The game is completely free to play and is on basically every platform you could care to name including both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and we think it’s well worth sinking a few hours into it to see if it’s your cup of tea. If you’re just getting started with Rocket League, we’ve got some quick tips for you to have an easier time of it.
Play with your camera settings
Rocket League’s default settings are a little bit suboptimal when it comes to the camera – like many games it chooses a tighter field of view by default and has bells and whistles that can be distracting.
So, a few changes are necessary. For one, widen out your field of view by as big a margin as you like. The more of the pitch you can see, the more easily you can react to things.
Another key change is turning off screen shake entirely, to minimise how much your view rumbles and to make it easier to stay focussed on your driving.
Experiment with the other settings, like camera height and distance, to find a setup that works best for you.
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Change your controls
This isn’t something you have to do straight away, but Rocket League’s default controls have a bit of a ceiling after which advanced moves are tough.
In particular, finding key bindings for Air Roll Left and Air Roll Right will unlock a lot of new possibilities for you as you improve, letting you manoeuvre in the air more easily.
Always compete at kickoffs
As you play a few games you’ll learn that Rocket League matches kick off with players speeding towards a static ball.
Whichever player is closest should always make sure to boost straight for the ball, flipping into contact it. Failing to do so will often give away an easy goal. As you improve you may eventually start to learn faster kickoff techniques, but that’s not something for your first few hours.
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Learn to rotate
Rocket League’s default mode is 3v3, but in any mode where you have teammates, you need to learn its core principle – rotation.
This means that while one player moves up the field to attack, another should be moving back toward their own goal to be in place against counter-attacks, preferably via a route that doesn’t risk obstructing their teammate.
A well-oiled team is in constant rotation like this, cycling through positions to have both attacking and defending covered at the same time.
Use training packs
Psyonix has made it easier and easier to train on your own in Rocket League down the years, and you can now easily access loads of custom training packs. Doing those made by Psyonix is a must to get a sense of how to hit the ball and fly your car.
As you get better, you can start to experiment with community packs that are more complicated but can be hugely useful for nailing down a specific technique. YouTube tutorials are also your friend there.
Psyonix
Don’t be afraid of Ranked mode
While you might be tempted to stick to the Casual matchmaking playlists as you learn the ropes, after a couple of hours play we recommend heading over to Ranked mode.
While it might seem scary that losing has consequences, this is all an illusion – in reality, Ranked is just a way to ensure you get games where people don’t quit halfway through or deliberately troll you.
It doesn’t matter to anyone except you what rank you end up with, and over time you’ll see it as a useful tool for tracking your progress, all while enjoying fewer disrupted games and with more motivated teammates.
You rank gets reset at the end of each season anyway, so nothing lasts forever.
Beware the over-commit
As you get better and better at functioning in a Rocket League team, you’ll learn to spot when your opposition makes a crucial and classic mistake – over-committing.
It can happen to the best teams as they push for a goal, and all it takes is one player failing to rotate back home, leaving a wide-open counter-attacking opportunity.
Try to make sure you don’t do this yourself. If you’re the furthest car back, be sure you only push up when you see a teammate coming home, even if it feels overly conservative. This’ll help you become a defensive rock before you hone your attacking skills further.