the community has had to put up with half baked arcade physics and dull gameplay to finally arrive at unbound, so there have been many attempts at correcting perceived flaws.
the way i see it is: cheating is part of street racing and you're going up against the "civic with a laptop in the passenger seat" kind of racers instead of the usual crowd. they're criminally fast sure, but they still have to hit the checkpoints. it's very easy to make a car that's too fast, breaks the game physics and just isn't any fun to drive. also there are certain cars that will get your online save bricked since heat like the 'ol rhino, cop charger and explorer, and traffic. in the end you know, they're playing a car customization street racing game with other people and if your car's so fast they can't see you in the impossibly cool cheat machine busting fat skids in front of them then what is the point of playing?
the people you're seeing speedhack the race aren't having any fun and you'll only see them rarely.
my advice is to look into modding the game yourself and fight fire with fire. there's lots of cool stuff you can do to make the game more fun, easy, hard, or your favorite car more competitive without waiting for the devs to update. you also learn a lot about how the game works under the hood and that's fun too.

[wonderpookie]

Originally posted by Kita:

you're going up against the "civic with a laptop in the passenger seat

:D

the people you're seeing speedhack the race aren't having any fun and you'll only see them rarely.

This is an interesting point - I think you're right. Experience says you are. In 900H+ in NFSUnbound, I have only seen TWO players who blatantly looked like cheaters. And I think you're right about the no fun - certainly they will NEVER feel the EXCITEMENT, JOY and RUSH you feel after winning a closely fought race. INDEED - I even get the same rush when I don't win and come in a closely contested second. NO WAY those cheaters can feel that - impossible when you know you cheated for the win.

And when I do lose, I love to REFLECT - why did I lose? Skill issue or car issue? Wrong car for the track? Wrong setup? Could I improve? I love the technical aspect of this game too which I know a lot of others do too. DRAG racing has only played into this and reignited my passion.

my advice is to look into modding the game yourself and fight fire with fire. there's lots of cool stuff you can do to make the game more fun, easy, hard, or your favorite car more competitive without waiting for the devs to update. you also learn a lot about how the game works under the hood and that's fun too.

I appreciate what you're saying, but given you yourself said you only see these guys rarely, then I don't see the need/have the desire to stoop to their level. HOWEVER, I may still look into the modding aspect of it any way, as you said, to better learn how the game works.

Appreciate your thoughtful input brother - thanks.