.Dead Heat features four different cities and eight high-powered cars. The tracks available are New York, Chicago, London and San Francisco. Each city has been recreated in painstaking detail, to make them as authentic as possible. You have your choice eight customisable real cars to race in: Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper GTS, Ford GT, Ford Mustang, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, Nissan 370X and Nissan Skyline GT-R. Each car comes equipped with NOS (Nitrous Oxide Systems) for that extra boost of power.
Before the race the built-in camera takes a picture of you and uses that photo to identify your car and other players. Instead of trying to figure out who is "Player 2" in that car battling with, a quick look at the photo tells you that your buddy or girlfriend is the one that is racing neck and neck with you.
To increase the realism, Namco's patented software technology analyses your driving style and accurately mimics it when you register it to be a "ghost" driver for future races. When your car/profile gets placed as an "opponent" for other drivers, how you drive is accurately replicated so they are practically racing against you. Whether you like to take the turns sharp, bang into cars on the straight-a-way, or use your NOS at certain points in the race, it is all represented as if you were actually driving the car.
The PIN system encourages repeat play and location loyalty. At the end of every race, the game lures the player to come back by offering performance and cosmetic enhancements for the next race. First time drivers are encouraged to save their PIN/profile because if they do the game rewards PIN users with 3 bottles of NOS boost instead of 1 bottle for new and non-PIN users.
When you race the same people over and over again, the software will recognise these people as your friends through the profile PIN system. If you choose to race alone against the "ghost" cars, your friend's "ghost" car will be placed as one of your opponents.
