Unless you plan on building up your endurance through jogging and walking around the state, you’re going to want to find a car in Project Zomboid. Cars are great for not only getting around quickly, but also moving large amounts of items at once. This guide will show you a little about how to find cars and how to hotwire them as well.
Contents:
Hotwiring a Car Summarized
Tips on Finding Vehicles to Hotwire
Breaking into Cars and Using the Radial Menu
Starting as a Burglar to Hotwire From the Start
How to Hotwire a Car in Project Zomboid
For those who already know what they are roughly doing I will make this fairly simple and save you scrolling through the whole page.
You can hotwire vehicles by getting into them and holding the V key to open up the Vehicle radial menu. Select the option at the top left called hotwire. Your character will attempt to hotwire this vehicle which will mean you no longer ned a key to operate it, (and no longer lock it). You can attempt to hotwire multiple times without wrecking the ignition. Upon a failed lockpick attempt you will make a small amount of noise which may draw nearby zombies towards you.
You will need to have certain skills to be able to attempt to hotwire. You will need to raise your Mechanics skill to 2 and your Electronics skill to 1 in order to try this. Alternatively, you can start with the Burglar profession, which can hotwire from the get-go.
Finding a Vehicle
You will need to find a car to be able to hotwire one! The most common places that cars can be found are outside residential houses or at parking lots. You best chance will be to check in parking lots for large stores. Here you will generally find at least one vehicle, even on low car spawn settings.
Most larger buildings like schools and gas stations will have a car park that should have at least 1 or 2 vehicles to try. Once you have found a car that you want to try to hotwire you have to get inside it! The first thing you should do after you find a vehicle is to make sure that the key isn’t just lying around. Sometimes you will be able to find keys by looking on the ground near a parked car. Often, keys can also be found by searching the glove box of cars, or lying on one of the passenger seats.
If you do not have a key you can smash one of the windows in the car to get inside of it. Try not to smash the window of the seat you will be sitting in as zombies will be able to damage your directly through the open window. Make sure you’re holding a weapon when smashing the window or you may damage your character’s hands.
Hotwiring Cars Through the Radial Menu
Once you get into the car you can hold the ‘V’ key by default to open up the vehicle interaction menu. If you aren’t there already, move to the drivers seat using the change seat option in the radial menu. This is the option at the top of the wheel. Once you are in the drivers seat, open up the menu and go to the option up the top right. The icon with the key.
If you have a pretty new character without enough skill to hotwire you will see a message that reads “You need keys or Electrical level 1 and Mechanics level 2 to hotwire”. This is exactly how it sounds. In order to hotwire cars you will need to raise your mechanics skill level to 2 and your electronics skill level to 1.
A quick way to raise your mechanics level is by reading the beginner mechanics skill book and just performing tasks on a vehicle like changing a tire or taking out parts.
An easy way to raise your electronics skill level is to acquire a screwdriver and take apart small electronics like watches and radios.
How to Unlock Vehicle Hotwire Abilities from the Beginning
Another way to be able to hotwire cars early on is to simply choose the Burglar profession when creating a character. This will allow you to be able to Hotwire cars by default. If you have this, you will not have to grind your electronics or mechanics skill at all.
This is the quickest and easiest way to get started hotwiring cars. Plus the sneak bonus you get from picking this line of work is great if you plan on doing a stealthy run as well in Project Zomboid.
