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Unbound is the latest title in the Need For Speed series and the first to arrive exclusively on current-gen hardware. Lakeshore is a beautiful backdrop to the fast and furious racing these games are known for and a great location for a Trophy hunt.
Need for Speed Unbound offers a fun Trophy grind, but some are time-consuming and frustrating without a bit of help. In this Need for Speed Unbound Trophy guide, I’ll provide tips for every Trophy in the game, including the endgame collectathons. I’ll also show you what Trophies you should grab early and how to set yourself up for later. If you’re ready, join me at the starting line, and let’s race!
Key Info Up Front
- Genre: Racing
- Difficulty: Medium
- Average time for 100%: 40 Hours
- Total number of Trophies: 41
Roadmap to Success
Most Trophies are tied to your story progression, even if they don’t appear to be at first glance. Your progress through the story dictates how much money you earn and what Tier of vehicles you can use.
You can have a crack at most Trophies whenever you want, but many are very hard or even impossible without a powerful vehicle. In this section, I’ll outline my recommended order for tackling every Trophy in Need For Speed Unbound. Check out ‘The Trophies’ section below for specifics on each one.
By completing the story, you’ll earn the following Trophies:
- Hey Lakeshore
- New Crew
- Oh’ It’s On
- Lake Better Watch Out
- Found Family
- 100 Miles and Runnin’
- Hey Speedie!
- Rebel Without a Pause
- Serious Guap
- Cash Money Millionaire
Free Trophies
You can unlock these at your leisure, but as these are so easy, you may as well grab them at the start.
- Fashion Killa
- Throwing Up Tags
- Cool Whip
Early Game Trophies
You can unlock these whenever you want, but if you have some spare time early, I recommend going for these before the first week is over.
- Public Enemy
- Drop the Beat
- Style it Out
Long-Term Trophies You Can Begin Early
There are a few Trophies that you can plan for right at the start, even if you won’t get them until much later on. Working on these from the beginning will soften the blow later, so incorporate them into your gameplan.
- Rydell’s Rides
- Untouchable
- #Blessed
- Found Family
Online Only Trophies
Online Trophies are the bane of my Trophy hunting efforts, but as Unbound is new, the online environment is still full of players. These may become an issue as the game gets older. I recommend tackling these after you’ve beaten the main story, as you’ll need that racing experience to compete with strong opponents.
- Access All Areas
- Kick It
- The Collector
- B For My Name
- Teacher’s Pet
- Top Billin’
- Full House
- Bring Your A Game
- Superstar
- Mixtape
Endgame Trophies
Unbound has a few Trophies you’ll want to tackle after you’ve beaten the story and have access to the most powerful cars. Most of these are awarded for gathering every collectible and earning high scores on each mini-event:
- In The Flow
- Flow Master
- Most Wanted
- Escape Artist
- Heaven Spot
- The Bear Champ
- Adbusting
- Caught On Camera
- In The Zone
- Catch My Drift
- Frequent Flyer
- Cleaning Up
The Bridge Method
Before we dive in, I want to explain the Bridge Method, as it trivializes a few Trophies you may struggle to earn naturally. This is primarily used for money farming but has other uses too. I don’t know who developed this technique, so I can’t credit them. Here’s how it works:
This bridge near Boost’s Safehouse (circled on the map above) is unique, as cop cars cannot chase you here no matter how high your Heat Level.
You’ll always lose your pursuers by waiting in this spot (pictured above). Be careful getting into this position, as you can fall into the river.
Outrunning the cops with level 5 Heat yields $2500 each time, and if you have the Getaway Driver Auxiliary part installed in your car, that amount is boosted to $5000. This makes the Bridge Method a great (if cheesy) option for any money or Heat-related Trophies.
The Trophies
In this section, you’ll find every Trophy in the game and advice on how to get them. I’ve ordered the list by rarity, using Steam’s metrics as a guideline. This order should be interchangeable regardless of what platform you’re playing on.
Fashion Killa
- Description: Customize your clothing
- Completion Rating: 83.1%
You can put on some new clothes when you enter the garage for the first time. Change your outfit to a free preset, and you’ll earn the Trophy.
