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Have you been playing Rocket League for some time and want to know how to unlock each car?
Or maybe you’re a new Rocket League player who has never touched this amazing online game and would like an idea of the available cars.
Regardless of your reason for wanting to know how to get each car in Rocket League, I will break them down by their rarity, the best rocket league, and a bit about their hitboxes.
Buckle in because you are about to go from noob to pro, at least when it comes to knowing how to unlock Rocket League cars.
What are Rocket League Car Rarities?
Before jumping into how to unlock the cars from each rarity, it is important to understand the differences in rarities, especially if you are a new player.
It helps you know which cars you should work towards and which are best and will help you crush the competition in your matches.
- Common: Common cars are the default cars in Rocket League and can be unlocked easily with few requirements. Most of the cars in the common rarity are automatically unlocked when you first begin playing or only require a few matches to unlock. For this reason, these are also the most used cars in Rocket League.
- Import: Import is the second tier of rarity and includes car bodies that are no longer available in the game but can still be occasionally acquired via random blueprints if you do not wish to trade or purchase them.
- Limited: Limited cars are only available to be acquired quickly and often have particular requirements. Outside of trading, you can not acquire them after the period passes.
- Exclusive: Exclusive cars are only available on certain platforms, and you can not use them on a different platform. Read more about crossplay in Rocket League here.
- Exotic: Several cars in Rocket League have the Exotic rarity and can be acquired through the item shop for a certain period, after which you can get them via trading.
- Premium: Premium cars come from other media outside of Rocket League, though some DLCs are unavailable to download and can no longer be acquired.
Understanding Rocket League Car Hitboxes
In Rocket League, each car fits within one of six hitboxes, but what is a hitbox?
Simply put, a hitbox is a collection of invisible lines surrounding your car and deciding the “true” size of the model.
These lines create a box around your car and are what the game uses to detect collisions with other cars, the walls of the arena, and the ball.
The best hitboxes are those that closely resemble the actual shape of the car, which allows you to hit the ball better. A large hitbox that doesn’t match the car makes ball handling more difficult and can cause unexpected collisions.
In Rocket League, the most popular hitbox style is the Octane hitbox which is most often used by pro players, with the Plank hitbox coming in as the second fan-favorite.
In other words, the best Rocket League cars are those with hitboxes that match the chassis of the car. This allows for easy handling of the ball, making it easier to pull off trick shots such as air dribbles.
Rocket League Car Hitboxes:
- Dominus Hitbox
- Breakout Hitbox
- Octane Hitbox
- Plank Hitbox
- Merc Hitbox
- Hybrid Hitbox
Unlocking Each Type of Car
Now that you know about Rocket League car rarities and hitboxes, it is time to look at how to unlock each car in the game.
Below is a full list of cars available in the Rocket League lineup, including info on how to unlock them and their hitboxes.
Common
First up is the common cars, which are either automatically unlocked when you first start playing the game or can be acquired after completing several matches. Some common cars require to complete New Driver Challenges to unlock them.
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| Backfire | New Driver Challenges | Octane |
| Breakout | Given at Start | Breakout |
| Dominus | New Driver Challenges | Dominus |
| Gizmo | New Driver Challenges | Octane |
| Hotshot | New Driver Challenges | Dominus |
| Merc | Given at Start | Merc |
| Octane | Given at Start | Octane |
| Paladin | New Driver Challenges | Plank |
| Road Hog | New Driver Challenges | Octane |
| Venom | New Driver Challenges | Hybrid |
| X-Devil | New Driver Challenges | Hybrid |
Import
Next up are Import cars, which can be obtained via blueprints or by trading with other players. Blueprints are acquired after a match and can be used to unlock a car once you have gathered all of the blueprint parts.
You should note that the Road Hog XL, Breakout Type-S, and the Octane ZSR are special variants of the originals and thus have the same physics, turning radius, and hitboxes.
