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As with other open-world zombie survival games, Project Zomboid world is filled with undead swarms that are looking to feast on your organs. Thankfully, you don’t have to scour the land on foot alone since there are vehicles you can drive in the game. However, finding them is one thing. Here’s a quick course on finding cars and hotwiring them in Project Zomboid.
How to Hotwire Cars in Project Zomboid
There are two prerequisites you need to fulfill first to be able to hotwire cars in Project Zomboid:
- Pick the Burglar occupation.
- Or gain 1 Electrical and 2 Mechanics skills if you’re not a Burglar.
And with the requirements out of the way, now on to actually hotwiring them:
- Enter a car (with the E key) that has an open door or by smashing a window.
- Press V to bring up the menu, select Hotwire Car.
- To start the engine after successfully hotwiring, press W.
It may take a few tries to get the engine to start. Once a pair of wires show up in the key ignition slot on the dashboard, that means you got it. If you’re playing multiplayer, keep in mind that a hotwired car can be driven by anyone.
How to Find Cars
Cars usually appear in parking spaces and driveways, but they can also spawn in wreckages on roads and main highways. Most are driveable after you replace the battery and fill it up with the Gas Tank. Others, however, may have badly damaged parts that you need to fix first, like the engine. Vehicles are divided into three categories, each with its own exclusive parts. Before you can add, remove, or repair parts, you must first read a Recipe magazine for each type:
- Standard Cars: Laines Auto Manual – Standard Models.
- Heavy-Duty Cars: Laines Auto Manual – Commercial Models.
- Sports Cars: Laines Auto Manual – Performance Models.
Vehicles can be towed without any extra items. Simply drive in front of a car you want to tow, walk into the middle of both, open the radial menu with the V key and select the plus sign. There are at least 14 car types, each with its own variants, in Project Zomboid:
- Standard Cars:
- Cerise Wagon (Wagon)
- Dart (Sedan)
- Horizon (Sedan)
- Nyala (Sedan)
- Rancher (Jeep)
- Heavy-Duty Cars:
- All-Terrain (SUV)
- D6 (Pickup)
- Step Van (Van)
- Bulldriver (Van)
- Valuline (Van)
- Sports Cars:
- Cossette
- Elite
- Primani
- Lang 4000
Related:
Project Zomboid: How to Use Generators
Vehicles will never disappear from the game world unless deleted by the server admin. But developer The Indie Stone has mentioned that there are plans to have vehicles catch fire and explode. Project Zomboid is available as an Early Access title on PC via Steam.