Throwing up Tags
- Description: Customize your Driving Effects
- Completion Rating: 82.6%
You can customize your Driving Effects upon entering the garage for the first time. Change them to one of the free presets to earn the Trophy.
Cool Whip
- Description: Apply a custom wrap to your ride
- Completion Rating: 79.8%
You can apply a custom wrap to your car upon entering the garage for the first time. Either make one yourself in the editor or download a community one. The Trophy will pop once it’s equipped.
Drop the Beat
- Description: Use max Burst Nitrous 5 times during story mode events
- Completion Rating: 72.3%
Drop the Beat doesn’t have to be completed in a single race. Wait until your Nitrous gauge is completely full before using it; after you’ve done so five times, the Trophy is yours.
Hey Lakeshore
- Description: Complete the Prologue
- Completion Rating: 71.2%
This is the first story-based Trophy in Need for Speed: Unbound and triggers automatically upon completing the Prologue.
100 Miles and Runnin’
- Description: Drive a total of 100 miles in story mode
- Completion Rating: 69.0%
You’ll unlock this naturally and quicker than you might think. I earned this Trophy on Wednesday or Thursday, Week 1, and even if you’re skipping events, you’ll do this before the first Qualifier.
Public Enemy
- Description: Take down five cops within a single session
- Completion Rating: 61.2%
This is a fun one! You can take out cops in between races any way you like. The easiest way is to crash into them at high speed before they even start chasing you. If you smash into a cop at full speed, you’ll usually destroy their cars in a single hit before they respond. You can fully heal at any Gas Station if you take too much damage while attempting this.
An alternative method you can try is getting into a chase and dealing with the cops that come after you. This works, but it’s easier to land heavy hits when your opponents slowly drive down the road.
Hey Speedie!
- Description: Reach 200MPH in story mode
- Completion Rating: 58.2%
There are a couple of easy methods for Hey Speedie! You can progress through the story as normal, as eventually, you’ll unlock cars that can easily surpass 200MPH.
The other way is to wait for a delivery mission with a fast car as the target. Early in the first week, you’ll be offered a delivery quest for the McLaren P1. This car’s top speed is much higher than 200MPH. Once you’ve lost the cops in that vehicle, you can go for a joyride and earn the Trophy.
Rebel Without a Pause
- Description: Complete 30 street races in story mode
- Completion Rating: 53.3%
You don’t even have to win the races to earn the Rebel Without a Pause Trophy. Keep progressing through the story, and you’ll unlock this before the first Qualifier.
Most Wanted
- Description: Escape a Heat 5 cop chase
- Completion Rating: 51.0%
Escaping a Max Heat chase is easier than it sounds. Get yourself 5 Heat by completing races in either the day or night. You can use the Bridge Method to ‘cheese’ this Trophy. If you’d rather not abuse this mechanic, take your chase off-road. The cop AI struggles if you’re not on the roads, and if they have air support, the helicopter will disengage to refuel after a few minutes.
New Crew
- Description: Complete Qualifier 1
- Completion Rating: 48.7%
You’ll unlock New Crew as you naturally progress through the story at the end of the first week. Just remember to plan accordingly, as the event has a $20,000 buy-in which is steep early on. You need a single A Tier vehicle to enter the event, and if you upgrade it to ‘almost’ A+, you’ll have an easier time in the races.
Escape Artist
- Description: Escape a Heat 5 cop chase in an A+ car
- Completion Rating: 41.1%
You can use the same strategy for Escape Artist as you did in Most Wanted. Use the Bridge Method or take the scenic route off-road once you’ve earned 5 Heat during races.
Serious Guap
- Description: Bank $75,000 during one session
- Completion Rating: 40.3%
Getting $75,000 may sound like a lot in one go, but you’ll hit the cash quota during the week 2 Qualifier if you don’t get it before. The week 2 Qualifier reward is $100,000 and counts for this Trophy.
