Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes on the gameplay style of the first Most Wanted title in the Need for Speed franchise. Most Wanted allows players to select one car and compete against other racers to reach a destination. Cops are integrated into certain racing sessions, in which the police deploy vehicles and tactics to stop the player's car and arrest the player, like the original Most Wanted. The single-player section will feature a Blacklist of 10 racers, similar to the single-player section of the original Most Wanted, which featured 15 Blacklist racers.
Most Wanted has been likened to Criterion's Burnout series, and has a large open world. Like Burnout Paradise, races have a start and end point but players can choose their own route to the finish line.
The game will use Autolog, the competition-between-friends system developed by Criterion for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and since used in other titles in the Need for Speed series. Autolog in Most Wanted plays a larger role and gives more information to players. Activities in-game allow players to earn Speed Points which can boost players up on Most Wanted list. Autolog recommendations have now been integrated into the game world, rather than sit externally on the menu system.
The driving model of the game has been described as "deep, physical and fun", not as arcade-styled as the Burnout series and Hot Pursuit, but far from a simulator. Most Wanted has a range of real-world vehicles, a mix of muscle cars, street racers and exotics, described as "the wildest selection of cars yet". The cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors, wheels, suspensions, engine, nitrous, and bodywork (body kits).