Need for Speed Heat Gets Customization Companion App

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Need for Speed Heat Gets Customization Companion App

This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on August 19th, 2019 in the Need for Speed HEAT category.

 

[Coolsy101]

Not currently available in Australia. Darn. I’m hoping it comes soon! I really wanna try this out

 

[GTvsForza]

At least I wasn't the only one who had the no spoiler issue. Other than that, a solid little app. I love these kind of customization apps

 

[linksracer]

Not currently available in Australia. Darn. I’m hoping it comes soon! I really wanna try this out

I've downloaded it in Australia on an android device, unless youre using an iPhone and it hasn't released there, try having another look.

 

[Coolsy101]

I've downloaded it in Australia on an android device, unless youre using an iPhone and it hasn't released there, try having another look.

I have an iPhone. I checked throughout the day and it still isn’t available yet, no idea why. Probably will have to update my phone and see if that causes it to show up. If not, then I’ll just have to wait

 

[TypeOne]

I have an iPhone. I checked throughout the day and it still isn’t available yet, no idea why. Probably will have to update my phone and see if that causes it to show up. If not, then I’ll just have to wait

Same. But UK...

 

[Dairyworker]

It says it wont work on my phone, which is not that old, maybe 3 years. How does this work when the game drops. These cars are gonna be free? I am really confused as to the extent this app will affect the game experiance. It would honestly be another thing pushing me away if it is a detrement to not have this. To much of this kinda thing nowdays in this hobby.

 

[Milan Luijten]

this app does not work on my sony

 

[Bricks50]

I love it when games have
companion apps, it’s a lot more convenient.

 

[MIE1992]

I know that some bugs have already been acknowledged by EA/Ghost staff, so I get that there are updates to come to this app beyond just additions of content & features. (The weekly additions of cars being one example.) I also understand that the content & features in this app are absolutely not all that's in the full game, as we can see stuff like neons in the gameplay footage. But I nevertheless had some solid issues with the UI/UX/QoL. While I'm not sure which of these are just bugs that'll get patched later, I'd like to list my issues as of this current version of the app, and they'll be sorted by each of the "main" tabs in the workshop:

1. Parts
-It really seems like some parts are meant to be used together as far as aesthetics go, so there ought to be an additional prompt that could read "It looks like this [fender/bumper/etc.] is part of a bodykit. Would you like to apply the entire bodykit?"

-Similarly, I think wheels should have a little check-box to have whatever changes are made to either the front/rear wheels be applied to the other, especially since there can be multiple wheels from the same manufacturer but no way to ID them by name. Speaking of which....

-Parts REALLY should have their names next to them. Like the models for each wheel, or which sort of bodywork part is being put on.

-Most Wanted 2005 had it right when it also sorted each part by its manufacturer, ESPECIALLY THE WHEELS.

-What's this weird "gear with a line through it" symbol? Does it stand for removing an OEM part, like if one removed the stock spoiler on a car?

-I STILL don't understand why some made-for-game parts have the Ghost Games symbol, and some have the NFS symbol. I get that Chidori and Carbon, etc. are made-for-game brands from NFS Payback, but those other two are ones I don't understand. (On a side note, I wonder if Khyzyl Saleem will get his own "brand" in the menus?)

2. Wrap
-My god, this is a MESS: these decals need to be sorted SO much better. I barely know where to begin, so here were the groups I'd propose for re-organizing the decals (Aside from the national flags, though that's pretty hard to mess up.):

Real-World Brands -> Brake Manufactuers; Bodykit Manufactuers, etc.

NFS Original Labels -> Brands (e.g. Carbon, Chidori); Groups & Gangs (e.g. Noise Bomb, Bushido, FEM) -> Each actual group's name, after which their respective decals will be shown.

Media & Community (e.g. logos for Blackpanthaa, CarThrottle, and Speedhunters)

General Shapes

Vinyls (e.g. the tribal designs)

Patterns & Misc. (e.g. camo patterns, mud-splats, and rust)

And then after that, you can favorite a sub-folder to have at the top of the menu if you don't wanna go through all the menus for a certain decal or decal groups. There's be an additional favorites folder for various decals in themselves, if you really like reusing a certain decal but not the others in the folder where you found it.

