With over $10 million in sales and over 40 million players, Rocket League can certainly make its claim to success. If you’re a gamer, or the parent of a gamer, and you enjoy team sports games, Rocket League has likely hit your radar. Released in 2015 to great acclaim, Rocket League, designed by the company Psyonix, has been referred to as “soccer, but with rocket-powered cars.”
A seemingly simple game, it begins with eight vehicles on either side of what looks like an indoor soccer field, a blue team and an orange team. The idea is for each team to push a ball that is larger than the vehicles across the field to the other team’s net and score a goal.
Along the way, the cars can both fly and propel themselves forward in midair. The game typically lasts for five minutes unless there is a tie, at which point “sudden death” kicks in.
While the game is performing well on the marketplace, with professional players participating through ESL and Major League Gaming as well as Psyonix’s own Rocket League Championship Series, it does have its drawbacks.
Gamers have complained of sluggish quality, with issues that include gaming lag, poor ping rate, freezing, and a slow client. Even one of these issues can negatively impact game play.
But all is not lost. There are things you can do to address the sluggish quality that can occur and doing so will greatly improve your Rocket League gaming experience.
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Understand the Minimum Requirements
The first thing you need to do to maximize performance is to understand the minimum requirements to play Rocket League. If you have a system that is not optimized for play, then your lag issues will persist.
| pic Games or Steam on Windows | Minimum | Recommended |
| OS | Windows 7 (64 bit) or Newer (64 bit) Windows OS | Windows 7 (64 bit) or Newer (64 bit) Windows OS |
| Processor | 2.5 GHz Dual Core | 3.0+ GHz Quad Core |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, AMD Radeon R9 270X, or better | NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 470, or better |
| DirectX | DirectX Version 11.0 | DirectX Version 11.0 |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection | Broadband Internet connection |
| Storage | 20 GB available space | 20 GB available space |
| Additional | Gamepad or Controller |
“The macOS and Linux (SteamOS) versions are no longer updated or supported. You can still download and install these versions, but some features will not function as expected.”
| Steam on macOS | Minimum | Recommended |
| OS | macOS X 10.8.5 | macOS X 10.8.5 or Newer |
| Processor | Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz | Intel Core i7 2.4 GHz+ |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics | OpenGL 4.1 – ATI Radeon HD 5670, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M, Intel HD Graphics 4000, or Iris Pro Graphics | OpenGL 4.1 – ATI Radeon HD 5670, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M, Intel HD Graphics 4000, or Iris Pro Graphics |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection | Broadband Internet connection |
| Storage | 5 GB available space | 5 GB available space |
| Additional | Gamepad or Controller |
| SteamOS + Linux | Minimum | Recommended |
| OS | N/A | N/A |
| Processor | 2.4 GHz Dual Core | 2.5+ GHz Quad Core |
| Memory | 2 GB RAM | 4 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GTX 260 or ATI 4850 | NVIDIA GTX 660, ATI 7950 or better |
| DirectX | Version 9.0c | Version 9.0c |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection | Broadband Internet connection |
| Storage | 5 GB available space | 5 GB available space |
| Additional | Gamepad or Controller |
Evaluate Your GPU to Determine Whether It Can Support Rocket League
One of the things players love about Rocket League is that it does not require a top-of-the-line computer or gaming PC to play. It is very light and easy in terms of hardware requirements. One important element you will need to play this game well, however, is a modern GPU, or graphics processing unit.
A GPU is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device.
Basically, it is what makes your images appear and move quickly. It is an essential for gaming.
For Rocket League to run efficiently, you will need a GPU that meets the following requirements:
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce 760 AMD Radeon R7 270X | Nvidia GeForce 260 AMD Radeon HD 4850 |
Without this minimum, you will likely continue to suffer from lag times and get frustrated with underperformance. GPU is the first thing to be addressed.
