Better Car Physics

Manual shifting (toggleable) – Better Engine Sounds – Offroad driving – Engine braking

This mod requires manual installation steps. You must do these, otherwise the mod will not work.
See installation section.

In a nutshell:

• Better engine sound
• Manual shifting (toggle in settings, requires ModOptions mod)
• Several improvements to driving physics, including offroad driving

Watch the video for an example.

Now compatible with build 42!
Key differences:

• Install the zombie folder from the 42 folder instead (should overwrite 27 files)
• ModOptions is not needed anymore, its part of the base game now

You can install the mod into existing saves.

• Close Project Zomboid
• Subscribe to this Mod
• Wait for the download to finish
• Go to
  Steamsteamappsworkshopcontent1086002909035179modsBetterCarPhysics
• Go to either 41 or 42, use the same as your project zomboid version
• Copy the zombie folder and nothing else
• Paste it into
  SteamsteamappscommonProjectZomboid
• Overwrite all files (should be 24 (build 41) or 27 (build 42))
• Start Project Zomboid
• Enable the mod. Done!

The mod will show you a popup in game if you need to update. You can turn this off in the mod settings.

See this guide

Same as Windows. The steam folder is usually located in ~/.local/share/Steam

You can uninstall the mod at any time without affecting save files.

• Deactivate mod in game
• Close Project Zomboid
• Right click game in steam -> Properties -> Local files
• Click ‘verify integrity of game files’
• It should download 24+ files. Done!

I only did some basic testing, use at your own risk

• Should work on any server. Both server and client need the mod installed.
• Anyone who wants the physics has to install this mod and follow the manual installation steps.
• If someone joins without the manual installation steps, they can still join, but will have the vanilla physics.
• The mod turns itself off completely if the server does not have it installed. You can freely switch between servers without changing anything.

• Engine behaves/sounds much like it would in a real car
• Releasing throttle leaves the car in gear
• Engines have different torque curves. Vans operate best at low RPM, sports cars at high RPM
• Lower gears produce more torque. Helpful for driving offroad.
• Engine braking
• Smooth gear shifts with rev-matching
• Shifting into a low gear with too much speed will slide the car as the wheels lock up
• Proper road friction and wind resistance forces

• Option to toggle manual on for all cars via ingame settings (Requires ModOptions mod)
• In semi-auto mode, car shifts automatically, but you can override it using the shifting keys
• Customizable keybinds for shift up (up arrow) and shift down (down arrow)
• Change in keybind menu under ‘Vehicle’
• Clutch is always automatic

• With automatic transmission, automatically shifts + picks an appropriate gear
• With manual transmission only controls the throttle, you can freely change gears
• Vanilla controls: Shift + W to enable and Shift + W/S to increase/decrease by 5

• Sunday Driver accelerates slowly, because they are scared of the throttle
• Speed Demon shifts like a racedriver

• I tested a bunch of the most popular mods, they all work fine.
• If a car accelerates super fast, its likely because some mod boosts its engine horse power. See my explanation here
• To modders: This mod ignores the gear ratios defined in the resources files. I had to do that as most vanilla cars dont have any, and the ones that were present didnt work that well. I created some logic that picks gear ratios based on engine type (generic, firebird, van, jeep). You configure this with ‘engineRPMType’ in the vehicle definition. The engine type also determines the max RPM, and when the semi-auto transmission shifts.

• Customizable Containers – both mods change files in the zombie folder, but its different files, so no problem.

Workshop ID: 2909035179
Mod ID: BetterCarPhysics