Line #2 VideoGame/NeedForSpeedPayback


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nfs_payback_boxart.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} Win against all odds.]]]]
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4	[[JustForFun/TheOneWith The one]] that is a mini ''[[Franchise/TheFastAndTheFurious Fast & Furious]]'' movie. Alternatively, the one with LootBoxes.
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6	''Need for Speed Payback'' is the 2017 iteration of ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'', released for the Platform/XboxOne, Platform/PlayStation4, and [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] PC. It is also a launch title of sorts for the Xbox One X.
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8	The twenty-third installment in the ''Need for Speed'' franchise, ''Payback'' takes cues from the feedback [[Creator/EAGothenburg Ghost Games]] has received from the 2015 reboot. It is a decidedly DarkerAndEdgier installment compared to its predecessor, and is far more story-driven, in a similar fashion to ''The Run''.
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10	The story starts with Tyler "Ty" Morgan, Sean "Mac" [=McAlister=], Jessica "Jess" Miller, Ravindra "Rav" Chaudhry, and Lina Navarro, all setting up to steal the Koenigsegg Regera of Marcus Weir, a.k.a. The Gambler, from him during a race. However, Lina double-crosses the crew, knocks out Rav and reveals her true allegiance to the House, an all-powerful cartel that controls Fortune Valley and its casinos, criminals, and law enforcement, so much so it can alter a street race's outcome on a whim by bribing other racers with boatloads of cash and fame. Six months after the failed score, Tyler is a valet for Marcus, having allied with him to find the perfect moment to strike against the House. Therefore, he decides to get the crew back together to bring down the cartel, and exact revenge against Lina.
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12	----
13	!!''An artist can turn a pile of tropes into a video game'':
14	* AlphaBitch: Natalia Nova of the 1% Club is 101% this trope. She trash talks anyone who challenges her, especially Tyler, even when she's been bested by them before.
15	* AlwaysNight: {{Averted\|Trope}}; unlike its predecessor, this game implements a day/night cycle.
16	* AmazonBrigade: The Free Ember Militia ([[FunWithAcronyms FEM]]) are this - their members are all women. They avert StrawFeminist though - they don't reject a race with men, [[spoiler:being even willing to help a male (Tyler) win the Outlaw's Rush,]] but rather demonstrate to be able survivalists instead.
17	* ArcWords: "I got this." Spoken mainly by Tyler at key moments during the plot as a show of confidence. Whether he's actually got this is up to the player.
18	* Area51: Airfield 73 is the defunct example of this. A former top-secret [=US=] Air Force base in the middle of the desert, Airfield 73 now serves as Rav's workshop and base of operations for Tyler's crew. It's also the namesake of League 73:
19	-->'''Udo Roth:''' We used to sneak in there and scope the [[FlyingSaucer UFOs]] back when it was still a secret military base.
20	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: After Mitko Vasilev calls on the cops ''immediately'' after losing his race with Tyler, Tyler will have a call with Jess in which he notes that his EnemiesList now includes Navarro, for betraying him, Vasilev, for betraying him, and Mac, for borrowing his favorite wrench without permission once. When Jess calls out the last one, [[SeriousBusiness he insists it counts as]] [[RuleOfThree betraying him.]]
21	* AssInAmbassador: Mitko Vasilev, the Eastern European diplomat and leader of Diamond Block, who is a street racer with a dangerous disregard for civilian safety.
22	* BackForTheFinale: [[spoiler:Every Street League except for Shift Lock shows up again during the Outlaw's Rush in some capacity: the bosses of the three House-aligned Leagues (Holtzman, Mitko Vasilev and Natalia Nova) are called in by Lina to take out Tyler in the first leg of the Rush, while League 73, the Free Ember Militia, Riot Club, Noise Bomb, Graveyard Shift and the Silver Six [[TheCavalry come to his aid]] during the second.]]
23	* {{Bandito}}: The Graveyard Shift base themselves around the Mexican celebration Dia de Muertos. Their cars are adorned with colourful skull patterns.
24	* TheBeautifulElite: All three of the House-aligned racing leagues:
25	** 1% Club consists of internet celebrities, debutantes, and rich kids, who all drive expensive supercars.
