This may surprise newcomers to Need for Speed, but the Bugatti Veyron - one of the world's fastest, most expensive and most daringly-styled cars - is a Volkswagen.

You read that correctly. Bugatti was resurrected by the Volkswagen Group in 2000, with the Veyron, supposedly inspired by Bugatti's legendary Type 35 racecar, which dominated racing in the first half of the twentieth century, being the first offspring of the new marriage.

There's not much I can add about the Veyron that hasn't been said already. The car is a feat of modern engineering, powered by an 8-liter W16 which features four turbochargers, 10 radiators and effortlessly pushes out just south of 1,000 horsepower according to Bugatti, who admit the figure is conservative, saying the Veyron is closer to 1,010 bhp.

Veyron runs 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and has a top speed of 408 km/h. However, to achieve this top speed, a special 'top speed key' must be inserted to the left of the driver's seat. After inserting the key, a menu pops up asking the driver if he or she is ready for top speed.  Once you select 'yes', the car closes the front air diffusers, retracts the spoiler and drops its ground clearance from 12.5 cm to 6.5 cm. Hang on.

Trying to find a Veyron is tough, with the 200 models produced starting at about $1.5 million a piece, and it consumes more fuel than some small countries, eating up 24 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, but if you're dropping this kind of money on a car, fuel economy is the least of your worries.

Finding a gas station that sells 98 Octane to keep your Veyron running smooth may be difficult, but the engine automatically tunes itself to the quality of gasoline being used, so even regular old 91 will do just fine.

It's one of the toughest cars to procure in SHIFT, but the Veyron is well worth the wait.