If you have played My Summer Car, you already know that the series is a punishing experience that asks the best of you to keep yourself alive and to also learn about restoring vehicles and driving them. My Winter Car is no different. In fact, it’s worse thanks to some new features and changes that make it harder.
It’s likely that you won’t know how to do pretty much anything when you start the game. It’s part of its appeal and its steep learning curve. If you want to know a few things before you boot My Winter Car, though, here are some beginner-friendly tips that won’t spoil the experience and will give you a big hand.
This game is on Early Access, so the usefulness of any of these tips might change in the future.
Play My Summer Car First
You probably already know this, but My Winter Car is the sequel to My Summer Car. The change of season isn’t only aesthetic: the presence of snow and cold temperatures drastically alters the roads, the vehicles’ maintenance, and what your character needs to survive. In fact, all the biggest changes and additions make this new entry a more punishing experience.
So if you think My Winter Car is being a bit too tough, but you see aspects that you like, you could try My Summer Car first. It’s still an obnoxious and hard game with no instructions on what to do, but it has fewer things to worry about.
My Winter Car: Problem Bar, Explained
My Winter Car brings some serious problems.
Turn Off Permadeath
As soon as you start a new game, you’ll have to complete your license card with your name and a picture, if you want to. There are other meaningless details on the card, and they are in Finnish. However, keep an eye on the last one, which has an “On” on it: it’s the permadeath feature.
This is turned on as the default because it’s part of the experience: if you die, you need to start again from scratch. And it’s likely that you’ll die, since you’ll learn a lot of things by trial and error (and by reading this and our other guides, I’d like to think). But if you think that this is too much, and you might like to have a checkpoint system, simply turn this off,
How To Start The Car
You can drive your initial car in less than a minute after starting a new game, but let’s slow down for a bit. This is a simulator title focused on driving, so traveling requires a bit more than entering your car and accelerating.
Exit your house, and you’ll see your car parked. Go to the front, crouch, and unplug the device that it is attached to: it’s a heater that keeps the vehicle from freezing. Next, you can either scrape the windows by pressing left-click and moving the mouse from one side to the other multiple times, or use the car’s heat system.
For the latter, you need to ignite the engine (hold left-click on the key until the engine starts), and turn on the blower and the window heater. It will take a minute, but the snow in your car will melt.
Also, don’t turn off the blower while you drive, since it will prevent your windshield from being covered with snow.
Left-click the car’s choker a couple of times, which will help if the vehicle’s temperature is low, and move the temperature device on your right, to keep the car warm for itself and also your body temperature.
You’re almost there. Now you have to put down the hand brake, put the car in reverse (press B), and then manually change the transmission control (B to go down, G to go up) to accelerate. Keep an eye on the car’s temperature (indicator on the left) and its fuel tank (on the right, usually you have half a tank when you start), and you’re free to wander around on your first day.
Don’t forget to turn off anything still running while you park. When you return home or if you see one where you park, always connect the car to a heat device.
Take A Minute To Check All The Controls
If following the previous tip was a bit complicated, it’s because you realized something important: the lack of guidance and instructions in My Winter Car is only a part of what makes it difficult — learning all the different controls is also essential.
Press F1 and check the different settings with the player and the vehicles’ controls. For example, you will discover the action Reach (Q), which lets you come closer to objects. Since this game has a weird detection sensor, you’ll be using this frequently to pick up stuff of check your surroundings.
Anything that requires you to press numbers uses your numpad.
Other relevant actions include holding U to check your watch (stores work in fixed hours), Space activates driving mode while inside a vehicle, F lets you equip/use items, eat food, and have drinks, and P makes you urinate.
Install The Fly Mod ASAP
If you don’t want to play My Summer Car but you still want to make your experience with this game a bit more comfortable, there’s a second option: installing mods. Personally, I recommend installing ongk’s NoClip, which lets you fly to any spot in the game.
Sometimes it works a bit clunky, since your character will jump or appear inside buildings that you didn’t enter when you turn this off. However, it’s a great tool for reaching somewhere faster than driving, or just to learn the map in another way.
Take Notes Or Pictures Of Every Bit Of Info
Inventories? Quests markers? Diary logs? None of these exist in My Winter Car. You only have attributes/stats indicators, which show your character’s needs and the money in your wallet. There’s no menu or inventory tab keeping track of anything.
This means that whenever you see a phone number that you can use or want to reach a specific spot on your house’s map (which you can’t bring with you!), you need to write note down on a sheet of paper or take screenshots. As information such as phone numbers is really important in the game, you should definitely write them down somewhere.
If you want the full hardcore experience and avoid cheating, there’s actually a way of keeping notes in-game: you have a note in your house, where the TV is. You can pick it up, open it with F, and write anything you want in every line. You then have to carry it in your car or keep it in your house.
You Have More Money Than You Think
You will see your money indicator on the top left side of the screen, but that’s the money you have with you. You also have a bank account (and a credit card), even if the game never tells you. You start with 2,000 MK in your account, so you have a bit more than 4,000 MK in total.
To check your bank account and activate your card, you need to visit any ATM (the gas station has one) and interact with it. Insert your card, create a PIN, and that’s it.
Once you create your PIN, it will always be the same. You won’t be able to change it unless you start a new game.
Still, Start A Job Whenever You Can
My Winter Car features a handful of jobs for you. To start one, you usually need to find an ad with a phone number, call that number, and then go to the place marked (the leaflet distribution will send things to your home, though). As you use your car, you’ll need to buy fuel, which is quite expensive, and your character’s needs will ask you to purchase food and drinks.
So, you won’t need a job right on your first day, but start looking for one as soon as you have a feeling of the game and how to keep yourself alive. Here’s our article with the available jobs, and we recommend chopping and delivering wood to earn some quick cash.
Don’t Start Restoring Anything Just Yet
While the game won’t ever show you a clear objective, the soul of the series is to restore vehicles and then run races with them or keep them as your own projects. However, don’t even bother about any of this for your first hours.
Take your time to learn the controls and all the other things mentioned in this guide and others. Restoring vehicles takes time, a good knowledge of many mechanics, and a steady income. Settle yourself, learn everything that you need, and then, if you want to, start diving deep into the repairs universe.
My Winter Car: How To Get Gas
Getting gassed up in My Winter Car