26	** Hazard Company, who have [[spoiler: self-driving cars]] and are explicitly stated by Holtzman to "live better than you" and have "cash in our hands", despite being "hicks to the core".
27	** Diamond Block consists of bored rich people with supercars who drag race along Fortune Valley's highways, oftentimes without regards to safety of others.
28	* BrandX: The performance upgrade system replaces real-life manufacturers with unique ones which offer specific bonus when used in three or all six upgrade slots. Americana (red) increases Nitrous and Air, Carbon (green) increases Acceleration and Air, Chidori (pink) increases Acceleration and Brakes, Nextech (blue) increases Speed and Brakes, and Outlaw (orange) increases Speed and Nitrous.
29	* TheBusCameBack:
30	** Neon lights and tire smoke make a reappearance, albeit as cosmetic vanity items.
31	** Aston Martin and Koenigsegg were some of the makers return from ''Rivals'', after disappearing from 2015 installments. Others like Bugatti were still dropped out.
32	** Aki Kimura, a boss character from ''[=ProStreet=]'', reappears as a crew boss for Mac to encounter.
33	* ButNotTooForeign: Ravindra Chaudhry is this, of the ethnically/culturally different variation. He was born to Bengali parents in Singapore, and moved to the [=US=] after a few years working for an East Asian PrivateMilitaryContractor.
34	* TheCameo: Website/YouTube personalities Jesse Wellens[[note]]a.k.a. the guy who did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFBfkX7F0Xg that awkward announcement]] for ''Payback'' at EA's [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2017 presser[[/note]] and Creator/JakePaul are in the game as roaming racers. Beating the former earns the player the "Pranked" achievement (a ShoutOut to his channel [=PrankvsPrank=]).
35	* CaptainErsatz: Early in the game, a character by the name of [=HashTiger=] appears to be one for the many online personalities famous for their relevance to car culture in general.
36	* TheCavalry: [[spoiler:During the off-road leg of the Outlaw's Rush, Tyler ends up with the entire Fortune Valley police force chasing him. However, when he comes at the airfield, Udo Roth of League 73 and Faith Jones of Free Ember Militia break in and take down some of the police units, with Mac T-boning the remaining units with a semi-truck. After that, it is revealed that Graveyard Shift, Silver Six, Riot Club and Noise Bomb are also indirectly helping Tyler and the crew by distracting and taking down the other police officers in the other parts of Fortune Valley, preventing reinforcements from coming against Tyler.]]
37	* ChildhoodFriend: Tyler was one with Jess, Lina and Gallo. In particular, this trope is why [[spoiler: he's upset with Lina's betrayal]].
38	* CompetitiveBalance: There are six distinct car classes (five in the main game and one from an expansion), each built for certain tasks and driven by each of the three protagonists.
39	** Race: The most straightforward car class, these cars are built for top-class racing performance, with great all-around performance. The Street Leagues that specialize in this class are [[{{Bandito}} Graveyard Shift]], [[FireForgedFriends the Silver Six]], and [[TheBeautifulElite the One Percent Club]]. One of the two classes that Tyler drives.
40	** Off-Road: Higher suspensions and better air-time means improved handling on dirt roads. [[TheXenophile League 73]], [[AmazonBrigade Free Ember Militia]] and Hazard Company specialize in this class. One of the two classes that Mac drives in the main game.
41	** Drift: These cars sacrifice top speed for superior drifting capabilities, and are used for setting high scores in Drift events. The Street leagues that specialize in this class are [[TheCracker Shift Lock]] and [[TheBusCameBack Noise Bomb]]. The other main class Mac drives.
42	** Drag: Straight-line speed, explosive acceleration, massive Nitrous tanks and wheelies are these cars' name of the game. They can't handle corners whatsoever though. The Street Leagues that specialize in this class are [[OtakuSurrogate Riot Club]] and [[NonIdleRich the Diamond Block]]. The other class Tyler drives.
43	** Runner: The perfect anti-cops weapon, these cars have excellent stealth capabilities and can put up a good fight against even the toughest of enforcers. Understandably enough, this is the only car class to not have any specialized Street Leagues. The only class that Jess drives.
