It's no secret that Starfield — out now on PC and Xbox Series S/X — is hands down one of the most monumental game launches of the year. For Bethesda, it's a gamble in uncharted territory as they undertake their first new universe in 25 years, set across the stars in a futuristic civilised corner of the Milky Way galaxy. For publisher Xbox, it's an opportunity to bounce back from a lacklustre 2022 slate and dominate the gaming conversation for a long time — probably years, given the staying power director Todd Howard's RPGs are notorious for. With over a thousand planets to explore, dashing factions to align with, and cosmic mysteries bubbling with political intrigue, Starfield aims to be the most complex spacefaring adventure of our generation. As such, it soars gracefully, but not without some turbulence.
Starfield's lack of ground vehicles is a deliberate choice, Bethesda says
08.09.2023 - 11:03 / eurogamer.net / Todd Howard / Luke Skywalker
Bethesda has discussed its decision not to include ground vehicles in Starfield — at least, not at the game's launch.
Touch down on one of Starfield's many planets and there are miles of planet to explore in each direction. But you'll be doing this on foot, aided by your trusty jetpack. You can't slide into a waiting dune buggy or landspeeder and jet across the Jundland Wastes, Luke Skywalker style.
This is by design, Bethesda's Todd Howard has said, as it makes for a more authored experience.
«It's something we consider,» Howard said, when questioned by Bloomberg about the lack of vehicles on planets. «Once you do vehicles it does change the gameplay. By focusing once you land on your ship that you're foot, it lets us really for the players make it an experience where we know how fast they're seeing things.
»And in one sense, you do have a vehicle. You have your spaceship, you can go around space. On the surface you have a jetpack you can upgrade which is super fun."
In a year where even Link was able to cobble together vehicles to cross Hyrule, some players have said they hope Bethesda adds the ability to construct land-based modes of transport for Starfield. And who knows? In some future DLC or expansion, it may happen.
But other players have said they're glad Starfield doesn't rely on ground vehicles to get around, as it means that discoveries can be centred within a smaller area of a map.
During the same interview, Bloomberg questioned Howard — in a fairly stern voice — why Starfield had not been optimised for PC. «Uh, we did,» Howard replied. «It's running great, it's a next-gen PC game. We really do push the technology so you may need to upgrade your PC.»
For more on Bethesda's big space adventure and what is actually in the game at present, check out our Starfield walkthrough.
Latest Nvidia driver improves Starfield performance for PCs with Resizable BAR
It’s no secret that Starfield requires a powerful gaming PC. Even if you have the latest generation hardware and the best graphics settings, the game will still crush your framerate. PC optimizations are on the way at last though for Nvidia users, because the latest game drivers improve Starfield performance by a small margin on systems that support Resizable BAR.
Bethesda 'talked about' using the Fallout version of Earth in Starfield, Todd Howard says
For reasons I won't get into here because it may constitute a little bit of a spoiler, the planet Earth in Starfield is a bit of a wasteland. But what if it was The Wasteland—that is, the post-nuclear hellscape of Bethesda's other big sci-fi-ish game series, Fallout? In an interview with The Washington Post, creative director Todd Howard said developers actually gave thought to the idea.
This Starfield mod will let you jog slower if you want that
Starfield's jogging speed can appear to be a little fast but thankfully if you're finding it to be an issue a few players have already created some mods to help.
Starfield Will Get Official Mod Support in 2024, Bethesda Confirms
Starfield is getting official mod support in 2024, game director Todd Howard confirmed in an interview. Since the expansive space RPG's debut in early access, thousands of unofficial mods have been made available online, ranging from ones that enable Nvidia's DLSS upscaling system to making the inventory more compact and user-friendly. However, official modding tools make it easy to add fresh, custom content such as new planets and story quests, essentially opening the playing field for more experimentation. This has been the custom for Bethesda games at launch, where the modding community has been deeply involved with eliminating bugs or enhancing the experience, thanks to a deep understanding of the engine.
Starfield Players Have Made Some Weird and Wonderful Mods
Starfield players have already made some incredibly useful mods, like a fix for the frustrating inventory system or the addition of DLSS support, but they've also added some very silly things like hairy chests, colourful juice boxes, and the lasagne loving cat Garfield.
Starfield doesn’t have ground vehicles because they would have changed the game, director says
Starfield director Todd Howard has addressed the space RPG’s lack of ground vehicles and explained that the decision was made so that the developers could focus on on-foot exploration.
Asked about Starfield ground vehicles, Todd Howard points out that there are spaceships and jetpacks in the game
Opinions on Starfield are all over the place, but two criticisms are pretty widely shared: One, the maps aren't very good, and two, it's a bit disappointing that there aren't any ground vehicles to explore planets with.
Todd Howard discusses reasoning for lack of ground vehicles in Starfield
After finding out that Starfield completely omits any ground-based vehicles for your avatar to ride on, many players have wondered exactly why Bethesda made this design decision. Fortunately for those players, Bethesda executive producer and Starfield director Todd Howard recently addressed the matter in an interview with Bloomberg. You can find the interview posted further down this article, where you can skip to 3:00 to hear Howard’s response.
Todd Howard Explains the Lack of Ground Vehicles in Starfield
Bethesda’s officially released yesterday after about a week of early access availability. Director Todd Howard and Xbox CEO Phil Spencer recently answered a few questions about the new game in a recent interview. .
Todd Howard Explains Why Starfield Doesn't Have Land Vehicles In New Interview
If you've been exploring planets in the future, as told by Starfield, you might have noticed a distinct lack of land vehicles. It seems cars, trucks and SUVs are a thing of the past in Starfield's vision for the stars, but game director Todd Howard says adding vehicles would «change the gameplay.»
Starfield Flying Jetpack Mod Lets You Freely Explore the Planets and Forget About the Lack of Vehicles
Starfield fans were initially surprised to learn that there wouldn't be any land vehicles to explore the thousand planets available in Bethesda's new sci-fi roleplaying game. Game Director Todd Howard commented on the topic once again in the Bloomberg TV interview, where he reiterated the message that it was purely a design decision.