Rocket League is a very competitive game. There is no question about that.
It’s the smallest details that often make a big difference and one thing people miss when they first get the game is changing their settings. Certain settings are helpful, and some are more harmful.
In this article I’m going to give you the ultimate guide on all in-game settings for Rocket League.
If you are interested in hiring me for a coaching session, you can find my coaching profile linked here, as well as other coaches and courses for Rocket League
The Basic Settings
So here we are in the main menu of Rocket League.
From here you should be able to see a Settings button. Click that and a window pops up:
The first tab we have is called Gameplay. For now we are going to ignore it and go to the Camera tab.
As I said in the intro, I have experimented with many camera settings. Currently, I am using what I consider to be the most balanced settings. I say balanced in terms of being able to aerial and do ground mechanics without any issue. It doesn’t help to do either one better but it also doesn’t hurt either.
First things first. Turn off Camera Shake. This is a cool little feature that makes your camera shake any time you jump/flip/get demoed/etc. But despite it looking cool, it can also cause motion sickness and also throw off your vision because of the shaking screen. So please, do yourself a favour and turn it off.
Next we have Field of View. By default, this value will be set to 90 degrees. This will give you the most accurate depth perception. However, it will also make you unable to see quite a bit of the field.
I recommend maxing it out at 110 degrees. This will create a stretched effect, but if you are able to get used to this, you can use the added 20 degrees to see more of the field.
If you have an ultra wide monitor, this stretched effect will not be present. However, that doesn’t mean that you need a monitor like that. Most pros and players in general will have a standard monitor and do just fine. So it doesn’t make a huge difference.
Next we get to Distance. I recommend keeping it between 260-280. This will keep the camera close enough to the car that you can see where you are hitting the ball, but also far enough away so that you can still see around your car.
Then for Height, you want to pick something that is not too low to the ground but is also not too high. I recommend keeping it between 90-110.
Next we have Angle which is directly affected by height. Angle essentially is the angle in which the camera is tilted. The higher the negative number is, the more it will tilt downward. If it tilts down too far, you’ll have a hard time doing aerials, and if it tilts up too far, you’ll have a hard time doing ground mechanics.
You want to pick an angle that compliments the height, so I recommend keeping this between -5 and -3.
Then there is Stiffness. This is how rigidly the camera follows behind the car. I recommend keeping this somewhere in the middle so that the camera isn’t glued to your car, but it’s also not being dragged behind it. 0.50 is fine.
As for the last three settings, Swivel Speed is how fast the camera will swivel behind the car. It also affects the sensitivity of the right analogue stick. I usually keep this around 5.00 as it’s not too fast and not too slow.
Transition Speed is how the camera switches between ball- and car-cam. I recommend not to go above 1.5, but the default 1.0 is fine. I personally use 1.2 as it is also not too fast or too slow.
Finally, Invert Swivel just inverts the up and down on the right analogue stick. This is personal preference.
Bindings
When you first get the game, it is highly recommended to change your controller settings. The default settings that the game comes with aren’t great. Recently, the developers have made the default settings more optimal but it still has some flaws that make certain mechanics more difficult to do.
Ideally you want to pick settings that allow you to easily hit all buttons without overwhelming either hand.
Under there you will see a couple of sliders with values and some checkboxes. For now, you want to ignore all of that and just click the big button at the top that says View/Change Bindings.
Once you are in here, there will be quite a few bindings so try to not get overwhelmed.
The first two things you want to look for are Powerslide and Air Roll. By default these are bound to the ‘X’ button if you are on an Xbox controller or the ‘Square’ button if you are on a Playstation Controller.
Ideally you want to keep these on the same binding for a couple of reasons we will get to later. But from here you have three options on what to change these to. The first option would be putting them on the ‘left bumper’ for Xbox or ‘L1’ button if you are on Playstation.
By default, the leaderboard toggle is on this button, so you will need to move it to a free button. I recommend ‘right bumper’ or ‘R1’. You can find this binding about halfway down the list. Alternatively, you can do the same but for the ‘right bumper’ or ‘R1’.
Now back to why I recommend that you keep both bindings on the same button. Two main reasons: They don’t affect each other. If you are in the air, you will air roll. If you are on the ground, you will powerslide.
And secondly, it makes certain mechanics such as ‘wave dashing’ to the side easier because you only need one extra button instead of two. It also helps for general recoveries considering you are able to go from air rolling in the air to immediately using ‘power slide’ to recover off of whatever surface you land on.
So that was the first option. The other config I recommend is leaving Air Roll and Powerslide on their default bindings but moving Boost to ‘right bumper’ or ‘R1’. This is my personal setup. Putting Boost right next to Drive Forward seems to make the most sense. You use Jump and Boost a lot in this game, so freeing up your thumb from needing to press two buttons so often is really helpful.
Something worth noting: you will need to put your index finger on the bumper and use your middle finger for drive. This goes for both config options.
Sensitivities
So now that we’ve covered controller bindings, let’s move on to sensitivities.
Going back to the Controls tab, the first two sliders you will see are called Steering Sensitivity and Aerial Sensitivity. By default these will be set to 1.00.
What these sliders do is it adds a multiplier to your initial input. Essentially this causes your car to start moving with less force on the stick. You also want to make the values the same for both so that you don’t need to adjust how much force you put on the stick depending on if you are in the air or if you are on the ground.
Keeping that in mind, the default value is arguably too slow. However, I recommend that you don’t go above 1.50. Best thing you can do is move them up by 0.05 increments so that it’s easier to get used to.
I personally use 1.30 right now but I did play on 1.20 for a couple of years. So experiment with this and find what you like. Just remember to not go above 1.50.
Optional Settings
Now we are moving onto the optional settings. Going back to the Gameplay tab, you are generally safe to leave at default values, but there are some that I would recommend changing. I recommend disabling Voice Chat.
This is a feature that some people like, but seasoned veterans of the game will already know that it doesn’t work all that well. On top of this, sometimes if people talk in game, this can cause weird lag spikes. So it’s safe to just disable it all together.
Next I’d recommend setting Client Send Rate, Server Send Rate, and Bandwidth Limit all to high. This will ensure you get the best connection to the game server and will help avoid lag.
If your connection isn’t the best then you might need to lower these. If you are still lagging, you might want to try to change the Input Buffer. For most cases, Default is the best, but you will want to try STS or CSTS in certain cases.
From here we will move into the Interface tab. Again most of these settings are personal preference. However, I will say that you should never disable Ball Arrow. This is a little arrow that points to where the ball is when you aren’t in ball-cam. It is super useful for knowing where the ball is without looking at it.
Other than that I would recommend to increase the Nameplate Scale to around 140% so that you can see other players’ names more easily from across the field which will help you keep track of where they are.
And finally for optional settings, we have the Video tab. These settings are going to vary based on if you are on PC or console.
For console, the settings are pretty limited, but I recommend turning off Motion Blur, Weather Effects, Lens Flares, and Light Shafts. All of those settings will impact vision and cause lag so turning them off is really helpful.
As for PC, I recommend to turn everything down to the lowest except for Render Quality which you want at the highest so that your game won’t become pixelated. The reason you want to turn all of these settings is so that you get the most visibility and best performance.
Also uncheck every checkbox except for Transparent Goalposts as this is a super useful feature and will help with defense massively.
Resolution is dependent on your monitor, and you want to make sure Display Mode is set to Fullscreen so there is no lag. Also set your Max FPS slider to 250 and disable Vertical Sync. Even if you don’t have a monitor that supports high refresh rates, the game will register inputs faster.
The settings for Audio, Chat, and Extras are all personal. I will say for Audio, you want to make sure that you are able to hear the game and the cars around you. This will help you avoid demos and get an idea where your teammate or an opposing player might be.
A bit of a disclaimer: I recommend that whenever you change your settings, especially controller bindings, take around a week of playing training/casual so that you are able to retrain your muscle memory. Depending on how long you played on your previous settings, this adjustment period may vary. Seriously, switching your controls is difficult, and you’re going to want to switch back, but give it a chance, you’ll get to where things feel normal again in about a week.
Orientation Drills
Now I am going to show you some drills that will help you get used to your new settings.
Starting off in Freeplay, you will want to leave the ball in the centre and keep your ball-cam on.
I want you to practice driving around the field with your ball-cam on and really try to turn a lot. You want to get used to that new sensation of turning. Really get a good feeling for how much pressure you need to put on the stick in order to get your car to turn.
I recommend drilling this for about 2-3 min a day as soon as you get on. Most of it will be learned through in game experiences.
As for getting used to aerial sensitivities, you will again want to come into Freeplay then fly up into the air and start hovering. You then want to flip your car and try to catch yourself again. This training can also double up as training aerial control. Do this for about 2-3 min a day as well.
Other than that it’ll just take some time playing the game to adjust.
Conclusion
I hope you guys found this helpful. As with everything in Rocket League, you should take time to figure out exactly what works for you. This is a great setup, but feel free to make adjustments as you see fit.
And again, if you’re looking to hire a coach you can find me here as well as other coaches and courses.