44	** Speedcross: Made for precision handling and incredible stunts. Best described as a hybrid of the Off-Road and Drift classes. Naturally, Mac drives this class.
45	* ChaseScene: A number of the missions involve fleeing from the cops and/or the House's thugs.
46	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After appearing in the 2015 reboot, Ferrari and Toyota are completely absent in ''Payback''.
47	* ConspicuousConsumption: The Collector. Not only does he have [[spoiler:the aforementioned gold Mercedes-[=AMG=] G 63 and Lamborghini Aventador, he's even willing to blow them up in order to eliminate Tyler's crew]].
48	* ContinuityNod: At various points in the story, characters from previous ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' games appear or are mentioned:
49	** In one of Jess' Runner missions, she eavesdrops on a conversation with Cross from ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' (2005), now a member of the Silver Rock PD. He expresses disgust with the flagrant level of corruption in the department, however, and vows to quit and return to Rockport.
50	** Among the participants of the Outlaw's Rush are racers named Bull (as in Bull, Blacklist #2 from ''Most Wanted'' 2005), Cooper (as in Ryan Cooper, the protagonist of ''[=ProStreet=]''), and Denver (as in Nate Denver, the Speed King from ''[=ProStreet=]'').
51	** During Tyler's race against Natalia Nova, which Natalia livestreams, Natalia at one point reads a chat donation from a "[=WolfTFK=]". One of the crew bosses in ''Carbon'' was named Wolf, and his crew was named TFK.
52	** When Aki Kimura boasts that no one has ever beaten the "Drift King", Mac reminds him of his defeat at the hands of the ''[=ProStreet=]'' protagonist, Ryan Cooper. Aki is quick to assert that that was a long time ago and no one's done it since.
53	** The Curator even states that those who committed great achievements in the ''Need for Speed'' universe, such as having "beat the Blacklist" (''Most Wanted'' 2005), "stumped the Speed King" (''[=ProStreet=]''; well, there's a "Cooper" in there), and "ran the Run" (''The Run'') are welcomed to the Outlaw's Rush.
54	* CoolCar: It's ''Need for Speed'', of course there's this trope aplenty. While sadly ''Payback'' doesn't feature Ferraris or Toyotas, it more than makes up with a robust selection of cars instantly familiar to anyone who's played/read/watched popular racing video games/manga/films, ranging from fan favourites such as the [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted BMW E46 M3]] (albeit not the [=GTR=] variant) and Lamborghini Diablo SV, awesome drift-capable imports like the [[Manga/InitialD Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32]], cool muscles such as the [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Dodge]] [[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Charger R/T]], powerful behemoths like the Koenigsegg Regera, and diamonds in the rough in the form of Derelict cars, which, fully upgraded, can even put the hypercars to shame.
55	* TheCracker: Shift Lock. An expy of Anonymous intent to bring down the House via technoanarchy and drifting. [[spoiler:Their boss the Underground Soldier helps Jess with uncovering the House's plans]].
56	* CutLexLuthorACheck: The House has access to impressive technology, [[spoiler: up to self-driving car technology that works both at high speeds and off-road,]] but never seems to do more than use it to rig street races being bet on. [[spoiler:Of course, there's the fact that they're actually testing the cars for a larger organisation…]]
57	* CutTheJuice: Fortune Valley Police Department Corvette Interceptors possess killswitches, which will disable any vehicle it targets. [[spoiler:One is later fitted to a police helicopter during Operation Skyhammer.]] [[spoiler:Rav developed the technology back when he worked in a defence company.]]
58	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Payback'' is arguably one of the darkest entries in the franchise so far (competing with ''Undercover'', ''The Run'' and ''Rivals''), which is especially astonishing considering how light-hearted the 2015 reboot was. How dark? "TheSyndicate having a firm grip on a Las Vegas expy with rigged races, [[spoiler:self-driving cars and military-grade electromagnetic pulse killswitch technology supplied by a mysterious organisation]]"-dark. [[EvenEvilHasStandards It's so dark, Cross couldn't stand working with the police (also under said syndicate's wing) and went back to Rockport.]]
