Rocket League: Does the Car Matter?

The contents of this article, besides the statistics themselves, are purely personal opinion. What I find best in certain situations will not apply to everyone; I play very offensively, thus my favoured tactics will be reflective of this. Huge thanks to Reddit user ‘Varixai’ for his detailed post and spreadsheet on the topic, which can be found here.

A question asked by almost every new player of Rocket League is ‘Does the car really make a difference?’ After perhaps a few games with different vehicles, many come to the conclusion that they possess no differences besides their appearance, especially given nothing in the game’s interface to suggest otherwise. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen that each car functions slightly differently when it comes to their hitboxes and turning radii (even if by only micrometres).

In this article series, I’m going to steadily address the 29* current available cars in Rocket League PC** (at the time of writing) and deliver an overview of their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their stats. Many of these differences are minuscule, but it’s these small changes which could make or break your game.

*Several vehicles, including Ice Charger and The Boneshaker™, have only been recently added to Rocket League, and have insufficient data to be accurately included in the rankings at the time of writing.

**This article series does not include the three Console exclusive cars

Breakout

Length Ranking: 1st

Width Ranking: 24th

Height Ranking: 22nd

Turning Ranking (lower = smaller turn radius): 6th

Starting out with my personal favourite, the Breakout is usually considered one of the cars that are best used only if you have a specific playstyle that you can utilise with its statistics. Its long length and tight turning radius allow the Breakout to be perfect for a quick offensive attack, taking advantage of its superior length to get the upper hand when it comes to performing aerials, and its tight turning radius to quickly reposition yourself to get that vital angle. However, being both the thinnest and 3rd shortest car gives it major drawbacks when it comes to defence and 50/50 challenges. Whilst the length can get vital taps on the ball when goaltending, granting you a barrage of “Siiiick!” from your teammates that no other car could achieve, shots taken from a shorter range will not have a difficult time getting past a Breakout.

Venom

L. Ranking: 8th

W. Ranking: 14th

H. Ranking: 15th

T. Ranking: 9th

The Venom is a car that is surprisingly frequent in a number of players that use it. But when looking at the balance in its statistics, it’s easy to understand why. Even players who aren’t aware of the differences will notice an overall balance in play when using the Venom. It offers a suitable blend of size and handling for players who aren’t interested in purchasing DLC cars with similar properties, such as the Triton. the Venom is a perfect choice that is ideal for new players and for discovering what kind of playstyle you work best with.

Octane, Vulcan*** & Proteus***

L. Ranking: 19th

W. Ranking: 5th

H. Ranking: 9th

Octane T. Ranking: 19th

Vulcan T. Ranking: 25th

Proteus T. Ranking: 20th

Killing three birds with one stone, the Octane, Vulcan and Proteus make my job much easier and this article much shorter by all having the exact same hitbox dimensions. The only differences between them are their turning cycles, and even those are close to identical, so chances are that you won’t notice any difference when playing between these three cars. These cars are one of, if not the most, used cars in high-level competitive and E-sports. Whilst many use the Octane simply because it’s one of the two starting cars, another reason for this is that, similar to the Venom, these cars offer a good advantage with their size without it being a detriment another aspect of them, making them all-around good cars to use effectively in any situation.

***DLC Vehicle

Be sure to check back next month, where we’ll cover some more of the vehicles, such as the famed Dominius and the beefy-looking Merc.