Watch how Need for Speed Payback will let you turn a clunker into a supercar

Need for Speed Payback is focusing pretty heavily on letting you customize your ride, from the hubcaps to the transmission and everything between. Of course, you won't be able to just cover your sweet supercar in flame decals and custom paint from the start, so a new trailer shows how you'll journey from being simply fast to being fast and furious.

There are performance-enhancing customization items and vanity items in Payback. Performance Parts are broken into six categories: Block, Head, Turbo, Exhaust, Engine Control Unit (ECU), and Transmission. Vanity items include Underglow, Tire Smoke, Nitrous Flames and Air Suspension.

But again, you won't be able to just slap some flames on a scrap heap and go to town - you'll need to upgrade the abandoned cruisers (called Derelicts) by winning events and sinking some cash into repairing them. The good news is that once these cars are fully upgraded, they're some of the most beastly in the game.

So keep an eye out for that rusted POS on the side of the road - one day it might be your pride and joy.

Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.