59	* DefeatMeansFriendship: Upon the conclusion of a Street League's questline, Tyler or Mac will receive a phone call from the League's boss saying that they've earned their trust and will support them in their fight against the House, with the exception of the One Percent Club, Diamond Block and Hazard Company, the three Street Leagues that have connections to the House itself. [[spoiler:During the second leg of the Outlaw's Rush, the leagues not affiliated with the House (with the exception of Shift Lock) even pull TheCavalry to keep the police off Tyler's six.]]
60	* DevelopersForesight: Wheelie bars on Drag-class cars limit the angle at which the car wheelie. This depends on the wheelie bar's placement: the lower it is, the smaller the angle of the wheelie.
61	* DirtyCop: In a surprising first for the series[[note]][[spoiler:Chase Linh from ''Undercover'' was a single DirtyCop behind the major crime ring in Tri-City Bay]], while F-8 from (also Ghost Games-developed) ''Rivals'' was a VillainProtagonist for the Cop side due to Redview County's cops are borderline LawfulEvil[[/note]], the entire law enforcement here are explicitly noted to be villainous, with The House having most of the Fortune Valley Police Department on their payroll. The cops chase the protagonists solely on The House's orders on more than one occasion, and Navarro mentions having the Police Chief under her thumb at one point. Makes sense why there are no free roam pursuits in the game, now does it?
62	* DoWrongRight: Tyler is incensed when Mitko Vasilev [[spoiler:calls the cops on him [[SoreLoser for beating him in a drag race]]]]. What annoys him most, however, isn't just how [[EvilIsPetty exceptionally dickish]] that was, but after listening to Vasilev gloat about how rich and powerful he and his crew are, [[spoiler:that he ''just'' sicced the cops on him instead of something more dastardly like a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMC]] seemed kind've underwhelming]].
63	* DiscOneNuke: [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground Eddie's Skyline]], which the game outright [[OldSaveBonus gives you]] if you have a save from the previous game... The second you unlock the garage. It starts out with a performance level of '''319''' [[note]]There are only eight cars in the Race class that have a higher starting performance level, ''and they're all hypercars''[[/note]].
64	* DrivesLikeCrazy: A series staple since the 2015 reboot, the game encourages you to drive dangerously to earn REP.
65	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
66	** [[spoiler:In a recorded conversation, [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Cross]], the CowboyCop, is so disturbed as to how the {{Dirty Cop}}s of Fortune Valley are handling things concerning street racers, that he's resigned himself to going back to Rockport.]]
67	** Similarly, the [=FVPD=] may be {{Dirty Cop}}s on the House's payroll, but [[spoiler:they're not insane enough to lock down ''one'' street racer and ignore the dozens more that are running rampage in the region (mainly to prevent the police from chasing the target)]].
68	** Holtzman's erratic, selfish behavior unnerves the other Hazard Company racers, to the point [[spoiler: one of them tips off Mac to Holtzman's racing track]] because he [[spoiler: thinks what Holtzman is doing with the House doesn't sit right with him]].
69	* EvilFormerFriend: Lina Navarro, who sold out Tyler's crew.
70	* FauxAffablyEvil: Holtzman, the boss of Hazard Company. He acts cordial and respectful towards Mac, with none of the arrogance shown by Nova or Vasilev, and is remarkably frank about his illicit involvement with the House. It's all a front though, to convince Mac to join the House as a racer, and when Mac doesn't bite he turns nasty very quickly.
71	* FighterMageThief: A racing variant, each of the three members of the crew fufill it in their types of racing events:
72	** Tyler is the Thief, with Race and Drag being his event type, based upon moving fast and fluid, most of his races have very little sharp turns, and his cars tend be unable to take hits, but will pack a punch due to sheer speed.
73	** Mac is the Mage, his events are all about being flashy and stylish, with him being the Drift and Off-Road racer, his cars are optimized for being able to navigate tight turns and the bouncy terrain of the desert.
74	** Jess is the Fighter, she only has one event type, Runner, which more often than not involves facing off against the police or the House, her cars prioritize being able to take and hit very hard, rather than speed or finesse.
75	* FireForgedFriends: The Silver 6; They were six rivaling leagues based in Silver Rock, until the House ousted them. They have since joined forces.
