Pursuit Tech | Racer career NfS Rivals Guide
Last update: 01 February 2017
Basic information
In each car you have you can mount up to two pursuit technologies and it is good to use both slots from the very beginning, even if initially you have these upgrades which are not useful to maximum.
The important information is that from the beginning some of more advanced technologies are not available and in order to unlock them you have to advance to next chapters of the main career. The same applies to new generations of existing technologies. For example, if you invest in developed version of EMP you can decrease the time needed to lock another vehicle. Unfortunately, when you want to mount the best version of particular technology, you have to buy all previous versions first, so you should really think off if you use this technology and you won't waste points upgrading it. Full list of technologies, along with suggestions on how to use them, can be found further in the guide.
Important note - new versions of technologies requires also better models of cars, unlocked along with achieving new ranks. So do not count on this that you'll be able to purchase best boosters for the base model of Porsche Cayman S for example, because you just won't see them on the list. This dependency forces you sometimes to buy new cars, clearly hindering attempts to complete a large part of the career with one chosen car model.
Electrostatic Field (ESF)
Usefulness: high
Main applications: races with others Racers; hot pursuits
Contrary to what description of this technology may suggest, ESF shouldn't be used mainly to avoid stun mines and EMPs, though of course these are its unquestionable strengths. The main advantage of this modification is that after charging the controlled car it damages other vehicles which get in contact with it. You can use it in two ways: hit racers' cars and police cars on your own or activate the described technology after you see opponent's car in the rear mirror. Regardless of the circumstances of ESF usage, you can visibly lower the energy of opponents' cars and in extreme cases the single collision can take of 2/3 of competitor's energy bar.
A very important thing is to unlock new generations of this technology as fast as possible, so the power of ESF increases. In addition, with purchasing new generations of ESF you decrease the regeneration time and increase the amount of possible usage, so you won't have to keep looking around for a repair shop.
EMP
Usefulness: average
Main applications: races with others Racers
EMP on lower development levels is not very useful pursuit technology and this is because full tracking of the vehicle in front of you takes far too long. As a result it is easy to make a mistake and waste the EMP charge after failed process of aiming or unnecessarily drive slow in order to wait for tracking process instead of continuing the race. Only after purchasing next generations the effectiveness of this technology increases, although I still wouldn't take it in the same row as ESF for example. I suggest using EMP only to track other racers. I do not recommend using this technology on police cars, because during tracking process you can be hit by another vehicle from the back or the side and lose much as a result.
Along with unlocking new generations of this technology its charging time decreases. In addition you can count on taking more energy from other vehicles.
Jammer
Usefulness: low
Main applications: races with other players
This technology in my opinion is the less useful among all available to Racers. The main disadvantage of surrounding the controlled car with a kind of defensive barrier is that you really do not know when this modification can be most useful. What's more, additional feature of this technology, which is about blocking other cars' interface, is in fact useful only in races with other players. Blocking other players possibility of using a radar for example can lead to making mistakes or getting totally lost, driving off from the planned route. In case of playing against the AI I suggest ignoring this technology completely when planning purchases.
Next jammer generations increase time of its duration, improve its range, decrease time of technology regeneration and increases amount of its usage. All those changes however do not clearly improve the usefulness of described technology.
Shock Wave
Usefulness: average
Main applications: races with others Racers; hot pursuits
Shock wave has almost only advantages at first glance - it is cheaper to purchase than ESF and contrary to EMP doesn't not require long time of tracking. Unfortunately it soon becomes clear that the price for such advantages is its relatively low efficiency. Do not count on this that thanks to described technology you'll be able to remove energy bars of your opponents, even after purchasing next generations of shock wave. Its main use is to throwing your enemies off the drive and depending on the situation it can slow them down as well as forcing them to collide with environments elements or civilian car. In conclusion this is quite good modification for the beginning but later on you career it would be better to invest in something more powerful.
Along with purchasing next generations of shock wave, its power increases, regeneration time decreases and amount of use increases (you do not have to visit repair shops so often).
Stun Mine
Usefulness: high
Main applications: hot pursuits
Stun mine technology is one of the cheapest available in the game and on the base level is not very useful. But when you purchase next generations of the described technology, everything changes because mines become really useful addition, especially when you want to evade the police and do not want to reduce your current speed which is kind of requirement to use such technologies like EMP or Shock Wave. If you want to maximally increase the effectiveness of this technology you should consider placing them in proper places. You should place them in narrow parts of road and not on highways for example, where other vehicles can easily change the drive line.
If you purchase next generations of the stun mine it will result in increasing their explosion power and possibility of having more of them in your car. But the best thing is that their regeneration time is significantly decreased, thanks to that it is possible to place two or even more mines in the relatively short distance from each other.
Turbo
Usefulness: high
Main applications: time trials; races with others Racers
Turbo is the only one pursuit technologies available for Racers, which has no offensive properties. Its only use is acting as a much stronger variant of standard nitro. This is especially useful when completing time trials, but this modification can be also used in all races where you have to drive over long straights. The very important information is that you shouldn't activate this technology when approaching a turn because you can't break it prematurely and as a result you can crash on the barrier or other obstacle and smash your car instead of getting away from your competitors. Still, I would advise to purchase turbo, especially later on in your career.
Along with unlocking next generations of turbo you'll notice increase of its usage time and increase in engine power guaranteed by this technology. In addition you'll get more usage of it. Purchasing higher levels is not required because even the weakest variant gives you noticeable effects.
Summary
Regardless of the events you choose to complete, I recommend purchasing ESF on the as high level as possible. When it comes to the second slot, I recommend purchasing stun mines, although if you "build" the car to be best in time trials, you should invest in turbo for obvious reasons.