LIVE Available on the public NCM Online server.

How to Play

New to NCM? Start with Getting Started. This page goes deeper. Each section links to the full system page.

The NCM Menu (F6)

Almost everything is in the NCM Menu: F6, or Start on a controller. Its tabs:

Engineering has its own panel on F9, docked to the right so you can keep driving.

Racing

Find a race in the Race Guide or the Paddock's RACES tab. Routes, fields, entry fees, payouts and eligibility differ from event to event, so browse before you travel. Marking a race Interested tracks it and points your GPS at the venue; it does not reserve a place.

Enter at the venue. Drive there, enter (the entry fee is charged then), and join the grid before it closes. F7 at the grid snaps you to your exact starting spot. You can correct your position until green. A driver not on the grid at green is a DNS.

Qualifying starts at the venue and helps set the grid order. Practice and qualifying pay nothing.

During the race, F8 toggles the live race graph. The running order on screen is the real order. Penalties are applied in a ceremony after the flag, and NPCs are penalised by the same rules.

Leaving. Before the start, Withdraw at the venue. After the start, Forfeit (/ncm.forfeit, asked twice) retires you as a DNF.

After the flag you get a result and, for paid events, an itemised settlement. Race Tags are awarded from the facts of your run, and clean driving earns a capped bounty.

Results say how they were made. A race can be observed (driven by the cars on the road) or simulated (resolved by the league's simulation when nobody was there to watch). Result details say which.

Other ways to race:

• Time trials: a field of one against the clock.
• Custom street races (F5): you set a start, a finish and a start time, and anyone can enter at the line. They are informal: no entry fee, no prize. One call per driver every 15 minutes, two open at once.
• Your own ghost: in practice and time trials, your personal-best lap replays beside you as a car that can't be hit. Ghosts never appear in contested races.

More: Racing · NPC Racing & the Paddock · Race Week

Cars

• Buy in the Market. Each listing is one serialized machine, and sold stock is gone. Start with a base car.
• Call a car you own from Machine Index with CALL VEHICLE; it appears in a clear space nearby. Hold E at it to get in.
• Discover machines with the Scanner (Tab or Caps Lock): hold it on a car within 60 m. Driving past a car does not add it. Seeing a car in the Index does not mean you own it.
• Learn about a machine by driving it. Measured facts accumulate, and unknown details stay unknown.
• Some cars are manual. The gearbox is fixed when the car is made, so two cars of the same model can drive differently. See Manual Gearboxes.

More: Cars & Machine Index

Damage, repair and parts (F9)

Damage stays on your car for the Race Week. A crash costs condition, and condition costs money or work.

• F9 Engineering shows your car's condition by area before you choose how to service it.
• Doing it yourself costs materials only. A workshop quote includes labour; Route Me There navigates to the suggested shop.
• Workmanship rolls per section (grip, drive, brakes, drag). A job can improve or cost each one, and your restoration skill moves the odds. The result is a job sheet; read it.
• Parts are serialized components with fitment rules. A part that doesn't fit says so before you buy it.
• The Workshop (F9) covers tear-downs, fabrication, promoting a design and small production runs.

More: Engineering & Parts

Fuel

Your car burns fuel as you drive; the level is under the odometer. Park at a pump in your car and use /ncm.refuel (€$2 a litre). /ncm.fuel sets your GPS to the nearest station. More: Fuel

Money

• You receive a starting balance once.
• Scheduled races charge entry and pay on completion and placement. Every settlement is an itemised receipt, and nothing is paid twice. An aborted event refunds.
• Practice, qualifying and custom street races mint nothing.
• /ncm.balance prints your balance in chat; the Driver File and Market show it too.

More: Economy, Markets & Betting

Markets, trading and betting

• Autofixer terminals around the city are markets of their own. Stand at one and press E (pad X) to connect, then browse its stock from F6 Market from anywhere.
• Exchange (F6): build one exact offer from machines, stored parts and eddies. Both drivers confirm the same version before anything moves, and both must be online.
• Billie's Board (F6 → PADDOCK): Billie takes positions on NPC races. Anyone can read the board; writing paper needs an introduction, and Rico knows a book. Prices lock when you sign, and there is no cancel.

Teams and the Paddock

The Paddock is a league of NPC teams and drivers that races, signs, fires and makes news on its own. In F6 → PADDOCK → MY TEAM you can found or run one team. Paddock people can stand at garages and other places in the city, and you can talk to them.

More: NPC Racing & the Paddock

Weather and time

Night City runs on US Eastern real time. The sky is shared by everyone in the session. Rain soaks the road: less grip, longer braking, and a car that gets loose under heavy throttle. It dries over a few minutes. More: Weather & Time

Wheels and controllers

A controller, keyboard or wheel all work. For wheels, pedals and custom rigs, NCM Rig Bridge reads DirectInput devices and drives force feedback, which starts disarmed. Set it up in F6 → DEVICES. More: Wheel & Rig Support

Watching a race

/ncm.tower toggles a timing tower for your race or the Paddock race you are near. /ncm.names toggles names over NPC race cars. The Race Week Live station is in the game's own radio list. More: Broadcast & Race Week Radio

Getting help

F6 → HELP lists the controls and lets you report a problem from inside the game. See also Known Issues and the FAQ.