Game Play in Need for Speed Most Wanted

Controls 
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NFSMW can be played with the keyboard or a gamepad. The default controls are:

--> Action --> Keyboard --> Gamepad -->

--> Accelerate --> Up --> Button 1
--> Brake/Reverse --> Down --> Button 3
--> Steer Left --> Left --> X Axis
--> Steer Right --> Right --> X Axis
--> Handbrake --> SPACE --> Button 2
--> Speedbreaker --> Right CTRL (or G) --> Button 4
--> N2O --> ALT (or X) --> Button 7
--> Shift Down --> CTRL
--> Shift Up --> SHIFT
--> Reset Car Position --> R --> Button 6
--> Engage Event --> ENTER --> D-Pad Up
--> View Blacklist --> B --> D-Pad Down
--> View World Map --> M --> D-Pad Left
--> View SMS Messages --> TAB --> D-Pad Right
--> Play Next Song --> T
--> Change Camera View --> C
--> Look Behind --> L --> Button 5 -->
--> Pull Camera Back --> P
--> Pause --> ESC --> Button 8 -->

You can remap the controls by choosing Options>Controls from the Main Menu or the in-game Pause Menu. 

Control Descriptions

Accelerate: Just what it says. On the PC, the control is digital--you're either on the pedal full speed or off it. Unless...you have a gamepad or wheel with analog controls. NFSMW supports analog input, so if you map acceleration to an analog control (e.g. to the right thumbstick on your gamepad) you can get a full range of thrust.

Brake/Reverse: When going forward, this key brakes. When standing still, this key accelerates you in reverse.

Steer Left/Right: Self-explanatory. Steering using the keyboard is, again, digital and can be kind of tricky. It's best to have a steering wheel or gamepad with an analog thumbstick to use for steering so you can have more precise control.

Handbrake: Applies the emergency brake. A quick tap is useful for power- sliding around hard turns.

Speedbreaker: A new "bullet-time" feature added to NFS. Pressing this button puts the game in slow-motion so you can steer your car more precisely. Speedbreaker only lasts a few seconds and recharges when you're driving fast.

N2O: Gives your car a shot of nitrous oxide, providing a speed boost. You must purchase a nitrous system for your car first and your system must be charged. The nitrous system recharges while driving fast. You can hold the key down to provide a sustained burst of speed.

Shift Down/Up: Self-explanatory. You have to manually shift your car in drag races, even if you normally use automatic transmission.

Reset Car Position: After a particularly bad crash, press this key to put your car back on course ready to go. Using this key in a police pursuit will almost always result in an instant bust, unless all the cop cars around you were disabled in the crash.

Engage Event: Enter a race, shop or safe house by driving into the glowing ring that marks the spot in the game world and press this key. During police pursuits, press this key to bring up details on your current pursuit standings.

View Blacklist: Shows your current rival and all defeated rivals, targets and available races and milestones. Use this to jump instantly to any race or milestone challenge.

View World Map: Opens the world map.

View SMS Messages: Opens your Cingular cell phone menu with both voice and text messages for viewing.

Play Next Song: If you have EA TRAX turned on, press this key to skip the current song and start a new song.

Change Camera View: Rotates between the four main camera views:

- Bumper: first-person perspective that shows none of your car.
- Hood: first-person perspective that shows most of the hood of your car, the closest approximation of a real-life view.
- Close: third-person perspective from behind and close to your car.
- Far: third-person perspective from behind and far away from your car.
Look Behind: Switches to a rear-view so you can check up on the pursuit.
Pull Camera Back: Pulls the camera further back from the car and also swings the camera down to give you a low-profile view of your car and the surroundings; it will return to its original position when you release the key.

Pause: Brings up the Pause Menu, which varies depending on your current location and activity.
- During a race, you can:
- Resume race
- Restart race
- Jump to Safe House (quit race)
- Return to free roam (quit race)
- Performance tuning
- Options
- In free roam, you can:
- Return to free roam
- Jump to Safe House
- Performance tuning
- Options
- In the Safe House, you can:
- Return to free roam
- View the Blacklist
- Select a different car
- View your rap sheet
- Save your current game
- Options