Best Car Upgrades to Unlock First in Pacific Drive

Once the Fabrication Station becomes available, you can spend different types of Anchor energy to unlock various essential car upgrades in Pacific Drive. Deciding what items and skill trees to invest in can be daunting, so here’s a guide on the best car upgrades to unlock first.

Best Car Upgrades to Unlock First in Pacific Drive

Based on my experience playing hours of Pacific Drive, the best car upgrades I’d encourage you to unlock first will – not only improve your scavenging efforts – but can also protect your car from the dangerous Anomalies out in the Zone. The following is a list of those upgrades and what they do:

• Offroad Tires: Arguably the best wheels in the game since you’ll often find yourself driving between roads and dirt paths to avoid Anomalies. Honestly, it might be the first big car upgrade you should get in Pacific Drive.
• Fuel Synthesizer: While siphoning the car’s battery, this item creates fuel by absorbing environmental substances across the Zone. It takes a while to get this one since you need to have unlocked Advanced Workbench 2, Side Rack, scanned an ARDA Fuel Tanker, and Circuit Board. However, once you have it, you essentially have an on-the-road fuel tank that’s always nearly full and will be perfect for long hauls. 
• Hydro Generator: Because of how often it rains in the Zone, you’ll get a lot of use out of using the Hydro Generator to charge your car’s battery consistently. It’s also not hard to make if one gets destroyed and only requires having a Side Rack unlocked. 
• Insulated Headlight: After unlocking the Bulb material, Advanced Workbench 2, and scanning a Sizzling Mist Anomaly, I’d advise going straight to getting the Insulated Headlight car upgrade. It eats up more battery but will block the Charged status effect gained from Anomalies, so it’s definitely a worthwhile car upgrade in Pacific Drive.
• LIMPulse Emitter: I can’t stress how significant the LIMPulse Emitter can be when dealing with the pesky Bunny Anomalies that latch onto your car in Pacific Drive. Once you install this device as the front bumper, you can use a barrier car skill to deflect those Anomalies for a small bit of battery juice. With this in your arsenal, you can keep driving without having to stop to peel off the Bunnies from your car in hazardous areas.  

Related: Pacific Drive Is an Electric Road Trip With Brilliant & Frustrating Systems [Review]

Best Garage Upgrades in Pacific Drive

Beyond the Pacific Drive car upgrades, improving your garage will also help make trips far more bearable as you learn the ropes. In fact, specific improvements for the garage are a must if you want to craft some of the better tools/car items to survive the onslaught of later Zone areas. Below are the best garage upgrades I got the most use out of throughout Pacific Drive:

• Matter Deconstructor: Instead of using your tools to deconstruct objects, you can throw whatever into this machine to instantly dismantle items for materials.
• Matter Regenerator: Unlike the Deconstructor, the Matter Regenerator specializes in repairing damaged car parts while you’re out driving. It’s a neat way of having backup car parts in case those you’re using get destroyed on the way home. 
• Advanced Workbench: It goes without saying, but with an improved Workbench in your garage, you can make higher-tiered tools/car parts. The sooner you get this, the better.
• Expanded Lockers: As you start to get into the swing of hoarding materials and finding new ones during your voyages, you’ll need Expanded Lockers to hold everything.

Pacific Drive is available on PlayStation and PC.