Need for Speed: Rivals is a single-player and multiplayer open-world racing game.

The game is set in the fictional Redview County, a vast region of highways, mountains, and coastal roads where illegal street racers and high-speed police units are locked in constant conflict. Players can choose to experience the story from two parallel perspectives: a Racer seeking notoriety and freedom, or a Cop sworn to restore order through aggressive pursuit. Each side has its own narrative framework and career structure, with the Racer’s progress defined by completing Speedlists (chains of challenges involving stunts, escapes, and race wins) while Cops advance through Assignments involving pursuits, arrests, and equipment use.

Gameplay combines high-speed racing with vehicular combat. Racers earn Speed Points by winning events, drifting, and narrowly escaping capture; these points function as both currency and risk, since they can be lost if the player is busted. Speed Points are used to unlock performance upgrades, visual customization, and advanced pursuit tech. Cops do not risk Speed Points but instead gain rank and new vehicles by successfully disabling and arresting racers. Both sides have access to Pursuit Tech, equipable gadgets such as EMP bursts, spike strips, shockwaves, jammers, and roadblock calls. Each device can be upgraded through multiple tiers, allowing players to tailor their tactics toward evasion or enforcement.

The open world of Redview County contains over 160 kilometers of roads, supporting time trials, head-to-head races, intercepts, and hot pursuits across changing weather and day-night cycles. Vehicles can be repaired and resupplied at service stations scattered around the map. The seamless online integration system, AllDrive, merges single-player and multiplayer sessions into one shared environment, allowing friends or strangers to join ongoing pursuits dynamically. Players may compete, cooperate, or interfere in each other’s activities without switching game modes.

Additional features include the Autolog network, which tracks player statistics, race records, and personal bests against friends. A pursuit camera and replay system highlight crashes and takedowns in cinematic slow motion. While the main campaigns for Racer and Cop can be completed separately, progress in either mode contributes to overall completion and unlocks special high-end vehicles.