This guide is designed to give you insight as to which car best suits you in Rocket League.
Your Choices
I know a lot of players tend to use Octane and that’s fine. However there is a lot of us who have a lot of trouble using that car.
Note: I made a video on this, it’s in the next section. Feel free to read this, but if you don’t like big scary walls of text, you can watch the video instead.
So, for the many of us who don’t feel comfortable with the Octane, what are your options?
1. You can keep playing with the Octane until you get used to it.
Yeah the simple, “get gud” attitude you tend to get too much of is annoying but hey, if you really think you can handle the Octane then go for it! It’s just going to be a matter of time before you figure it out!
2. Alternate cars with the same hitbox.
So there are different hitbox types (Octane, Breakout, Dominus, Hybrid, Batmobile) and there are also a handful of cars that use the same hitbox. So instead of giving up on the Octane entirely, you can use a car that has the same hitbox and learn that way. I tend to have more success using the Twinzer than the Octane. I don’t know why, I’m weird that way. So, maybe that’ll work for you as well!
3. Different car, different hitbox, say something like the Dominus!
Now we can discuss this! Maybe you just want more reach out of your car. The short-but-tall Octane simply isn’t your play-style and you need something that feels possibly, more natural.
Well, I would recommend the Dominus or Dominus-type cars such as the Maverick.
The Dominus hitbox is a personal favorite of mine so excuse any bias I may have. The car just handles the way I expect a car to handle. Sure it has some downfalls like any other, but if you can hit aerials and win most of your 50/50’s, then you can work through those weaknesses.
My personal weakness with the Dominus is the recoveries. There’s a lot of times where I don’t land smoothly or just outright freefall because I can’t get the car to land on all 4s all the time. It’s a tough issue to deal with but eventually, I’ll figure it out. I’ll get back to this in a bit, but for now onto the next option!
4. Batmobile 16
Alright so the Batmobile ’16 is also one that you may see as a main for a few high skilled players. The main difference between this hitbox and the Dominus is that it’s wider than the Dominus and any other hitbox for that matter. Again, recoveries are going to be one of the larger flaws but who cares when you can win just about every 50/50? This hitbox type is unique and requires a really niche playstyle but it can work well. In other regards, it feels similar to the Dominus and I feel you can hot-swap between the two rather easily. Also remember there are alternate cars that use the same hitbox like the new Artemis car from Rocket Pass as well as the Mantis.
5. The hybrids
So here’s another hitbox type that I tend to like more than the others. So, what is the difference? Well, the hybrid hitbox is longer than the Octane and taller than the Dominus. So you get this, oval-ish car that plays like a long-car but with more height. I’d go as far as to say it’s more nimble than the Dominus because it’s shorter and handles like a long Octane. If you use the Octane often, the hybrid may not be for you. I run into a number of Octane players who simply don’t like the hybrid hitbox and rightfully so! It’s a long car – kind of. So it’s going to feel clunky or bulky compared to what they use. However, if you use long cars like the Breakout or Dominus, this is going to feel very much in your wheelhouse. It’s not to say this is the perfect hitbox, there is no such thing, but it’s going to feel lighter than the Dominus and as if you have more control. At the very least, that’s how I felt when I first used this hitbox type. Going back to recoveries, this hitbox feels a lot easier to recover and land than the Dominus for me. So its weaknesses are easier for me to cope with and adjust to. It’s up to you entirely if you want to use this or not, but I really do recommend at least trying it out if you use long cars often.
My personal favorite from this hitbox-type is the Jager. It is smaller than it’s hitbox so that may throw some people off, but it’s not the only one that uses this hitbox of course. You also have the Skyline which fits the hitbox almost perfectly. Again, not to say that’s the best but if you really do like your hitbox to match the car as close as possible, this is probably the closest one in the game.
Conclusion TL;DR
Keep trying the Octane from time to time. Just like fighting games, if you know how to use more than 1 character/car, you’re going to be a lot more difficult to play against.
That being said, look for alternate cars that either use the same hitbox or just another car all-together like the Dominus.
After a while, you’ll find something that works or feels more comfortable and excel with time.
Videos
My video talking about pretty much everything in the section above:
Rocket Science video about the turning radius of each hitbox:
Excel Sheet of each hitbox and which cars use which hitbox: