Need for Speed Rivals offers you the keys to a 2015 Mustang

It won't hit dealerships until next year, but thanks to Need for Speed Rivals you can drive the 2015 Ford Mustang as early as today.

Thanks to a free title update which should be applied the next time you fire up the game, Rivals now features a brand-new, not-yet-released Ford sports car. This new Mustang should not be confused with the 2014 edition of the vehicle previously released as promotion for the upcoming Need for Speed film, nor its tricked-out police variation. This 2015 Mustang is its own car, and as you can see from the above trailer, it flies down the track like a thematically-apropos bald eagle.

Like the recently-revealed BMW M5 Coupé from Gran Turismo 6, Need for Speed's new Mustang resulted from the development team being granted early access to the car during production. "We worked closely with the development team at EA to provide them with engineering data for the new Mustang, several months before we showed it to the rest of the world," stated Mark Bentley, Ford product licensing manager. As a result, the in-game 2015 Mustang should perform similarly to its eventual real-world counterpart, only with fewer cops and exotic supercars chasing you through the streets.