Make Sure You Are Running the Latest Rocket League Patch
A game patch is the code in your game that automatically fixes any bugs, improves stability, and introduces new features to the program. If you don’t have the latest patch, your game will be one or more versions behind and will therefore suffer in a game with other users who all have updated patches.
Rocket League Patch Stuck
Updating comes with its own frustrations, of course. Sometimes, users find their update “stuck at 100%” and refusing to progress. The update can also cause a mismatch error. In this case, reboot your console and wait awhile. Users report it can take several hours for the update to finish up. If you’re still stuck, you can close and uninstall Rocket League then download it again and install the game fresh.
If all else fails, you can attempt to perform a factory reset on your console. Find the settings for your specific console that will allow you to RESET AND KEEP MY GAMES & APPS.
Rocket League Update Causes a Version Mismatch Error
Other times, the update progresses fine but causes a “version mismatch error” while you are trying to line up a new game after just having finished one. This typically happens because Psyonix has released the latest patch, and your game has not updated yet.
The simple fix is to exit out of your game entirely and log back in. You should then be prompted to update with the new patch.
You may have a console, like PS4 that will actually require you to search for updates. Simply find Rocket League in your library, click on Options, and choose Check for Updates.
You can also, of course, simply restart your console, which typically prompts for updates.
Rocket League Won’t Start After Update
If for some reason after your update, Rocket League fails to launch, you may just try the above tips. Uninstall the game and reinstall it. Turn the console off and on again.
If neither of those work, check out the vast number of ways to troubleshoot this failure to launch.
What to Do if Your Rocket League Client Is Laggy
A video game client is a network client that connects an individual user to the main game server. It is used in multiplayer video games. Essentially, you input information on your console, and the client transfers that input to the larger game, so all the other players can see it.
A slow client can wreck a game for you because your input does not happen in real time and can take place too late in terms of what other players, with faster clients, are doing.
If your client is laggy, make sure it is fully updated. That means updating your PC, your Mac, or your game console, which is where your client is housed. Restart your computer or console once you’ve updated it, and the speed should return to normal.
Resolving Rocket League Frame Drops
FPS, or frames per second, are crucial to a competitive game like Rocket League. Indeed, FPS is much more important even than visuals because you need to be on top of changes as they occur across a multiplayer game that could include up to 16 other players. Your performance, and the performance of your team, could depend largely on your hardware performance. Ideally, for fast-paced, competitive video games like Rocket League, you want at least 60 FPS, so you are in line with all updates as close to when they occur as possible.
To update your FPS, you must first find your monitor refresh rate:
- Right-click on your Desktop
- Select Display Settings
- Scroll to the bottom of the window
- Click on Advanced Display Settings
- Find the Refresh Rate (Hz) line (This will show the monitor refresh rate)
Next, change the FPS setting in Rocket League:
- Launch Rocket League
- Select Settings from the Main Menu
- Select the Video Tab
- Select the Frames Per Second dropdown
- Choose the option that matches your monitor’s refresh rate
Ensure You Have the Best Settings for Rocket League Configured
As with any game, you want to make sure all your settings on your console and game are optimized for performance. To do this, simply enter your PC or console’s settings and adjust accordingly. This article outlines the best settings for your game, your windows, and your console, including advanced and camera settings.
Make Sure Your Firewall Isn’t Causing Issues with Rocket League
Finally, make sure your firewall isn’t causing issues. Sometimes a particular firewall protection will actually inhibit enhanced play because it improperly flags the game as a potential threat. First, turn off your firewall by pressing your Windows Key and typing in Windows Defender Firewall.
Play the game to see if the issue has been resolved. If it has, you will need to create an exception in Rocket League by following the same process and selecting “Allow apps to communicate through Windows Defender Firewall” and scrolling down until you find Rocket League. This should resolve the problem.
I hope this helps speed up your Rocket League and make it run smoothly. If you have found other approaches, or have tried some of these, please let me know in the comments below. I love sharing tips and tricks with the gaming community!
