Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed

The Need for Speed is a racing game developed by Pioneer Productions and published by Electronic Arts, featuring a selection of licensed exotic cars competing across scenic roads and putting an emphasis on speed and handling over traditional circuit racing.

This is the sole catalogued PAL variant, an original release dated 29th March 1996, covering the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. It uses the Full Jewel Black Bordered PAL case format, a distinctive packaging style associated with Electronic Arts releases of the mid-1990s, featuring a black border around the case jewel. No hologram is present on the case. Language support covers English and German on a single disc. No loose paperwork, case stickers, or demo discs are documented. As the only known PAL pressing of the first Need for Speed game and one that uses an immediately recognisable EA case format, this is both a franchise starting point and a packaging curiosity for collectors.