Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit is the third game in the Need for Speed series. In Japan it is called Over Drivin' III: Hot Pursuit and in France Need for Speed III: Poursuite Infernale. It's the first Need for Speed title to largely focus on police pursuits which later became a very popular element in the Need for Speed franchise.

The game was released for PC and PlayStation 1 in 1998 with each consisting of slightly different content. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 was released in 2002 as a spiritual successor with another Hot Pursuit released in 2010 by Criterion Games.