-Why is it so hard to keep a decal in the center of a car when viewing it from a front/rear/dorsal view, and to keep a decal level?

-Why do I have to be on a surface with "left/right" in its name in order to be able to duplicate a layer to the other side? GTS has the first-ever livery editor in its respective series and you can still place a decal below a front headlamp and then copy it to the other side, so GTS manages to do this better than the NFS Studio app.

3. Tune Stance
-This is relatively minor for me, but why can't we change the ride height as it applies to each end? E.g. why can't we have rake?

Also, I think the camera in general could use some work. I feel like I'm fighting with it too often.

 

[linksracer]

1. Parts
-Similarly, I think wheels should have a little check-box to have whatever changes are made to either the front/rear wheels be applied to the other, especially since there can be multiple wheels from the same manufacturer but no way to ID them by name. Speaking of which....

-Parts REALLY should have their names next to them. Like the models for each wheel, or which sort of bodywork part is being put on.

3. Tune Stance
-This is relatively minor for me, but why can't we change the ride height as it applies to each end? E.g. why can't we have rake?

Also, I think the camera in general could use some work. I feel like I'm fighting with it too often.

Finally someone else pointing out how difficult the parts menus are.
I could not stand the payback system for selecting parts, specifically, the lack of model names/codes. As you pointed out with the wheels, how can you tell which wheel is which until you can physically see it. It would save so much time if I could just read the model name and know instantly which wheel to select.
I think they should go one step further and sort the wheels by manufacturer, that way we don't have to scroll through every single individual to get to a brand that is alphabetically last. This is something I thought would be an easy improvement to the UI from one game to another but clearly not.

Rake adjustment was a feature in 2015, so I don't understand why that disappeared, I think changing the track width was also an option in 2015. That wasn't a perfect system because you could end up with a huge track width and skinny tyres but I thought that would also be a relatively easy thing to improve.
That leads me onto the next point which is Tyre width in the app. Why does the tyre width change with different wheels? Shouldn't tyre width be something I have the freedom to change? It looks a bit ridiculous when you have these fat wheels, that look like they should be on the rear wheels of a supercar, on the front wheels of an mx5. Would tyres that are that wide even fit on an mx5 without flared arches?

Finally the camera. In Payback, the camera positioning combined with the UI meant that when looking at certain items on the car, the UI would get in the way of the parts I'm trying to apply. Off the top of my head, the exhaust pipes are the biggest issue. Trying to see what the different pipes look like on the car, but oh no, half the pipe is being cut off by the U.I. Surely they could implement a button that allowed you to zoom out and remove all UI to have a look at the car as a whole with complete camera freedom, rather than being restricted to these specific views.
This could just be a problem for me, but the camera controls not being inverted means I'm constantly moving the camera down when i wanted to go up and vice versa. Maybe my brain just works better with inverted controls, but there should at least be an option to change this.

 

[MroczMR]

There is third Container available. There are both BMW M4 (coupe and convertible) we can see the how tuning options differ with each one.

 

[MIE1992]

The one other thing that really turns me off regarding this app is that even when enabling the “low power” mode, it depletes my phone battery faster than Pokemon GO. That’s like managing to burn cereal.

 

[T0MMY3688]

There is third Container available. There are both BMW M4 (coupe and convertible) we can see the how tuning options differ with each one.

They have the same parts but the convertible one has the option to have the roof up or down, pretty cool to see a convertible M4 with the aggressive Varis kit actually.

There seem to be missing parts too, the '69 Camaro in the gameplay trailer has a blower engine while the app has all the parts from Payback only. Also the Corvette C7 ZR1 has no customisation options, just rims, license plate, paints and wraps.

*Edit
M4 convertible looks cool with ridiculous body kits.

 

[kenmari]

If the ZR1 is lacking in parts, are they hiding them in the actual game?