Style it Out
- Complete 10 Takeover events
- Completion Rating: 39.7%
Takeover events pay out less than other events on the map, explaining the low completion rating. Style it Out is simple, finish any 10 Takeover events. Takeover events only appear in story mode, so you can’t do this online.
Rydell’s Rydes
- Description: Fully upgrade your story garage
- Completion Rating: 37.3%
In your garage, navigate to the Upgrade Garage section (Rides, Performance, Upgrade Garage) and purchase everything, including the Elite Upgrade. These upgrades come to a whopping $157,000, so only do this if you’ve got the cash to spare. You can do this at the end of the story when making money is much easier… Or use the Bridge Method. The fee may be steep, but the fully upgraded garage gives you access to the best car parts in the game, making everything easier.
Oh, It’s On
- Description: Complete Qualifier 2
- Completion Rating: 37.2%
You’ll earn this Trophy as part of your story progression. The buy-in for the week two qualifier is $50,000, and you need an A+ Tier vehicle to compete. Fortunately, you’ve got all week to plan for this.
Untouchable
- Description: Escape 50 cop chases
- Completion Rating: 36.1%
The Bridge Method works for the Untouchable Trophy, but you can easily earn this naturally as well. Cops don’t put up much of a fight at 1 Heat, so you can trigger chases at that level and quickly escape without much effort. Unless you’re the cleanest driver in Lakeshore, you’ll unlock this as part of your story progression.
Cash Money Millionaire
- Description: Earn $1,000,000 in story mode
- Completion Rating: 33.5%
$1,000,000 sounds like a lot, but you don’t need it all at once. Once you’ve earned $1,000,000 in total, the Trophy will unlock. You’ll probably get this during week 3 or 4. In the unlikely event that you don’t, the final story event has a cool $1,000,000 as the grand prize.
In The Flow
- Description: Score 200,000 during a Takeover event
- Completion Rating: 29.7%
Even though the description specifies a “Takeover Event”, you can also do it in Drift Events, where it’s much easier. The Takahashi Special is a Drift Event located in the South-West of the map. It’s an S+ Tier event, so you’ll probably lack the necessary vehicle until the endgame.
Still, this is the best place to unlock the Trophy. Remember, you can drift-tune your car in the garage. I used the Nissan GTR, but I’ve read reports of multiple vehicles being decent at this event, including the Hellcat and Porsche GT2 RS.
Lake Better Watch Out
- Description: Complete Qualifier 3
- Completion Rating: 28.1%
You’ll unlock this Trophy for completing the Qualifier in week 3. The big difference this time is the requirements, as you need an S Tier vehicle and $100,000 for the buy-in.
Blessed
- Description: Own 10 vehicles in your story mode garage
- Completion Rating: 22.9%
You can brute force this one after you’ve beaten the story by buying 10 cheap cars. There are plenty of other ways to earn vehicles through the game if you don’t want to waste money. You win a new vehicle during every Qualifier and can do the same during select night races.
You need all 10 cars at once for this Trophy, so don’t sell anything until you’ve got it.
Found Family
- Description: Complete the Grand
- Completion Rating: 21.6%
The Grand is where the main story concludes and is an exceptional event. Aside from the crazy high $200,000 buy-in, you need four cars, each from a different tier from A to S+.
Don’t worry if you accidentally upgrade one of your vehicles too far; you can always reequip old parts. You need to win the Grand for the Trophy, and fortunately, it’s not much harder than the Qualifiers you’ve already beaten on your way here.
Kick It
- Description: Use max Burst Nitrous 5 times during Lakeshore Online events
- Completion Rating: 19.2%
I imagine the low completion rating for Kick It is because this is an Online trophy. During online races, wait until your Nitrous gauge is full before using it. Once you’ve done this 5 times, the Trophy will pop.
The Collector
- Description: Own 10 vehicles in your Lakeshore Online Garage
- Completion Rating: 14.6%
The easiest way to unlock The Collector is by completing the Story mode first. If you do this, you’ll already have a decent collection of vehicles. If you have more than 10, you’ll immediately get the Trophy when you go online.
