Need for Speed: Carbon

Need for Speed: Carbon
European cover art featuring a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and a Dodge Challenger drifting through the corner
Developer(s)	EA Canada EA Black Box (PC) Rovio Mobile (mobile)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Composer(s)	Trevor Morris
Series	Need for Speed
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Mobile phone, Zeebo, Arcade
Release date(s)	October 31, 2006 PSP, DS, GBA, & GC NA: October 31, 2006 EU: November 3, 2006 AU: November 9, 2006 PC, PS2, & Xbox 360 NA: October 31, 2006 EU: November 3, 2006 AU: November 16, 2006 Xbox NA: October 31, 2006 AU: November 9, 2006 EU: November 10, 2006 PS3 NA: November 16, 2006 AU: March 22, 2007 EU: March 23, 2007 Wii NA: November 19, 2006 EU: December 8, 2006 AU: December 14, 2006 Macintosh NA: August 17, 2007
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Need for Speed: Carbon is a racing video game in the Need for Speed series, the sequel to Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

The PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions of the game are called Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City, set in a fictional city named Coast City with a significantly different storyline and also featuring different AI teammate abilities. In 2009, a version of Own the City was also released on the Zeebo as a pre-installed game.

The gameplay is similar to Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Underground 2, but based upon rival street racing crews instead of individuals. Players run a crew and can hire specific street racers to be in their crew and the active friendly racer is known as a wingman. Each employable street racer has two skills, a racing skill (scout, blocker, and drafter) and a non-race skill (fixer, mechanic, and fabricator). Each skill has different properties from finding hidden alleys/back streets (shortcuts) to reducing police attention. Cars driven by the wingmen are also different; blockers drive muscles, drafters drive exotics and scouts drive tuners (although the first two unlockable wingmen (Neville and Sal) drive cars according to the player's chosen car class at the start of the game). Car classes are Tuners, Muscles, and Exotics, and are associated with their own borough and Boss (Tuners/Downtown/Kenji, Exotics/Fortuna/Wolf, and Muscle/Kempton/Angie).

Players must choose a class when starting Career Mode, which will be permanent throughout the career. Each choice starts in a different district, with corresponding initial car choices and unlocks as the game progresses (there is a test drive option at the beginning). As the game progresses, players may choose from any class of car as the game progresses. Players can also unlock cars that are reserved for Quick Races as the players progress throughout the game and earn Reward Cards.