 

[linksracer]

I noticed the Hawkeye STi in the little container drop trailer but when i went to the showroom the sti is the hatch. Were my eyes deceiving me or did anyone else see this?

There seem to be missing parts too, the '69 Camaro in the gameplay trailer has a blower engine while the app has all the parts from Payback only. Also the Corvette C7 ZR1 has no customisation options, just rims, license plate, paints and wraps.

If the ZR1 is lacking in parts, are they hiding them in the actual game?

They have been hiding some parts in the game, (not one car has had any canard options yet so we assume they are being saved for the full game), but if this is actually the case and the ZR1 has been limited in customisation like this it will be quite dissappointing tbh. I would have atleast assumed that it would retain all the options from the regular corvette.
On top of this, I have heard that every car is supposed to be competitive at higher levels due to performance mods, which makes the ZR1's existence obsolete since the regular corvette should end up being just as competitive.
Hopefully this does not apply to other vehicles such as the Hurcan Perfomante and Aventador SVJ, Mclaren 600LT, GTR NISMO and Porsche 911's

 

[T0MMY3688]

They have been hiding some parts in the game, (not one car has had any canard options yet so we assume they are being saved for the full game), but if this is actually the case and the ZR1 has been limited in customisation like this it will be quite dissappointing tbh. I would have atleast assumed that it would retain all the options from the regular corvette.

I think it is the case for the Corvette ZR1, there is a “NOTE” when you select the car which explains the paint, rims and wraps as the only customisation.

On top of this, I have heard that every car is supposed to be competitive at higher levels due to performance mods, which makes the ZR1's existence obsolete since the regular corvette should end up being just as competitive.
Hopefully this does not apply to other vehicles such as the Hurcan Perfomante and Aventador SVJ, Mclaren 600LT, GTR NISMO and Porsche 911's

It will probably work the same way as the previous games, where the 911 GT3 RS and Carrera S runs similarly with minor acceleration and top speed difference.

 

[linksracer]

I think it is the case for the Corvette ZR1, there is a “NOTE” when you select the car which explains the paint, rims and wraps as the only customisation.

It will probably work the same way as the previous games, where the 911 GT3 RS and Carrera S runs similarly with minor acceleration and top speed difference.

I guess so long as there is some kind of justifiable reason to buy the ZR1 over the regular corvette, it could be considered ok. Still dissappointing though, this is the kind of thing I would expect to see on a Ferrari

 

[T0MMY3688]

Seeing the M4 convertible has the roof as customisation option, I wonder will the convertible cars still have the roof up automatically when it rains like back in NFS Rivals:

I guess so long as there is some kind of justifiable reason to buy the ZR1 over the regular corvette, it could be considered ok. Still dissappointing though, this is the kind of thing I would expect to see on a Ferrari

At best is to hope that the C7 ZR1 has the performance advantage over the the Grand Sport to justify its existence but NFS performance balance is weird and doesn't make sense, I remember the Mclaren 570S is faster than the P1 in Payback.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

The app just keeps crashing and is very slow even on low performance mode (iPad Air 2014). Safe to say I'll just be using it to check out what cars are in the game lol.

IMO they should borrow NFS No Limits' UI and modshop engine. The cars look just as good but much friendlier to old devices. And what's this about not having all the bodykits in the app? I hope once the game is released they make it a true "companion" app and allow us to do everything possible in the actual game in the app.

 

[T0MMY3688]

I have an iphone from the same year and it does crash very often, try running it with no wifi and block the 4G data and it runs slightly better.

There are definitely missing parts at the moment, all canards are missing and some of the new parts like the blower for the '69 Camaro is not available in the app but was seen in the gameplay trailer. I do hope they update it to bring those parts in.

Btw any idea who is making the app? From what I read it isn't Ghost doing it.

 

[Stephan]

I have an iphone from the same year and it does crash very often, try running it with no wifi and block the 4G data and it runs slightly better.

