If you want to take the all-new BMW M5 to extreme limits, and you don’t have $102,600 for a real one, look to your smartphone for a lower cost alternative. The new M5 will be a featured car in Electronic Arts’ “Need for Speed No Limits” mobile racing game’s Xtreme Racing Championship. Gamers will be able to register for the championship between February 2 and 9, 2018.
Once registered, players will have seven days to take the new M5 through its paces in a series of competitive races. Race winners will then be allowed to permanently unlock the M5.
“Need for Speed: No Limits” was first introduced in 2015 as a free-to-play racing video game for iOS and Android devices. It is the 21st installment in the Need for Speed video game franchise and the second free-to-play title. Millions of the racing app have been downloaded and more than 11,000,000,000 races have been completed.
The new BMW M5 is not the first Bimmer available in the Need for Speed No Limits garage. Players can drive a 1999 BMW M3 Coupe, a 2014 BMW M4 Coupe, and a 2015 BMW M2 Coupe. The M5 now becomes the fastest car in the Sports category.
The all-new 2018 BMW M5—the real one—is scheduled to start appearing in dealer showrooms in March. The new M5 actually had its world premiere at last year’s GamesCom in Cologne, Germany. BMW chose that venue for the launch because the new M5 was featured in the Need for Speed Payback console-based version available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. So far, gamers have put about 480,000 hours of virtual driving on the new M5 in that video racing format. Now it’s time for the mobile device gamers to take their turn in BMW’s premium and powerful mid-size sports sedan.—Scott Blazey