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| Animus GP | Blueprints or Trading | Breakout |
| Breakout Type-S | Blueprints or Trading | Breakout |
| Centio V17 | Blueprints or Trading | Plank |
| Cyclone | Blueprints or Trading | Breakout |
| Diestro | Blueprints or Trading | Dominus |
| Dingo | Blueprints or Trading | Octane |
| Dominus GT | Blueprints or Trading | Dominus |
| Endo | Blueprints or Trading | Hybrid |
| Fennec | Blueprints or Trading | Octane |
| Imperator DT5 | Blueprints or Trading | Dominus |
| Jager 619 RS | Blueprints or Trading | Hybrid |
| Mantis | Blueprints or Trading | Plank |
| Nimbus | Blueprints or Trading | Hybrid |
| Octane ZSR | Blueprints or Trading | Octane |
| Peregrine TT | Blueprints or Trading | Dominus |
| Road Hog XL | Blueprints or Trading | Octane |
| Samurai | Blueprints or Trading | Breakout |
| Sentinel | Blueprints or Trading | Plank |
| Takumi RX-T | Blueprints or Trading | Octane |
| Twinzer | Blueprints or Trading | Octane |
| Tygris | Blueprints or Trading | Hybrid |
| Werewolf | Blueprints or Trading | Dominus |
| X-Devil MK2 | Blueprints or Trading | Hybrid |
| Insidio | Blueprints or Trading | Hybrid |
| Ecto-1 | Blueprints or Trading | Dominus |
Very Rare
Very rare cars can be acquired via drops which Rocket League gives you for completing challenges or reaching a certain tier in the free track of the season pass.
This content was first published on GamersNotAllowed.com
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| Aftershock | Drop | Dominus |
| Esper | Drop | Hybrid |
| Grog | Drop | Octane |
| Marauder | Drop | Octane |
| Masamune | Drop | Dominus |
| Proteus | Drop | Octane |
| Ripper | Drop | Dominus |
| Scarab | Drop | Octane |
| Takumi | Drop | Octane |
| Triton | Drop | Octane |
| Vulcan | Drop | Octane |
| Zippy | Drop | Octane |
Limited
Limited cars can only be obtained during certain events, and are either no longer available, or can be traded with other players.
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| Battle-Bus (Llama-Rama) | Trading (Initially unlocked via the Llama-Rama event in 2020) | Merc |
| Nemesis (Twitch Prime) | Linking a Twitch Prime account | Dominus |
Rocket Pass Cars
Rocket Pass cars are a type of Limited cars as they can only be acquired via trading now but were originally acquired via the Rocket League season pass.
Note: Rocket Pass 1 and Season 1 Rocket Pass are different, as, after Rocket Pass 6, the developers changed the naming system.
| Car Name | Season Pass | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| Maverick | Rocket Pass 1 | Trading | Dominus |
| Maverick G1 | Rocket Pass 1 | Trading | Dominus |
| Maverick GXT | Rocket Pass 1 | Trading | Dominus |
| Artemis | Rocket Pass 2 | Trading | Plank |
| Artemis G1 | Rocket Pass 2 | Trading | Plank |
| Artemis GXT | Rocket Pass 2 | Trading | Plank |
| Guardian | Rocket Pass 3 | Trading | Dominus |
| Guardian G1 | Rocket Pass 3 | Trading | Dominus |
| Guardian GXT | Rocket Pass 3 | Trading | Dominus |
| Mudcat | Rocket Pass 4 | Trading | Octane |
| Mudcat G1 | Rocket Pass 4 | Trading | Octane |
| Mudcat GXT | Rocket Pass 4 | Trading | Octane |
| Chikara | Rocket Pass 5 | Trading | Dominus |
| Chikara G1 | Rocket Pass 5 | Trading | Dominus |
| Chikara GXT | Rocket Pass 5 | Trading | Dominus |
| Ronin | Rocket Pass 6 | Trading | Dominus |
| Ronin G1 | Rocket Pass 6 | Trading | Dominus |
| Ronin GXT | Rocket Pass 6 | Trading | Dominus |
| Harbinger | Season 1 Rocket Pass | Trading | Octane |
| Harbinger GXT | Season 1 Rocket Pass | Trading | Octane |
| R3MX | Season 2 Rocket Pass | Trading | Hybrid |
| R3MX GXT | Season 2 Rocket Pass | Trading | Hybrid |
| Tyranno | Season 3 Rocket Pass | Trading | Dominus |
| Tyranno GXT | Season 3 Rocket Pass | Trading | Dominus |
| Outlaw | Season 4 Rocket Pass | Trading | Octane |
| Outlaw GXT | Season 4 Rocket Pass | Trading | Octane |
| Nexus | Season 5 Rocket Pass | Trading | Breakout |
| Nexus SC | Season 5 Rocket Pass | Trading | Breakout |
