You Have One Week to Claim These Abandoned Cars in ‘Need For Speed Payback’

Jeremy Ray
Games Xbox
Games Xbox PlayStation PC Gaming

Last year, EA started an event for Need for Speed Payback called Abandoned Cars. Every week, your game will update with an abandoned car left somewhere out in the world, just waiting for you to claim it.

These are cars that the Street Leagues may have been driving, but you previously didn’t have access to. You do now, and it’s free — but only for a limited amount of time.

In the recent June Update, all ten Street League boss cars were made available:

There was also an undetermined amount of “classic” Need for Speed cars added, and all of these now appear on a rotating roster between seven different locations.

Of course, you’re not just going to drive around looking on every street, like a chump. That’s where we come in. We got you covered fam.

How to Claim Abandoned Cars

It’s not enough just to reach the car. In true Need for Speed fashion, you’ll have to high tail it back to a safe spot with the cops on your tail.

You won’t be shown where the car is until you’re close enough. At that point there will be a special icon above the vehicle, you’ll see a notification and it will be marked on the map.

As soon as you enter the car, the Fortune Valley Police Department will start pursuing you like it was staking it out all along. You need to make it all the way back to Rav’s workshop to be safe, and the car will be yours.

Getting caught will reset the event, but there are no other restrictions. Take as much time as you want — but you do have to claim the car within its one week window.

How Can I Get the New Car?

This week, you can pick up a sweet Lotus Exige S. Find it at Mountain Vista Point, Mount Providence.

Here’s where it is on the map:

NFS Payback Abandoned Cars Mount Vista Point, Mount Providence map
Load your map up to this location.

And here’s what it looks like on location:

NFS Payback Abandoned Cars Mountain Vista Point location
Abandoned a little TOO close to the vista.

You’ll only be able to claim it this week, up until February 19th. At the stroke of 10am (UTC), it disappears. After that, we can refer to a handy new list for what Payback will give us. Recently, Need for Speed community manager F8RGE posted the schedule of which cars to expect right up until June.

All the Future Cars and Locations

  • #74 – Land Rover Defender 110 “Shark Attack” (Off-road) at “Welcome to Newhaven.”
    June 4, 2019 to 09:59 June 11, 2019 (UTC).
  • #73 – Nissan 350Z “Rachel Teller” (Race) at “City Undercover.”
    May 28, 2019 to 09:59 June 4, 2019 (UTC).
  • #72 – BMW M3 E46 “Most Wanted” (Race) at “Dam, head South.”
    May 21, 2019 to 09:59 May 28, 2019 (UTC).
  • #71 – Volkswagen Beetle “Dude” at “Desert fork.”
    May 14, 2019 to 09:59 May 21, 2019 (UTC).
  • #70 – Chevrolet C10 Stepside Pickup “Holtzman” (Off-road) at “Above a tunnel out West.”
    May 7, 2019 to 09:59 May 14, 2019 (UTC).
  • #69 – Nissan GT-R Premium “Mitko Vasilev” (Drag) at “Silver Canyon, stuck in the middle.”
    April 30, 2019 to 09:59 May 7, 2019 (UTC).
  • #68 – Pagani Huayra BC “Natalia Nova” (Race) at “South West, with a view.”
    April 23, 2019 to 09:59 April 30, 2019 (UTC).
  • #67 – Volkswagen Beetle “Dude” at “Desert fork.”
    April 16, 2019 to 09:59 April 23, 2019 (UTC).
  • #66 – Nissan Silvia Spec-R Aero “Aki Kimura” (Drift) at “Stop for gas out West.”
    April 9, 2019 to 09:59 April 16, 2019 (UTC).
  • #65 – Ford F-150 SVT Raptor “Faith Jones” (Off-road) at “In the shadow of giants.”
    April 2, 2019 to 09:59 April 9, 2019 (UTC).
  • #64 – Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 “‘Gallo’ Rivera” (Race) at “City under construction.”
    March 26, 2019 to 09:59 April 2, 2019 (UTC).
  • #63 – Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (1993) “Underground Soldier” (Drift) at “Chill out in the West.”
    March 19, 2019 to 09:59 March 26, 2019 (UTC).
  • #62 – Jaguar F-Type R “Lucky” at “Aces high to the East.”
    March 12, 2019 to March 19, 2019 (UTC).
  • #61 – Ford Mustang “Big Sister” (Drag) at “Find Yourself, near the Dam.”
    March 5, 2019 to 09:59 March 12, 2019 (UTC).
  • #60 – Subaru Impreza WRX STI “Udo Roth” (Off-road) at “East of Ember Peak.”
    February 26, 2019 to 09:59 March 5, 2019 (UTC).
  • #59 – Nissan Fairlady 240ZG “La Catrina” (Race) at “Look under.”
    February 19, 2019 to 09:59 February 26, 2019 (UTC).
  • #58 – Lotus Exige S “Love Mobile” (Race) at Mountain Vista Point, Mount Providence.
    February 12, 2019 to 09:59 February 19, 2019 (UTC).

If the car has changed, be sure to check the growing number of locations they’re known to appear in. Occasionally, the abandoned car might appear in a new location for Payback.

Earlier Abandoned Cars

The earliest rotation of abandoned cars were:

Need for Speed Payback Abandoned Cars Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda

Don’t stick to the above locations, though. The abandoned car locations change every week. Be sure to check back here for details!

If you missed out on one of these abandoned cars, there originally wasn’t a way to get them in Need for Speed Payback. But since the start of 2018, Ghost has been rotating them regularly, so a weekly login should net you all of them.

Jeremy Ray
Decade-long games critic and esports aficionado. Started in competitive Counter-Strike, then moved into broadcast, online, print and interpretative pantomime. You merely adopted the lag. I was born in it.