Discover everything you need to know about the 10 best beginner tips for My Winter Car, including how to progress effectively.
My Winter Car is not your typical driving or life-sim game. It’s a brutally realistic survival simulator set in rural Finland during the 1990s. The game blends car mechanics, daily-life management, and harsh survival elements into an experience. Surviving in the harsh environment of My Winter Car is challenging due to the complicated mechanics.
Adjust the heat in your home, using the radiators in each room. The game has Permadeath, meaning if you die, your saved file is wiped, and you must start all over again. From learning to drive a car to getting a job in the cold weather, we’ve got you covered.
For more information on My Winter Car, check out its official Steam page here.
Table of contents
1. Learn To Drive
Driving a car in My Winter Car can be challenging for most players due to the complex sequence to order. If you already drive a manual car in real life, then it’s an easy task for you. You need to drive your first car to go to new POIs, like a gas station or PSK. The world in this survival game is cold, and it can heavily affect your car’s performance.
Ensure the block heater is removed before starting the car. Get inside the car and press ‘Enter’ to enter the driving mode. Press once on the ignition with LMB to insert the key. You can see the light turned on in the dashboard. Ensure that you pull out the choke from the left side of the wheel if the engine is too cold.
You can remove it by hitting the LMB while hovering over the choke. The car is in the neutral state once you start it and is indicated by an N on the bottom right side of the screen. Rev up by holding down the LMB on the ignition and start the engine. Push the choke back in by pressing RMB after driving for a while.
Use the ‘W’ key for the gas while the car is in reverse gear. Press the S button to go backward. You can also turn on the auto-clutch from the settings. Keep in mind that the clutch is used with ‘X’. Lift the handbrake to drive the car.
2. Manage the Stats To Live Longer
You can see the stats of your character on the top left side of the screen. Managing them is crucial to surviving in the harsh environment. If one of the bar fill up, you may die. Problem, Hunger, Stress, Urine, Fatigue, Cash, Body Temperature, and Sweat are all stats of your character.
The Problem bar in My Winter Car replaces the old third system. You can easily manage it by drinking some specific items. It represents alcohol and stimulant dependency rather than simple hydration. The Beer can lower the Problem bar, and the alcohol can significantly mitigate it.
The player must eat food to avoid starving. Purchase the food items from PSK or Pub Nappo. Moose Meat is the best food item to purchase and consume to reduce hunger in your character. Drinking alcohol and beer can slightly reduce hunger.
The Stress increases over time and due to negative events. Lower it by performing enjoyable activities, drinking coffee, or driving over 120 km/h. Chopping firewood, winning the rally, passing the car inspection, swearing, using a sauna, eating grilled meats, or being on the island allows you to reduce the Stress in My Winter Car.
You will die from a burst bladder if you don’t. Drinking will cause the urine bar to increase quickly. Drinking your own urine mitigates the problem slowly. Make sure to press ‘P’ to empty your bladder.
You need to sleep in a bed or other designated resting spots to decrease fatigue and avoid passing out. You can sleep on the bench in the ventti house, on the sofa, on the cottage sofa, or in the back of the Gifu. Driving over 120 km/h can reduce Fatigue.
Wear appropriate clothing (indoor, outdoor, heavy winter) for the weather and seek heat sources to prevent hypothermia. Too much clothing in a warm area will cause sweating. This can, in turn, cause the temperature to drop faster. You can prevent it by going near sources of heat. Go into heated buildings, be inside warm cars, or be near fires to reduce body temperature.
Sweat in My Winter Car is caused by wearing too much clothing in warm conditions. High sweat levels contribute to a faster drop in body temperature in the cold. Wearing heavy outdoor clothing in a heated building will cause body temperature to drop faster.
3. Refuel the Car on Time
Your car will run out of fuel after driving for a while. You need to refuel the vehicle to continue driving. The game offers two gas stations, one inside the city and the other outside. Make sure to approach the gas pump and park the car.
Get outside of the vehicle and interact with the card terminal on the pump. Insert your credit card and enter the PIN. If it’s your first time using the terminal, then use any code and remember it to use it on the ATM. If you already use the ATM, then use that PIN to access your account in the card terminal. Enter the amount you choose to spend.
Once you confirm the amount, choose the pump number you’re using to fill the gas. Pick up the gas nozzle after the terminal finishes and fill the car with fuel. Once the bar completes, the tank is full. Now, you can place the nozzle back in its location. The payment will fail if the nozzle doesn’t lift.
4. Purchase Corris Rivett
Corris Rivett is your project car in My Winter Car, and building it is your main objective in Early Access. You can purchase this vehicle from the car seller for 500 MK, but you can’t drive it yet. Make your way to the PSK and approach the advertisement board on the right. It’s best if you note down the phone number of the car seller. Get inside your car and go all the way to the apartment and interact with the phone. Enter the correct phone number by using the keyboard.
Once you enter the number, wait for the seller to pick up the call. Listen to what the car seller has to say and don’t hang up while he’s talking. Once he hangs up the call, you need to move to this location to purchase the Corris Rivett.
