History YMMV / NeedForSpeedCarbon

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: If you can manage to get any of the Crew Bosses to crash their cars during a Canyon Duel, [[https://youtu.be/gg3caQKmRyI you're treated to]] some downright ''hilarious'' OhCrap facial expressions from them! Wolf and Darius are particular highlights due to the former's [[DelayedOhCrap delayed reaction]] while the latter has the most hysterical look of, [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe "Are you kidding me right now?!"]]

* PolishedPort: For some, the PSP version of ''Own the City'' in particular is one of the more underrated entries in the series, and in some cases, considered flat-out better than the console versions. Largely in part because of the much better plot when compared to the console game, the longer campaign, the bigger variety of crews (six to the console version's four, with each having two to three bosses to take down), and being able to listen to the game's licensed soundtrack unimpeded.[[note]] In the console versions, the licensed tracks would only ever play during Checkpoint events or for some Challenge Series events. [[/note]]

* PortingDisaster: While the rest of the sixth-gen console and Wii versions of the game are for all intents and purposes the same game as the PC and seventh-gen releases except for relatively minor graphical downgrades and some features being changed (having a cap of four cars in a race instead of eight and a lack of facial motion capture cutscenes), the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] version in particular suffered the most, as it notoriously compressed the textures to a muddied, Vaseline-smeared mess due to storage limitations.

* RunningGag: Darius mangling Cross's name in cutscenes when they appear together, as mentioned above.

** One of the requirements to unlock the Chevelle SS[[note]]"Career Mogul"[[/note]] is for the player to have a balance of one million credits in total in their current career. This wouldn't be a problem by itself, but as mentioned above, replaying previous races only awarded 500 credits for the player.[[note]]And even if you have a fixer in your crew, only 50 credits would be added to said reward.[[/note]] This is very sadistic for those who only have their cash in five digits or below, as that would require them to grind for months in order to get the car. But even if the average player was able to save in-game-cash through the normal playthrough, the average endgame credits would still be balanced around 800k, meaning they would still have to grind the career for a while in order to unlock the vehicle.

** In a lesser annonying objective, In order to unlock Cross' Corvette for quick race mode,[[note]]"Iron Wall"[[/note]] one of the stipulations is to win 20 defensive races. They aren't as frequent they seem to be in normal gameplay, and they stop happening if the player conquer all the races in career mode, basically meaning replaying the already checked races over and over and leaving some races incomplete in order to still trigger defensive races.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Due to scarcity of earning money in this game, most players tends to stick with Samson among all available crew members for the rest of the game because his crew bonus gives additional 10% of credit rewards for winning every races except for Rival Crew Challenge.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Due to scarcity of earning money in this game, most players tends to stick with Sal among all available crew members for the rest of the game because his crew bonus gives additional 10% of credit rewards for winning every races except for Rival Crew Challenge.

** One of the requirements to unlock the Chevelle SS is for the player to have a balance of one million credits in total in their current career. This wouldn't be a problem by itself, but as mentioned above, replaying previous races only awarded 500 credits for the player.[[note]]And even if you have a fixer in your crew, only 50 credits would be added to said reward.[[/note]] This is very sadistic for those who only have their cash in five digits or below, as that would require them to grind for months in order to get the car. But even if the average player was able to save in-game-cash through the normal playthrough, the average endgame credits would still be balanced around 800k, meaning they would still have to grind the career for a while in order to unlock the vehicle.
** While pursuits themselves can be considered this due to the big-numbered objectives, the two specific cards that involve the player accumulating 20k and 50k, respectively in fines in total for pursuits in career free roam are pretty much a special case. First, [[GuideDangIt the game itself doesn't really tell how to achieve those specific fines]], and you only get to know how much you achieved in total is in the statistics menu. As it turns out, it involves exploiting the infraction system rather than bounty and cost to state. Second, unlike ''Most Wanted'', the game doesn't display how many infractions you have achieved until the pursuit ends due it being DemotedToExtra. You have to remember this while collecting all the infractions that increases the total fines.[[note]]Since the game reuses the pursuit system from ''Most Wanted'', the infractions that are required carried over to this game.[[/note]] And third, you have to do this for every pursuit over and over again until you get the said number of fines required. Good luck!
** In a lesser annonying objective, In order to unlock Cross' Corvette for quick race mode, one of the stipulations is to win 20 defensive races. They aren't as frequent they seem to be in normal gameplay, and they stop happening if the player conquer all the races in career mode, basically meaning replaying the already checked races over and over and leaving some races incomplete in order to still trigger defensive races.

** One of the first recruits for your crew is Sal Mustella, which is played by future [[VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided Adam Jensen]] voice actor, Creator/EliasToufexis.

** In a lesser annonying objective, In order to unlock Cross' Corvette for quick race mode, one of the stipulations is to win 20 defensive races. They aren't as frequent they seem to be in normal gameplay, and they stop happening if the player conquers all the races in career mode, basically meaning replaying the already checked races over and over and leaving some races incomplete in order to still trigger defensive races.

