According to Alex Ward, creative director of the game at developer Criterion Games, this game is a "complete reinvention" of the Burnout series.He also said "To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from the ground up". The game is set in an open-world environment (like the Midnight Club series), and still retains the 60 frames-per-second frame rate that most Burnout games have been able to utilize. Initially day and night cycles were not included in the game but a software update entitled "Davis" added this element to the game. Records will now be kept on players' drivers licenses and there will be statistics such as fastest time and biggest crash for every street in the game. Unlike in previous Burnout games, Crash Mode, now called Showtime, can now be started at any time and place in the game; though Showtime mode is rather different from the usual Crash Mode. Also, for races, players may now take any route to get to the destination. Races and other events are simply started by stopping at any of the 120 traffic lights around Paradise City and applying the accelerator and brake at the same time. Multiple settings have been confirmed to be fully customisable such as:

• "Boost Rules", where the player may choose cars that use the boost styles from previous Burnout games.
• Whether or not there is traffic in an online event.
• Start and finish points for online events with up to 15 checkpoints.