76	* FreudianTrio: ''Payback'''s protagonist trio is set up as this: Tyler is the Ego, who looks to strike a balance between the personalities of his two friends: Mac, the emotional and instinctive one (best represented by one of his favorite rides being actually ''an eighteen-wheeler''), who is the Id; and Jess, the cold and calculating getaway driver, who is the Superego.
77	* GracefulLoser: The leagues who are not House-aligned are much more jovial when losing. [[spoiler: Aki Kimura takes the cake, however, since he doesn't even have a single hint of hostility in his voice when Mac beats his score, even declaring that he took Aki's crown fair and square]].
78	* GreaterScopeVillain: The Collector, the leader of the House - and Lina's employer - who has his hands on the entire Fortune Valley. [[spoiler:Then Arkwright is introduced in the final cutscene, with both the Collector and Marcus Weir being revealed to be competing for a spot in the organization.]]
79	* HighSpeedHijack: In "The Highway Heist" Jess attempts to hijack moving truck which contains Marcus's Regera inside the cargo by hopping on top of its roof.
80	* ILied: [[spoiler:During the final leg of the Outlaw's Rush, The Collector, realising that there is ''nothing'' Lina can do to stop Tyler from winning the race, calls Ty directly and offers riches and Lina's position in the House as a bribe to take a dive and let Lina win instead. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrKcDlSJQ3Q If you actually take him up on it]], you get a NonStandardGameOver where [[DidYouActuallyBelieve he calls you an idiot for thinking he'd actually keep his end of the bargain]].]]
81	* IKnowMortalKombat: After a very brief tutorial on drifting from Mac, [=HashTiger=] demands to be taken on a "real" drift run, confident that he can handle it because he's "played a ''lot'' of racing games." [[DidntThinkThisThrough Naturally, he gets sick after only a few corners]].
82	* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Initially, Tyler doesn't care at all about taking down the House, and only sees them as an obstacle towards settling his score with [[EvilFormerFriend Lina]], instead of the other way around. It takes "seeing her drive away after blowing his house up" to convince him to get into the plan. Even after the scope of The Collector's schemes are revealed, it's Navarro that the game sets up as the [[DragonInChief primary antagonist]] and FinalBoss.
83	* LeftHanging: The game ends with a SequelHook showing [[spoiler:there's a bigger organization than The Collector and The House of which Marcus is inducted into, and the loading screen after winning the Outlaw's Rush states that the The Collector fled and "returned back to his masters".]] Due to the criticism towards ''Payback''[='=]s story, however, Ghost Games completely disregarded the sequel hook in favor of a new original story in ''Heat''. And now with Ghost Games themselves no longer in possession of the ''Need for Speed'' IP, it's unlikely that the story will be continued any further.
84	* LemmingCops: Police chases involve the cops trying to run the player off the road and into obstacles, and they show no regard for their own safety in doing so.
85	* LethalJokeCharacter: The Derelict Volkswagen Beetle in Race class. It's an old, unassuming junker of a car at first glance but when fully upgraded, it has explosive acceleration, nitrous power and cornering abilities on par with the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, [[DifficultButAwesome at the cost of unpredictable drifting physics.]] Even with this setback, if you put in the time to master the Beetle, you can put Regera and 911 RSR drivers to shame with it.
86	* LuredIntoATrap: Tyler's crew, [[spoiler:thrice]]:
87	** Lina set them up in the Prologue so that she can deliver the Regera to the Collector.
88	** [[spoiler:Lina sets the crew up once more via la Catrina (Ty), a member of L73 (Mac) and a client of Jess']] [[spoiler:so their cars can become test subjects of a helicopter-mounted [=EMP=] killswitch device]].
89	** [[spoiler:Lina and the Collector lure them in again with two bomb-rigged gold cars as bait.]][[spoiler:[[VillainBall Fortunately, the bombs are removable]]]].
90	* MagikarpPower: The Derelict cars obtainable in the game. Stock they are merely subpar, with at the very least 100 performance points. But they are the only vehicles that can be configured for '''''all''''' car classes, and with the right upgrades, can become the best cars in the game in their own right.