If you need a couple more cars at that point, you can buy the Volkswagen Golf GTI (the cheapest car in the game) a few times to make up the difference.
Flow Master:
- Description: Score 250,000 during a Takeover event
- Completion Rating: 14.3%
You need 50,000 points more for Flow Master than you did for ‘In The Flow’. The method for that Trophy works perfectly for this one too, with the Takahashi Special Drift Event being the ideal location.
Access All Areas
- Description: Fully upgrade your Lakeshore Online garage
- Completion Rating: 13.7%
The unlock requirements for Access All Areas are exactly the same as with the Rydell’s Rides Trophy. The only difference is you must do it online instead. Upgrade the Garage to Elite with $157,000, and the Trophy is yours.
B for My Name
- Description: Win a Tier B Lakeshore Online playlist
- Completion Rating: 13.0%
B for My Name marks the first of six playlist-based Trophies that must be completed online. Playlists are short groups of three races each, similar to Qualifiers in Story mode.
All of these trophies can be done in legitimate lobbies. You can also queue with a friend and quickly start the races before anyone else joins. If another player manages to sneak in, you can try and race them or exit and try again. You can use this strategy for each playlist-based Trophy. For “B for My Name”, you must win a B-tier playlist.
Teacher’s Pet
- Description: Win a Tier A+ Lakeshore Online playlist
- Completion Rating: 12.0%
Teacher’s Pet is functionally identical to B for My Name, just with A+ cars. You can try and win in a legitimate lobby or queue with a friend.
Top Billin’
- Description: Win a Tier S+ Lakeshore Online playlist
- Completion Rating: 10.5%
Top Billin’ requires you to win an S+ Online playlist. As mentioned above, you can do this normally or boost with a buddy.
Full House
- Description: Complete a Lakeshore Online playlist with 7 other players
- Completion Rating: 9.9%
This is the most poorly conceived Trophy in Need For Speed Unbound, so good luck with this one. You need to finish any Online playlist with a full lobby of 8 players, including yourself. If anyone backs out at any time, you won’t unlock the Trophy.
To make matters worse, you can’t queue with 7 players in a party as the max party size is 4. Doing this helps, as players gravitate towards more populated playlists, but it’s still a pain. You can try and join mostly full lobbies, but Full House is governed by chance, which is terrible.
If you’re reading this guide a while after Unbound was released, this will take a lot of luck and external help (Reddit, for example). You can try and queue during peak times like evenings, but this is mostly out of your control.
Bring Your A Game
- Description: Win a Tier A Lakeshore Online playlist
- Completion Rating: 9.8%
As with the other Tiered Online Trophies, you can attempt to win normally or queue with a friend. You must be in an A Tier playlist to unlock “Bring Your A Game”.
Superstar
- Description: Win an S Tier Lakeshore Online playlist
- Completion Rating: 9.3%
As with the other Tiered Online Trophies, you can attempt to win normally or queue with a friend. You must be in an S Tier playlist to unlock “Superstar”.
Mixtape
- Description: Complete 25 Lakeshore Online playlists
- Completion Rating: 9.1%
Mixtape is easier to earn than the tiered online Trophies, as you can come dead last in every race and still get it. It’ll take a while to soldier through 25 Online playlists, but since all you need to do is participate, this Trophy demands your time rather than your skill.
Heaven Spot
- Description: Collect all street art collectibles
- Completion Rating: 3.4%
Heaven Spot is the first of the Trophies reserved for hardcore Trophy/Achievement hunters. You have to collect every single Street Art collectible on the map. Each piece of art has a small metal ladder set up beside them. Interact with each one to collect the art. There are 80 in total, and they are identifiable on the map with a small spray can icon. For a detailed map of every collectible, consult the map in the Useful Resources section below.
The Bear Champ
- Description: Smash all bear collectibles
- Completion Rating: 3.0%
There are 100 giant inflatable bears scattered across Lakeshore, and you need to smash into every one of them to earn the Trophy. Fortunately, most of these are easy to access, with only a few being up high on places like train tracks. Even then, these are easily accessible with nearby ramps. The only issue you’ll have is finding all 100. Consult the map in the Useful Resources section below for each location.
