FIFA 18 launches this week but Ultimate Team players will be focusing on one key stat: pace. This video shows that stats don’t tell the whole story.
According to the Ultimate team cards and stats, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the fastest player in FIFA 18. The Borussia Dortmund striker has 95 acceleration and 96 sprint speed. With that in mind, Aubameyang should leave every other player in his dust – but, is that really the case in-game?
The video below shows players racing with the ball at their feet and shows that accelleration and sprint-speed are not the deciding factor when it comes to being the quickest player in the game.
The test uses pitch patterns to accurately set a controlled distance for each player to individually race. The players are then overlaid and timed to ascertain who is truly the fastest player in FIFA 18.
The first test has Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah facing off against club-mate Sadio Mane, Barcelona’s Jordi Alba and PSG’s Lucas Moura. Despite Salah and Alba having the same 93 acceleration and sprint speed, Salah took first-place while Alba took third spot – Lucas, with his 95 acceleration and 92 sprint speed, took second-place.
In another race, Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale beat Tigres UNAL’s Jurgen Damm. Bale has 93 acceleration and 95 sprint speed while Damm has 95 in both – it should have been a foregone conclusion.
The video makes it clear that acceleration and sprint speed aren’t the only stats that matter – the most crucial part is ball control. Additionally, a player with bad stamina won’t be able to sprint for long, which will also slow them down.
Ultimately, the fastest player in FIFA 18 is… Aubameyang. Not only does the striker have incredible speed but he is also blessed with high stamina and good ball control. With all of these elements added together, it creates a beast on the pitch.
The second fastest player in the game will raise some eyebrows; it’s Gelson Martins from Sporting Lisbon. That’s despite Martins only being 12th fastest in the game according to EA’s rankings.
It just goes to show, the stats don’t always tell the whole picture; FIFA has created an intricate system which helps to create more lifelike footballers than ever before. If only there were similar ways to test passing, shooting and defending to ascertain who truly are the best players in the game…
