Wreckfest: Complete Guide

A driver's guide to Wreckfest: how damage and armor work, winning banger races and derbies, career progression through all five championships, upgrades and tuning, and multiplayer tips.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the PC Crossplay Update (March 2024), the last major Wreckfest 1 update. The sequel, Wreckfest 2, has been in Early Access since 20 March 2025; this guide covers the original game.

Quick Start

1. It's a physics game first. The soft-body damage model means impacts bend real parts: steering, suspension, engine and wheels. Damage changes how your car drives.
2. Racing is still the main event. In banger races, the finish line matters more than wrecking. Aggression is a tool, not the goal.
3. Protect your front. A crushed front end damages the engine and radiator area and your steering. Hit people with the corners and sides where possible, and don't ram head-on unless you have to.
4. Armor trades speed for survival. Heavier armor protects you but adds weight, slowing acceleration and hurting handling.
5. The first corner is chaos. Start cautiously or aim for the inside line; most wrecks happen in the opening seconds.
6. Derbies reward angle, not speed. Hit opponents in the wheels and sides, and protect your own engine.
7. Career unlocks cars and parts. Earning experience raises your rank, which unlocks upgrades.
8. Try the silly stuff. Special events with lawn mowers, school buses, harvesters and other odd vehicles are a big part of the fun.
9. Online is crossplay on PC. Since March 2024, Steam, GOG and Epic players can join the same lobbies.

Game Modes

Event types you'll see:

The Damage Model

• Location-based damage: where you get hit matters. Front impacts risk the engine; wheel impacts wreck steering and suspension.
• Performance loss: as parts get damaged the car pulls to one side, loses power, or gets unstable.
• Wrecked: when a car's health runs out it's out of the event. In races this ends your run; in derbies it removes you.
• Reset: if you're stuck or flipped, use the reset option, but it costs time.

Reading damage: watch the car damage display on the HUD. If one corner is badly damaged, favour turns that protect that side.

Career

The career has five championships, progressed in order:

Progress tips:

• Rank unlocks parts. Your player rank goes up with experience, and new upgrades unlock with it.
• Each event has objectives beyond winning. Completing them helps progress; there's also an achievement for completing every career challenge.
• Buy a good all-rounder early and upgrade it rather than buying lots of cars.
• Credits come from events. Don't blow them on cosmetics until your main car is competitive.

Cars, Classes and Upgrades

Cars are grouped into performance classes, and many events restrict which class you can enter. Upgrading a car moves its performance rating up, which can push it into a higher class, so keep an eye on class limits when fitting parts.

Choosing a build:

• Racing build: light armor, strong engine and handling parts. Fast but fragile.
• Derby build: heavy armor front and sides, enough power to build speed for hits.
• Balanced build: medium armor and solid performance; the safest for career.

Tuning: in the garage you can adjust setup options such as suspension, gearing and differential settings. Small changes add up, especially on a car with heavy armor.

Driving Technique

• Brake early, exit fast. Wreckfest cars are heavy; momentum through the exit wins races.
• Use the inside line at the start. It's the shortest path and the hardest place for others to punt you off.
• The pit maneuver works. Tap a rival's rear corner mid-corner to spin them.
• Avoid pack collisions on crossovers. Figure-8 intersections are where races are lost; slow down if you can't see a gap.
• Don't chase revenge. Chasing someone who hit you costs more time than the hit did.
• Watch your mirrors. Blocking a faster car into a corner is legal and effective.

Derby Technique

• Reverse into people. Your rear is expendable; your engine isn't.
• Target wheels. Breaking an opponent's wheels or suspension cripples them.
• Stay near the edges when outnumbered. Let others trade hits in the middle.
• Keep moving. Stationary cars are easy targets.
• Build speed before hitting. A long run-up does more damage than repeated nudges.

Special Vehicles

The game's challenge modes put you in unusual vehicles such as lawn mowers, crop harvesters, school buses and three-wheelers. Achievements reward some of them, like wrecking 50 opponents with the school bus, and reaching 210 km/h (130 mph) with the Rocket. These events are mostly for fun, but they're also good XP.

Settings and Controls

• Assists: turn on steering and braking assists while learning; turn them off later for more control.
• Transmission: automatic is fine for most players. Manual can help in tight races.
• Controllers and wheels: gamepads work well. Wheels from Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec are supported, and a 2022 update fixed crashes with less common wheel brands.
• Keyboard binding: fixed in the January 2023 update if you had trouble rebinding keys.
• Steam Deck: the game is playable on Steam Deck, and a 2023 fix addressed Quick Match crashes.

Multiplayer

• PC crossplay between Steam, GOG and Epic launched on 22 March 2024.
• Server browser shows ping; pick low-ping lobbies to reduce desync in contact-heavy events.
• Lobby etiquette varies. Some servers are "clean racing", some are chaos. Read the server name and message.
• Up to 24 cars can share a race.
• LAN servers work (fixed in November 2022).

Mods

Wreckfest has Steam Workshop support. Mods add new cars (including monster trucks), tracks with huge jumps and remakes of classic maps from destruction games. Mods can change multiplayer compatibility, so check what a server requires.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Ramming head-on. It wrecks your engine and steering.
• Over-armoring for races. Weight kills acceleration and handling.
• Upgrading out of an event's class. Check the class limit after fitting parts.
• Flooring it into the first corner. The pileup waits for you.
• Chasing wrecks in races. Position wins, not destruction.
• Ignoring damage display. Drive to protect damaged corners.
• Buying many cars early. Focus credits on one strong car.

Advanced Tips

• Side-swipe from behind in corners to spin rivals without damaging your front.
• Use walls as shields in derbies, but don't get pinned.
• Learn track shortcuts and crossover timing in custom events.
• Save a derby build and a race build of your favourite car so you can swap quickly.
• Replay events with the objectives in mind to finish career challenges.
• Practise one track in Custom Event against AI until you know every braking point before racing it online.

FAQ

Is Wreckfest still supported? The original gets occasional server and compatibility fixes; the last major update was PC crossplay in March 2024. Development focus has moved to Wreckfest 2, in Early Access since March 2025.

Is Wreckfest 2 a replacement? It's a separate game. Its developers have said Early Access launched with less content than Wreckfest 1 after years of updates.

Can I play with friends on Epic or GOG? Yes, PC crossplay covers Steam, GOG and Epic.

What DLC should I get? Car packs like the Banger Racing, Retro Rammers, Backwoods Bangers and Getaway packs add cars; the Season Passes bundle many of them. The Complete Edition contains the lot.

How many championships are in the career? Five: Regional Juniors, National Amateurs, Challengers, Pro Internationals and World Masters.

Does it support steering wheels? Yes, including Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec wheels.

Sources

• Steam store page: Wreckfest
• Steam news: PC Crossplay Update and earlier patches
• Steam global achievements list
• Wikipedia: Wreckfest