91	* TheMole: Besides Tyler, the other drivers in the fixed Boomtown street race are all from Street Leagues that are nominally against The House (Graveyard Shift, League 73, Riot Club and Silver Six), suggesting that they must all be on The House's payroll in some capacity. [[spoiler:This is borne out later when the League 73 members are tapped to bait Mac into a trap.]]
92	* NebulousCriminalConspiracy: As Jess uncovers more of the House's operations in her Runner questline, it's revealed that the Houses schemes go far beyond rigging street races. [[spoiler:In fact, the House are just pawns for a mysterious organization called Arkwright, who are using the House's fixed races as a test bed for the development of mass-produced [[AutomatedAutomobiles autonomous vehicles]] controlled by them, using advanced tech hidden in aftermarket Chidori brand parts supplied by a Mr. Kobashi.]]
93	* NeverTrustATrailer: The gameplay trailer ends with Jess, driving Marcus' Koenigsegg Regera, facing an oncoming group of police cars and a helicopter after stealing it back from the House. In-game, if you're good enough, you won't have to tackle the cops in that mission.
94	-->'''Mac''': Jess, that's a hell lot of cops on your tail. You sure you can handle this?
95	-->'''Jess''': In this car? They'll never keep up.
96	* NiceGuy: The bosses of the seven leagues that are not linked to the House. Unlike the three House-affiliated leagues who trashtalk Tyler, Mac and Jess on sight, these guys are cordial throughout with the crew, as well as voice[[spoiler:, and later, lend]] their support to Tyler in the Outlaw's Rush. Expected in the case of Gallo of the Silver 6, who grew up with Tyler in the barrio and had several capers when they were young.
97	* NiceToTheWaiter: Rav uses this trope to describe why Jason "Barracuda" Munroe (the BigBad of the DLC Speedcross story) is trouble.
98	--> '''Rav''': Listen Mac, that guy's trouble. Treats his mechanics like his servants, for one.
99	* NonIdleRich: Diamond Block, very dangerously so. Rich foreigners who drag race with their supercars on the highways of Fortune Valley, often at the cost of the safety of other road users.
100	* OtakuSurrogate: Riot Club, consisting of Korean-Americans, are fans of Korean pop culture. League leader Big Sister calls Tyler "Big Brother", and peppers her sentences with Korean slangs like "fighting" (in this sense the word is used to cheer on someone).
101	* PoliceAreUseless: Despite the main characters blatantly disregarding the speed limits, ploughing through street signs and fences, and basically violating every traffic law in the book, the police do not show up outside of scripted chase scenes, when they are sicced on the protagonists by the House.
102	* PrecisionFStrike: Downplayed. The F-word is absent, much like the rest of the ''NFS'' series, however:
103	** Tyler ''almost'' blurts out "shit" when the House truck carrying Marcus' Regera his crew is retrieving goes on a rampage. ''[[CurseCutShort Almost]]''.
104	** Natalia exclaims "Son of a bitch!" if Tyler challenges her to a race while roaming.
105	* PunchClockVillain: The Fortune Valley Police Department. Sure they're in the Collector's pocket and frequently dispatched to deal with the racers, but at the end of the day these are just regular policemen doing their job.
106	* ResurrectTheWreck: The Derelicts can be found after getting a hint from the first five racing teams you face. After they and their additional parts are found, they can be fixed up and modified into race cars.
107	* RichBitch: '''''Natalia Nova''''', full stop. She seems to have much more money than good manners.
108	* ShadowArchetype: Lina, who Tyler hates with a passion for betraying him, represents who Tyler might end up like if he didn't care about playing fair and only cared about rising out of his humble origins using whatever means necessary.
109	* SequelHook: In the final cutscene, [[spoiler:Kobashi calls Marcus and compliments him on his gamble against the House, and welcomes him to Arkwright. Also, if you look closely on the loading screen after winning the Outlaw's Rush, it states that the The Collector fled and "returned back to his masters", implying another set-up can be formed.]]
110	* ShoutOut:
111	** One of the (secret) achievements is named "[[Music/TheClash I Fought the Law]]".
