Hiya. The Need for Speed Underground games were on my mind the other day as I was using my original Xbox again (before discovering it really needs some repair and I should stop using it for now). I still have my original save files from like 20 years ago, and was hoping with age and wisdom that I could ACTUALLY complete NFSU 1. These games are like the absolute peak of Need for Speed imo, they have such cool early 00s vibes and style to them. I say that not just from nostalgia, they were cool games at the time too. But nowadays with a bit less tolerance for unfair game mechanics they are kinda wild to play, especially the first one.
I never completed NFSU 1 because the AI is so cooked (+skill issue). The rubber banding is so noticable, your competitor's cars just get rocketed to your location at times. The races are all numbered, with you working your way to race the top bad guy or whatever, and there are several notorious ones where the difficulty spikes to an unreasonable level. I had been stuck on race 90 something since I was a teenager (with a big decade+ gap not playing) until last year trying again and finding out how to cheese it. Turns out all competing cars have the exact same engine upgrades as you do, so if you remove them all and have one of the fastest stock cars in game (RX7 or Skyline) it becomes a bit easier. This was the only way I could beat the race I was stuck on, I then very quickly got stuck several races later and gave up again.
Even with cheesing the game, you still have to drive PERFECTLY. To the point that if you crash one time it is not even worth finishing the race. Had me furious back as a kid, as well as now. And then next year they release NFSU 2 which improves almost every aspect of the game in every way. I was able to totally complete all of the story races of NFSU 2 in a Peaguot 106 hatchback, without ever needing to upgrade to a better car. That really felt like insult upon injury XD
Anyway, I saw this video on youtube a little while back that kinda shows my frustration with NFSU 1 a bit, where this guy attempts to complete every Need for Speed game in one of the starter cars: I Beat Every Need For Speed Without Changing Cars - Javeed. Bye!