Once you’re talking to the car seller, their location appears on the map. You need to get inside the car and make your way towards the designated location during the daytime. You will not find this NPC if you visit him at night. Once you find the firewood person, purchase the car. You can get some spare parts from where you purchased this car. So, make sure to put these spare parts in the trunk of your first car to use them later.
5. Set the Alarm
It’s best to set up the alarm to wake up at the selected time. The office starts at 7 AM, but you can’t wake up on your own. Set up the alarm at 6 Am to wake up a little earlier. The Alarm Clock in My Winter Car is used to mitigate your character’s fatigue based on the number of hours you slept. This device will only wake you up if you’re tired enough.
Set the wake-up time using the button on the left. Turn the alarm on by hitting the switch on the right side. The alarm will not ring if you forget to turn the switch on. You can wake up on your own at any random time if your character doesn’t have low Fatigue. This allows the alarm to never ring if you have already woken up. Sleeping with high fatigue allows you to wake up earlier than the set time. Don’t try to sleep in a cold room, so turn on the heater and wait for some time.
6. Defrost a Car
Defrosting the car in My Winter Car is essential before driving it. The weather in the game is cold, and the windows can freeze over with ice. You can’t see from the windows when they have frost. You can remove the frost manually or by using the heater. Open the door of the vehicle and get inside. You need to hover over the Ignition and press once to insert the key.
There’s a window heater on the right side of the dashboard with a square button. Press the blower twice to make it more powerful. Use the Scroll button to change the temperature. There’s a separate button for the rear window heater. Pressing this button allows you to heat the rear window only. Keep in mind that the heater will do nothing when the blower is off, so make sure to turn it on.
Blow the air on the window and cabin by moving the top lever to the right side. Use the bottom level to control the temperature. Move this level to the left side to enhance the heat. Once you turn on the heater in the car, the process of scraping the windows process becomes fast. Move outside the car and approach the window till the hand sign appears (Scrape window). Make sure to hold down LMB and scrape down while starting from the top-most section of the window.
7. Eat Food To Reduce Hunger
Consuming the food is essential to mitigate the hunger bar in My Winter Car. However, you need to purchase them first using MK. Make your way to the PSK fuel station to buy food. You can find this fuel station west of the apartment. Purchase the food items like sausages and drinks from the grocery section.
You can also purchase the proper meal from the café. Approach the counter and select the meal you want. Approach the NPC over there and give him the order. The food will be ready in a while and will be placed on a tray. Pick up the tray and place it on the table in the sitting area.
8. Learn To Use an ATM
Using the ATM in My Winter Car is crucial to deposit the money to use it to purchase new items like food. The PSK has an ATM inside that you can use. Once you enter the mart, you can find the ATM on the right side. Insert your credit card into the slot to initiate the transaction. You need to type your PIN code. The PIN you enter at the ATM for the first time is your permanent PIN for the rest of the game.
Use the same PIN code while prepaying for the gas at the pump. Choose the service you need, Tapahtumat for Transactions/Statement, and Otto for Withdraw cash from bank. Make sure to choose the amount of money you wish to withdraw from the available options. You get the option to see the withdrawal details in the system.
The transaction details will be displayed if you choose to select ‘Naytolle’. Take your card back from the machine before leaving. You can also use the ATM to check your balance and withdraw.
9. Don’t Let the Car’s Battery Die
Your car will start only when the battery is in a good state. The weaker battery allows for a cold start. Several reasons allow the car’s battery to die soon. Leaving the blower and lights on can cause the battery to drain. Turn off all electrical systems before leaving the car to avoid facing this problem.
Your car cannot crank completely if the battery is dead somehow. Keep in mind that this is not an engine failure, but your car will not start. Turning the heater or blower on and leaving the car to do other tasks in My Winter Car is a major mistake to avoid.
If you forget to turn off the lights, then the battery will get weaker and will die soon. Parking the car cold or keeping plugging the block heater are also mistakes that the common player can make. Make sure you’re not using the electrical systems and use the block heater to warm the car. You need to unplug the block heater before starting the engine. Turn off all the lights and the blower before leaving the car.
10. Get a Job To Earn Money
My Winter Car requires you to do several jobs to earn money and progress quickly. Make sure to dial 08231206 from your phone to unlock the advertising distribution job. This is a reliable way to earn money. You can find the packing job near the Fleetari. You need to apply for the job by speaking with the boss in the office. The office is located in the large building near the bridge on the southeast side of the map.
You can find this building next to the asphalt road, and it can easily be missed while driving towards it. Get inside the building and speak with the woman you encounter. You will be informed that the boss is available. Go all the way to the boss’s office and stay close to him. The boss starts walking and gets on the call, so make sure to walk along with him.
If you choose to walk away, the boss will not give you a contract and will stop the dialogue. Hit the ‘K’ button to continue the dialogue and keep following him. You need to wait till he finishes, and he will give you the contract and the job. Once the contract is prompted on the screen, make sure to sign it. The job starts at 8 am next Monday.
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