112	** You can find a [[https://imgur.com/68qwJNM hotel]] in Fortune Valley called the [[Music/TheEagles Hotel California]].
113	* SoreLoser: All three of the House-aligned league bosses ''really'' don't like losing. Special mention goes to Mitko Vasilev, however, [[spoiler: who ''[[DisproportionateRetribution calls the cops on Tyler]]'' just because Vasilev lost to him]].
114	* SuddenlyVoiced: Aki Kimura, the boss of the Tier 2 Drift League Noise Bomb. He never spoke a word in ''[=ProStreet=]'', but in ''Payback'', Kimura has plenty of dialogue.
115	* SurroundedByIdiots: Rav almost completes the sentence when he realises the crew lose their original cars and asks them to get new cars from his garage.
116	* TheSyndicate: The House is a cartel that has seized control of and rigged Fortune Valley's street-racing scene, has the city's police force and politicians in its pocket, and is seeking to buy out and rig the casinos and establishing international criminal ties.
117	* ATasteOfPower: The game's first mission has Ty stealing a souped-up Koenigsegg Regera from casino owner Marcus Weir, and another mission involves him stealing it back from the House. The Regera puts every other car to shame in the speed department [[spoiler:(except for a fully modified 911 RSR)]], [[InfinityPlusOneSword and is only purchasable in the post-game.]] Tyler also gets to drive Marcus' Aston Martin [=DB11=] (as a valet) and later a modified [=BMW M5 F90=] before they are unlocked.
118	* ThrillSeeker: While this applies to pretty much every racer for why they do what they do, special mention goes to:
119	** The Free Ember Militia, who live by the motto “It’s not racing if you’re not gripping the wheel for dear life.” Best shown when their leader, Faith Jones, informs Mac that one of her girls wiped out on a huge jump earlier "so we (the Militia plus Mac, that is) ''all'' gotta try it now."
120	** The drag-racing League Diamond Block, who offer a darker take on this attitude. They are made up of bored rich assholes who care more about their own enjoyment than the lives and safety of anyone caught up in their reckless antics; their leader scoffs that pedestrians "will either get out of the way... or they won't" and makes it clear that he doesn't care either way.
121	** Jess, who is revealed to enjoy police chases (which explains why she drives the Runner class, which are designed for stealth and tangling with police/House enforcers). Her first such thrill was stealing a police car and getting on the business end of a 20-car pursuit. ''She just turned nineteen on that day''. ''And she was in the police academy''.
122	* UncertainDoom: After the Outlaw's Rush, [[spoiler:Lina Navarro threatens to expose the Collector's dark secrets if he ditches her. She promptly finds herself surrounded by House thugs with no way out, but the cutscene ends before it's revealed what they do to her]].
123	* VanityLicensePlate: Just like the previous game, ''Payback'' allows the thorough customization of license plates for every car owned. Along with the plate designs that debuted in ''Rivals'' and the frames from the 2015 reboot, this game also introduces designs based on the covers of those two games along with the default Fortune Valley design.
124	* VariableMix: Like with ''Rivals'' and the 2015 reboot, the playable songs switch according to your current activity, but it goes much deeper than that: the type of music you hear doesn't just switch in between different game modes, but they also switch according to your current location and the time of day.
125	* VillainBall: In the hands of the Collector. [[spoiler:Rigging two expensive gold-wrapped cars he knows will be stolen with removable bombs, and then trying to bribe the person who's about to defeat his racer even though he knows that person wouldn't budge]].
126	* VivaLasVegas: The game's fictitious Nevadan region called Fortune Valley, which includes Silver Rock City and is evocative of the usual Nevada settings (a glitzy, neon-lit city of gambling and high stakes). Beyond the casinos lie vast regions of deserts and canyonlands in the surrounding area, including expies of the Hoover Dam and Area 51.
127	* TheXenophile: League 73. Back when Airfield 73 was still Area51 by any other name they used to sneak in to look for {{Flying Saucer}}s. It was this activity that inspired their name.
128	* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: After two full online-only installments lacking this feature, ''Payback'' finally brought back the ability to pause the game in its entirety. Helps that the game is not online-only.

Context VideoGame / NeedForSpeedPayback