There are definitely missing parts at the moment, all canards are missing and some of the new parts like the blower for the '69 Camaro is not available in the app but was seen in the gameplay trailer. I do hope they update it to bring those parts in.

Btw any idea who is making the app? From what I read it isn't Ghost doing it.

I have this feeling that Firemonkeys (guys who did Real Racing 3 and NFS No Limits) may be the one who's doing the companion app for Heat.

 

[linksracer]

The app just keeps crashing and is very slow even on low performance mode (iPad Air 2014). Safe to say I'll just be using it to check out what cars are in the game lol.

I have an iphone from the same year and it does crash very often, try running it with no wifi and block the 4G data and it runs slightly better.

I've got a OnePlus 6 which also experiences crashes and bugs. The first one that comes to mind is saving a car, realising you forgot the wheels, going back and changing the wheels, then being unable to save the car/go back to the car list which forces you to restart the app.

Also, and this was stated in the article, the app drains battery like nothing I've ever seen. Just 30 minutes using the app has drained about 10% of my battery which is quite bad for my phone which can normally make it through the working day with 65% battery left. On top of this, the phone can start to become quite warm which never happens.

I guess the main aim of the app is just to showcase the car list and general modifications available to them rather than run in a manner that is smooth and efficient.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

I was really bored and cross checked all the cars in the app against the official car list on the NFS website. The following cars are not in the app:

BMW M3 E46 GTR (Razer's from NFSMW) 2006 Coupe
Ferrari FXX-K Evo 2018 Hypercar
Ferrari 488 Pista 2019 Supercar
Ford F-150 Raptor (FEM from NFSP) 2016 Pickup
Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster 2019 Open-top
Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder 2018 Open-top
Nissan 370Z Nismo 2018 Coupe
Nissan 350Z (Rachel's from NFSU2) 2003 Coupe
Nissan Skyline GT-R (Eddie's from NFSU) 2002 Coupe
Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet 2018 Open-top
Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series Cabriolet 2018 Open-top

Apart from the obvious special edition cars (MW, FEM, Rachel and Eddie), is it safe to say these cars will not have much customization in the game? The FXX and Pista I can somewhat understand, but the other cars are mostly open top versions of ones already in the app so it's weird to not see them included. Could've had one more drop crate this week to tie us over till release next week.

 

[linksracer]

Apart from the obvious special edition cars (MW, FEM, Rachel and Eddie), is it safe to say these cars will not have much customization in the game? The FXX and Pista I can somewhat understand, but the other cars are mostly open top versions of ones already in the app so it's weird to not see them included. Could've had one more drop crate this week to tie us over till release next week.

The only car in that list that would actually have customisation is the 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet.
The SVJ roadster, performante spyder, and 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series Cabriolet all had hard top versions with no customisation (apart from wheels and brakes) and the 370Z Nismo is a better version of the 370Z that we already received, so based on the trend of the best model not having customisation it is safe to assume that this car would also have no customisation.

I can understand not including the Carrera since we received the 911 Carrera GTS in the second last week, so we would've received the same car two weeks in a row essentially.
This is really just a problem they created for themselves. I'm not sure if they had a system for deciding which cars were released in which weeks (seems pretty random to me), but they could easily have arranged the cars to have another crate for this week.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

The only car in that list that would actually have customisation is the 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet.
The SVJ roadster, performante spyder, and 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series Cabriolet all had hard top versions with no customisation (apart from wheels and brakes) and the 370Z Nismo is a better version of the 370Z that we already received, so based on the trend of the best model not having customisation it is safe to assume that this car would also have no customisation.

I can understand not including the Carrera since we received the 911 Carrera GTS in the second last week, so we would've received the same car two weeks in a row essentially.
This is really just a problem they created for themselves. I'm not sure if they had a system for deciding which cars were released in which weeks (seems pretty random to me), but they could easily have arranged the cars to have another crate for this week.

Ah okay, I wasn't aware those cars' hardtop versions also don't have customization. As I said earlier in the thread my device lags too much when using the app, so I'm reduced to just using it as a car viewing app