| Nomad | Season 6 Rocket Pass | Trading | Merc |
| Nomad-GTX | Season 6 Rocket Pass | Trading | Merc |
| Maestro | Season 7 Rocket Pass | Trading | Dominus |
| Honda Civic Type R | Season 8 Rocket Pass | Trading | Octane |
| Honda Civic Type R-LE | Season 8 Rocket Pass | Trading | Octane |
Exclusive
Next up are the six platform-exclusive vehicles, each of which have a different requirement to unlock them. While they are exclusive to certain platforms, they are considered to be a common rarity.
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox | Platform |
| Armadillo | Complete a season of Rocket League Single Player | Octane | Xbox |
| Hogsticker | Playing one game with each common car body | Octane | Xbox |
| Mario NSR | Default for Nintendo Switch | Octane | Nintendo Switch |
| Luigi NSR | Default for Nintendo Switch | Octane | Nintendo Switch |
| Samus’ Gunship | Play several matches on Nintendo Switch | Dominus | Nintendo Switch |
| Sweet Tooth | Play one game with each common car body | Octane | PS4 |
Exotic
Currently there is one Exotic car available, and it can be unlocked via blueprints just like Import cars.
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| Komodo | Blueprints, Item Shop | Breakout |
Premium
Final on the list are the premium cars that are only available if you purchase the DLC they belong to from the item shop. Keep in mind some DLCs are unavailable, thus making the cars belonging to that DLC unattainable.
Note: DLC packs can no longer be purchased, so you can only obtain the following cars via the rotating item shop.
| Car Name | How to Unlock | Hitbox |
| ‘16 Batmobile | Purchase from rotating item shop | Plank |
| ‘70 Dodge Charger | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| ‘89 Batmobile | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| ‘99 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 | Purchase from rotating item shop | Hybrid |
| Bone Shaker | Purchase from rotating item shop | Octane |
| DeLorean Time Machine | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| Ecto-1 | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| Fast 4WD | Purchase from rotating item shop | Octane |
| Gazella GT | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| Ice Charger | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| Jurassic Jeep Wrangler | Purchase from rotating item shop | Octane |
| K.I.T.T. | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| McLaren 570S | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| MR11 | Purchase from rotating item shop | Dominus |
| The Dark Knight Tumbler | Purchase from rotating item shop | Octane |
| Twin Mill III | Purchase from rotating item shop | Plank |
Conclusion
Now that you know how to acquire each car in Rocket League, it is time to go and unlock as many as you can get your hands on!
While the best car is a personal preference and should fit your playing style, picking different cars with the Octane or Plank hitboxes is the easiest way to get better ball control on the soccer field for inexperienced players.
So I recommend new players to check this out.
After all, there’s a reason why the most popular car among professional players is the Rocket League Octane car.
This remains a popular choice for all rocket League fans – even pros playing in the hardcore competitive Rocket League ranks. But it’s also the perfect vehicle for newer players because of the ball control.
If you found this article helpful and enjoyed it, check out some of my other articles about Rocket League; fx this one about the cost of Heatwave in Rocket League. Until next time, happy gaming!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jan has played video games since the early 1980s. He loves getting immersed in video games as a way to take his mind off stuff when the outside world gets too scary. A lifelong gamer, the big interest led to a job as a lecturer on game sound at the University of Copenhagen and several written articles on video games for magazines.