** One of the requirements to unlock the Chevelle SS is for the player to have a balance of one million credits in total in their current career. This wouldn't be a problem by itself, but as mentioned above, replaying previous races only awarded 500 credits for the player''.[[note]]And even if you have a fixer in your crew, only 50 credits would be added to said reward.[[/note]] This is very sadistic for those who only have their cash in five digits or below, as that would require them to grind for months in order to get the car. But even if the average player was able to save in-game-cash through the normal playthrough, the average endgame credits would still be balanced around 800k, meaning they would still have to grind the career for a while in order to unlock the vehicle.

** One of the requirements to unlock the Chevelle SS is for the player to have a balance of one million credits in total in their current career. This wouldn't be a problem by itself ''[[AntiGrinding if replaying previous races only awarded 500 credits]]''.[[note]]And even if you have a fixer in your crew, only 50 credits would be added to said reward.[[/note]] This is very sadistic for players who only have their cash in five digits or below, as that would require them to grind for months in order to get the car. But even if the average player was able to save in-game-cash through the normal playthrough, the average endgame credits would still balance around 800k, meaning they would still have to grind the career for a while in order to unlock the vehicle.

** The Zeebo release of ''Own The City''. Despite being based in the [=PlayStation=] Portable release, it suffers from terrible framerate and abysmal texture pop-in. All even with the models and textures used being lower quality in comparison its PSP counterpart in order to accommodate the system.

** In a lesser annonying objective, In order to unlock Cross' Corvette for quick race mode, one of the stipulations is to win 20 defensive races. They aren't as frequent they seem to be in normal gameplay, and they stop happening if the player conquers all races in career mode, basically meaning replaying the already checked races over and over and leaving some races incomplete in order to still trigger defensive races.

** In a less but still so annonying objective, In order to unlock Cross' Corvette for quick race mode, one of the stipulations is to win 20 defensive races. They aren't as frequent they seem to be in normal gameplay, and they stop happening if the player conquers all races in career mode, basically meaning replaying the already checked races over and over and leaving some races incomplete in order to still trigger defensive races.

* RetroactiveRecognition: * PermanentlyMissableContent: Two reward cards are missable if the player completes the game at [[HundredPercentCompletion 100%]] without completing those remaining reward cars.
** "Career Mogul" requires you to have at least $1,000,000 in Career Mode. Winning again the same race you won rewards you with a measly 500 or 550 with crew bonus. Completing every race means that you must grind for a lot of days or even months just to get millions. It is required to unlock the Chevrolet Chevelle SS 1970.
** "Iron Wall" requires you to win 20 defensive races. Defensive races can only trigger if at least one territory is not conquered yet. Conquering every territory makes the achievement unobtainable. It is required to unlock the Chevrolet Cross Corvette Z06.z

* PermanentlyMissableContent: Two reward cards are missable if the player completes the game at [[HundredPercentCompletion 100%]] without completing those remaining reward cars.
** "Career Mogul" requires you to have at least $1,000,000 in Career Mode. Winning again the same race you won rewards you with a measly 500 or 550 with crew bonus. Completing every race means that you must grind for a lot of days or even months just to get millions. It is required to unlock the Chevrolet Chevelle SS 1970.
** "Iron Wall" requires you to win 20 defensive races. Defensive races can only trigger if at least one territory is not conquered yet. Conquering every territory makes the achievement unobtainable. It is required to unlock the Chevrolet Cross Corvette Z06.

* RetroactiveRecognition:

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Due to scarcity of earning money in this game, most players tends to stick with Sal among all available crew members for the rest of the game because his crew bonus gives additional 10% of credit rewards for winning every races.

* ScrappyMechanic: Unlike in previous game, replaying any race will only give you 500 credits or just 550 with a crew bonus. It's even worse when a shorter Rival Crew Challenge pays better with 1,000 credits than the regular race. Strangely, this wasn't the case in ''Own The City'' where replaying any race gives you the same reward.

* ScrappyMechanic: Unlike in previous game, replaying any race will only give you 500 credits or just 550 with a crew bonus. It's even worse when a shorter Rival Crew Challenge pays better than the regular race. Strangely, this wasn't the case in ''Own The City'' where replaying any race gives you the same reward.

* ContestedSequel: ''Carbon'' might be the first major example of this for a tuner-era ''Need for Speed'' game. Some fans love it, considering it good if not even better than ''Most Wanted'' (2005), praising its night-time atmosphere, and considering its storyline a step into the right direction towards [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration integrating it into the gameplay]]; while some others hate it, considering a disappointing sequel to ''Most Wanted'', pointing out the disjointed feeling the game overall has [[note]]not helped by the behind-the-scenes videos in the ''Collector's Edition'' confirming many fans' assumptions that the game had ''many'' {{Deleted Scene}}s[[/note]] and criticizing [[ItsShortSoItSucks the short runtime of its career mode]], among other things. Some even TakeAThirdOption, stating that while it may have its shortcomings and may not be as good as ''Most Wanted'' (2005), it's still a good game in its own right, and ''Most Wanted'' (2005) became such a beloved game that any game following it would've been subject to ToughActToFollow anyway.

** Before they [[VideoGame/AngryBirds popularized mobile gaming]], the mobile port was developed by Rovio Mobile.

* RetroactiveRecognition: One of the first recruits for your crew is Sal Mustella, which is played by future [[VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided Adam Jensen]] voice actor, Creator/EliasToufexis.