Need for Speed: The Run — San Francisco to New York

The race is an illegal, large-scale street race from San Francisco to New York City, starting on the Golden Gate Bridge. In the Black Box version, Jack Rourke escapes the Mob and heads to San Francisco to meet his friend Sam Harper, a fixer. In the Firebrand version, Matt wakes up in his Ford Mustang after the Mob has pushed it into the ocean in San Francisco, then drives a mysterious woman's Lotus Exige to the start line on the bridge.

Firebrand version: on the way to Las Vegas, Matt and the mystery woman are ambushed in Death Valley by a man in a Dodge Challenger. The driver reveals himself as Matt's old accomplice, Jason. The game does not tie the scene to one spot, so the pin marks Death Valley National Park as a whole.

Location precision: The game places the ambush in Death Valley without naming a road; the pin marks the national park.

In the Black Box version, Rourke's first three stages cover the route from San Francisco to Las Vegas, where a police roadblock catches him out. In the Firebrand version, the next day the mystery woman swaps the Mustang for a rented Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The pin marks the Las Vegas Strip.

Location precision: The story names Las Vegas but no street; the pin marks the Las Vegas Strip.

Firebrand version: as The Run advances to Colorado, Matt rescues Jason and offers him a ride to Denver, where the rented Camaro is replaced with a Nissan GT-R. There the Mob ambushes Matt and the woman, and the pursuers turn out to be the Di Marco crime family. They escape by jumping on a train and taking an Aston Martin One-77 on the way to Chicago.

Location precision: The game names Denver without a specific site; the pin marks central Denver.

In the Black Box version, Rourke reaches Chicago in the top 50, but the Mob catches him out with a roadblock. In the Firebrand version, the woman leaves Matt, Jason picks him up in a Porsche 918, and later, in a Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, the two tune into the Mob's radio feed. The pin marks central Chicago.

Location precision: The story passes through Chicago without a named site; the pin marks the city centre.

The race ends in New York City. In the Black Box version, Rourke defeats Blackwell in New York to win the race. In the Firebrand version, Matt races his way to Times Square, only to realize that The Run was a setup by the police and the Mob; after they escape, the mystery woman reveals her name to be Sophia Di Marco, and the two drive to Canada.