Adbusting
- Description: Break all billboard collectibles
- Completion Rating: 2.8%
There are 80 destructible billboards in Lakeshore, and you need to drive through each one to earn the Trophy. Most of these are easy to break with a convenient ramp nearby, but you’ll benefit from a fast car if you’re billboard hunting.
I recommend something at least A+ Tier to get the necessary airtime without a big run-up. Check out the map in the Useful Resources section below for their locations. Note billboards you’ve already destroyed will eventually reappear, but their image will be replaced with graffiti.
Caught On Camera
- Description: Get 3 stars on all Speed Trap activities
- Completion Rating: 2.1%
There are 50 Speed Traps across Lakeshore where you have to race passed speed cameras at designated speeds. For this Trophy, I recommend doing this once you’ve beaten the story and have access to the fastest cars. No matter how well you drive, you’ll never hit the 3-star speeds in a low-tier vehicle. A map showing every Speed Trap location is in the Useful Resources section below.
In The Zone
- Description: Get 3 stars on all Speed Run activities
- Completion Rating: 1.9%
The Speed Runs are challenging because they judge your average speed across a section of the road rather than a single point like Speed Traps. There are 30 in Lakeshore, and I strongly advise attempting them after you’ve beaten the story and have an S+ Tier car at your disposal. A fast vehicle should make the speed Runs much more manageable. A map of their locations is in the Useful Resources section below.
Catch My Drift
- Description: Get 3 stars on all Drift Zone activities
- Completion Rating: 1.9%
There are 35 Drift Zone events in Lakeshore, and they task you with drifting as much as possible along a section of the road. There’s a time limit, so you can’t just drive up and down the road earning points.
The easiest way to complete these events is to set a car up with Drift Tuning in the garage. You have a combo meter during these events, and it’s much more manageable with a fast car. With this in mind, tackle these events after the main story when you have a high-tier vehicle. You can check the location of these events on the map in the Useful Resources section below.
Frequent Flyer
- Get 3 stars on all Long Jump activities
- Completion Rating: 1.6%
Concluding the collectibles Trophies, Frequent Flyer tasks you with getting the maximum score on every Long Jump event. There are 45 in total, and naturally, the faster you are, the further you’ll go, so a high Tier car is recommended.
Most ramps have a decent run-up available, and if you try these with a late-game car, you’ll likely clear most of them on your first attempt. You can check the Long Jump locations on the map in the Useful Resources section below.
Cleaning Up
- Description: Collect all collectibles and get 3 stars on all activities
- Completion Rating: 1.6%
Cleaning Up is the final Trophy most players will earn in Need for Speed Unbound, as it’s awarded for completing the rarest Trophies in the game. These are the prerequisites trophies/achievements to unlock Cleaning Up:
- Heaven Spot
- The Bear Champ
- Adbusting
- Caught on Camera
- In The Zone
- Catch My Drift
- Frequent Flyer
Useful Resources
Reddit user u/FalkHogan has created a stunning map detailing the location of every collectible in Lakeshore. Full credit for this superb community resource goes to them. You can view the map in high quality here
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What happens if I fail or need more cash for the Qualifier events.
Answer: Fortunately, not much. If you fail or can’t afford the entry fee, you’ll repeat the day before the event on a loop until you can progress.
Question: Are any Trophies/Achievements locked behind difficulty settings?
Answer: No, there aren’t. If you struggle to keep up, you can turn the difficulty down to Casual. Casual has a few added benefits; the cops are less aggressive, races are more straightforward, and you can reset each race up to 10 times instead of the usual 3.
Question: I need help getting 7 players to stay around for the Full House Trophy. Any tips?
Answer: Full House is dreadful, as it hinges on 7 other players sticking around for an entire playlist. You can try joining a session that’s already got a lot of players and driving badly, so other racers don’t rage quit.
Alternatively, you can request assistance from communities like the Need For Speed Subreddit. There are always a few good Samaritans ready to help other racers, and you might end up helping others in the process too.