Need for Speed: World is a massively-multiplayer online racing game and the first with that model in the long-running Need for Speed series. For Electronic Arts it is the spiritual successor to Motor City Online where a similar concept was used. Players drive together in an open, free-roaming world and participate in races against each other to progress in the game, buy new vehicles, and unlock more of the city. It also includes a lot of social aspects. The environment consists of two large cities, Rockport and Palmont, previously featured in Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: Carbon respectively. The main racing modes are also modelled after those games, combining illegal car races, tuning cars, and police chases.