Rocket League: Beginner's Guide

Welcome to Rocket League! Rocket League is a video game about soccer with cars! Weird, right? But trust me this game is worth every second. The game was developed and published by Pysonix in 2015. The game went to free-to-play in September 2020 and is playable on all platforms. You're probably wondering is this game actually free? Yes it is. The entirety of the game is free to play, the only thing that costs money is customization for your car. This game works similarly to a normal soccer match with two teams and two goals. The objective is to score the ball in the opposing teams goal and have the highest score before the match ends. The twist is that instead of players you drive cars that can jump, boost, fly, and ride on walls. I personally love this game and I recommend it to anyone who owns a gaming platform listed below. My goal of this guide is to teach new players how to play or introduce people to this game. By playing this game you can also gain or enhance some very needed skills such as reaction timing, situational awareness, teamwork, and communication. I recommend that new players should enter training mode before entering a real match to get used to the controls. I mainly play on Xbox so the pictures taken will be of an Xbox controller but I will also try my best to reference to the other systems as well. Note: each step includes a video mp4 file for reference to how the moves should look like in game.

Supplies

• Xbox one/series
• PlayStation 4/5
• Nintendo Switch
• PC

Step 1: Driving

Let us begin by learning how to drive your car. This is the basic foundation for moving your car around the field from driving on walls to approaching the ball. I shall note that if you have any experience with any other driving games this should have some similarities.

Xbox:

To move your car forward or give it gas you need to press down the right trigger or RT. Depending on how much you press down on the trigger is relative to your speed. Slightly pressing it will make you go slow while pressing the trigger down all the way will you make you travel at normal speed.

PlayStation:

To accelerate you need to press the right trigger as well but in this case its called R2.

Nintendo Switch:

To accelerate here you need to press ZR.

PC:

For PC you need to press the W key.

Step 2: Reversing

Here is the opposite of driving forward. If you ever need to slow down your car while driving, completely brake, or just drive in reverse here is what you need to do.

Xbox:

You need to press down the left trigger or LT. This works the same way as driving forward, depending on how hard you press down the trigger is relative to your braking force or speed of going in reverse.

PlayStation:

Press the left trigger or L2.

Switch:

Press ZL.

PC:

Press the S key.

Step 3: Steering

On top of knowing how to put your car in forward and reverse, you also need to know how to steer your car. This allows to turn your car in the direction you want. In other words, left or right.

Xbox:

Use the Left Stick.

PlayStation:

Use the Left Stick.

Switch:

Use the Left Stick.

PC:

Use the A and D keys. A is for left and D is for right.

Step 4: Boosting

Boosting is an essential part of Rocket League. Boosting is what helps you make your car reach maximum speed and allows you to travel around the field faster. Boosting can also be used for flying and moving your car in the air but that's for a later time, for now I'll teach you just how to boost. By referencing to the two photos above you can see in the bottom right corner of your screen is a boost meter, this boost meter shows you how much boost you have left in your car. The max boost your car can hold is 100. You may also notice around the field are little orange pads or orange spheres, these are called boost pads. Driving over these pads will refuel a portion or all of your fuel. Small pads only refill 12% of your meter while bigger pads fill it to 100%.

Xbox:

You need to press the B button. Note: button pressure doesn't matter here only one type of boost and notice you will have a trail behind your car once you reach maximum speed

PlayStation:

Press the circle or O button.

Switch:

Press the A button.

PC:

Press the Left Mouse.

Step 5: Jumping

Next up is jumping. This is where things start to get a little more difficult. Jumping is not an every time use mechanic like accelerating or reversing instead you need to use your own judgement for this maneuver. In many cases, jumping is used to reach the ball faster when it's in the air or to start an aerial. Jumping doesn't help you move faster compared to boosting so use it wisely. In more simple terms, jumping is the starting chain for other moves.

Xbox:

To jump on Xbox you need to press the A button. Depending on how softly you press the button will affect the height of your jump but since it is a button it can be inconsistent so I recommend just fully pressing the button for now.

PlayStation:

Press the X button.

Switch:

Press the B button.

PC:

Press the Right Mouse.

Step 6: Powerslide (aka Drifting)

Power sliding is a very useful technique for rotating and turning around fast. Unlike other racing games where you need to hold down both the gas and the brake, here you only need to press one button. When power sliding you can either hold it down to do a continuous donut or tap it to do a quick drift in the direction you want.

Xbox:

You need to press the X button.

PlayStation:

Press the Square [ ] button.

Switch:

Press the Y button.

PC:
Press the Left Shift key.

Note: This button is also used for air rolling for steering the pitch/roll of your vehicle when you are in the air. This is an advanced technique that you should learn on the way.

Step 7: Focusing

Focusing is important for locating and knowing where the ball is. When you focus on the ball, your camera will shift over to the location of the ball no matter where it is on the field. Of course you don't have to stay focused on the ball at all times especially when you are trying to rotate around your teammates, falling back, or picking up boost thus you can press the button again to revert your camera angle to the direction your car is facing.

Xbox:

You need to press the Y button.

PlayStation:

Press the Triangle /_\ button.

Switch:

Press the X button.

PC:

Press the Space bar.

Step 8: Camera

Aside from focusing you can also freely look around using the camera. This allows you to point the camera in any direction you want.

Xbox:

Use the Right Stick. The camera has a nearly full 360 degree motion. When rotating the stick your only blind spot is behind you. To look behind, you need to press down on the stick. (The same applies for the other platforms)

PlayStation:

Use the Right Stick.

Switch:

Use the Right Stick.

PC:

NA - you can assign any control on pc

Step 9: Quickchat

The quick chat options are a special part of Rocket League. These chat options are not required but are recommended for competitive scenes. Most of the time these chat options are used for teams without communication such as when you enter quickplay with randoms. You can freely set your quickchat options in the settings. A lot of the quickchat options can be used for callouts such as where you or the ball are while some quickchat options are just for fun such as trash talking or apologizing. Whatever the case you want to use the quickchat for, this is a special component of what Rocket League is.

Xbox:

To use quickchat you can press whatever direction on the D-pad (reference to the controller picture above) while in game only.

PlayStation:

Use D-pad.

Switch:

Not set

PC:

Not sure probably use of keyboard is necessary for text chat

Step 10: Settings

Last thing if you are not comfortable with any of the preset settings you can always enter the pause menu and click on options to change a numerous amount of things such as camera, gameplay, control bindings, interface, video, or audio. In my opinion over the course of my time playing I changed my controller bindings to a different set that felt better to me. You can do whatever you want here, mess around with a bunch of options and find the perfect settings that fit you.

Step 11: Conclusion

Now that you learned the basic mechanics to this magnificent game, I recommend that you practice around a bit and get used to it. There are a lot more advanced techniques out there that you can learn but for now start off small before you overstress yourself. If you really enjoy this game and if you want somebody to play with, I play on Xbox add me and message me my gamertag is Atarashimura. I hope you enjoyed this starter guide and I hope you also enjoy the game if you do decide to play it.