The Sims 4: The Ongoing Issue With No Drivable Cars

The Sims 4 was first released in 2014, and many players were quick to voice their disappointments over missing features that were in previous The Sims games. Such features included toddlers and swimming pools. Thankfully, over the ten years that The Sims 4 has been around, many of these features have made their way back into the game. However, even after ten years, there are still some things that players are waiting for. One highly requested feature is drivable cars. While cars are present in the numerous worlds in The Sims 4, our playable Sims are not able to interact with them in any way. They are only there for decoration. So, why in ten years have drivable cars not been added into The Sims 4? What’s stopping the creators of the game from putting them in? They were present in The Sims 2 and 3, why not The Sims 4? It’s about time we take a look into the issue and figure out what The Sims 4 is capable of.

Cars in Previous The Sims Games

One of the reasons why many players are upset that drivable cars aren’t a thing in The Sims 4 is the fact that they were there in previous games, namely The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. If they were in older games, why not the current-gen The Sims game?

Cars in The Sims 2

In The Sims 2, drivable cars made their debut in The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack. This was the second Expansion released for The Sims 2, and was all about your Sims hitting the town for a fun night out. With that in mind, what better way to have a great night out than driving in your own car. Before Nightlife and cars came along in The Sims 2, the only way to travel to Community Lots was by taking the taxi, which your Sims had to call up via phone (and not their cellphone! The Sims was very different back then!) Also, your Sims headed to work in a designated carpool, depending on the career track and job title. When cars were added into the game, it gave your Sims more freedom and control. No more relying on taxis and carpools to get around.

The Sims 2 Nightlife featured a decent selection of vehicles to choose from. There was the jalopy, smart saloon, pick up truck, and a cool supercar that you could drive around in. To buy these vehicles, you needed to place a driveway on your Sims’ home Lot. You could get creative with driveways by adding garages and garage doors. It was seriously cool watching your Sims pulling in and out of the driveway, the garage door sliding up and down, your Sims zooming off in their car to their chosen destination. It has to be said that The Sims 2 did a stellar job with cars. You felt very cool, not to mention free, owning one. Cars were probably one of the best things to come out of The Sims 2 Nightlife.

A later Expansion Pack in The Sims 2 era, The Sims 2 FreeTime, took things to another level. This Expansion, which centers around your Sims and their hobbies, added a very cool object indeed: a car that you could fix up! This was probably one of my favorite objects from The Sims 2 FreeTime. With this car, your Sims would need to work on the engine and the body, which could take hours and lots of sweat and toil, but was ultimately worth it. Once the engine and body was fixed up, the last step was spray painting the car in any color you chose, and there was a generous selection to choose from. Whatever color you picked, your new car was guaranteed to look awesome. With the car finished, you could sell it, or keep it and drive it around. Owning a car was one thing, but owning and driving around in a car that you had fixed up from scratch, that was really special.

Thanks to The Sims 2 Store (which no longer exists), you could get more car models to add into the game, based on real life cars. The final Expansion Pack, The Sims 2 Apartment Life, allowed your Sims to own something really cool: their own helicopter!

Cars in The Sims 3

Then came along The Sims 3, which was set to be bigger and better than The Sims 2. The big selling point of The Sims 3 was that it was fully open world, and while this did have some flaws (such as NPC Sims getting stuck, causing serious lag issues), it also had a lot of advantages. No more loading screens, for one (except when first loading the game and when entering/exiting Create-A-Sim.) One of the main bonuses of complete open world gameplay with no restrictions was being able to drive around in vehicles, something that was in The Sims 3 from the very beginning, rather than being introduced in an Expansion Pack or free update.

The Sims 3‘s iteration of cars more-or-less followed that of The Sims 2. Cars that you bought for your Sims had to be placed on a designated parking spot, as opposed to a driveway, although you could build driveways and garages for cars. The only thing lacking in The Sims 3 with cars was the absence of the animation of the car pulling out of the driveway. The car would simply warp onto the road and zoom off to the set destination. One handy feature was that cars could be placed in your Sim’s inventory, although having cars parked outside the Lot like The Sims 2 would have been a nice touch.

DLC for The Sims 3 would add more selection of cars to the game, although the base game alone had a very generous offering of cars with various speeds. There was even a Stuff Pack centered around vehicles, The Sims 3 Fast Lane Stuff, which even added in a Formula One type car. The pack also added some objects to accessorize your Sims’ garages, as well as car-related outfits such as racing suits. 

Like The Sims 2, cars in The Sims 3 offered a sense of freedom, and it was very cool to own a car in the game. Even if you didn’t own a car, the taxi that your Sims rode around in instead was good enough for getting your Sims around the vast open world.

Theories on Why Drivable Cars Aren’t in The Sims 4

We’ve reflected on the history of cars in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, but the main topic we’re discussing here is cars – or lack of them – in The Sims 4. The big question is: why are they not drivable in the game like The Sims 2 and 3? For that, I do have a few theories. I’ve been playing The Sims 4 since it was first released in September 2014, so I know the game pretty well and how it works. I’ve also played every Expansion and most of the Game and Stuff Packs, so my game has greatly expanded beyond the base game. Based on my knowledge on how The Sims 4 functions and is designed, I do have a few ideas on why drivable cars haven’t yet become a thing.

Since the base game, we’ve seen cars in The Sims 4 acting as decorations and aesthetics in the various neighborhoods, making it feel more alive and populous. We see cars zooming along the roads, or parked up by the side of the road or in parking lots. However, you as the player have no way of interacting with any of these vehicles. If you stand in the road, the cars will simply go right through you. Parked cars cannot be clicked on. In the game, you cannot buy any cars in any form, and there are no options to build garages and driveways. Players can, however, get creative with what they’re given. You can buy model cars, which you can then enlarge and place in the world. It’s also not too difficult to build a mock driveway and garage and place a car there, to create the illusion that your Sims have a car. However, you still can’t drive it. The “car” is just a decoration.

This is a mock up of a garage, driveway and cars in The Sims 4, to show what it could look like in the game.

Since The Sims 4‘s release in 2014, with numerous updates and DLC released, modes of transportation have been added into the game. Since Discover University, the 8th Expansion for The Sims 4, bikes have appeared. These serve as a new way of getting around the neighborhoods, much quicker than walking or even jogging (in theory, at least). A more recent Expansion Pack, Horse Ranch, introduced horses into the game. It has to be said that horses were done brilliantly in The Sims 4. You can ride around on them, train them up to compete in competitions, send them on odd jobs, and care for them. As far as transportation goes, so far, this is all we have: going on foot, going by bike, going by boat (with Island Living and the world Sulani), or going by horse. There are no cars, not even scooters. But why?

Let’s begin with the first reason: the way the worlds work in The Sims 4. The Sims 2 had you playing on individual Lots, and neighborhoods were easily customizable, but open world was not a thing. Cars were though, in which your Sims could drive off to work, or head out to a Community Lot. They could also just go for a casual drive, disappearing off lot for a while. The Sims 3 gives Simmers the true open world experience. You can’t get more open world than The Sims 3. There are no loading screens between Lots. You can whizz around in a taxi, or an owned car or bike. The Sims 3 was the perfect playground for cars.

What about The Sims 4? Is it a good place to have cars that you drive around in? Maybe – but also maybe not. The Sims 4‘s worlds are somewhere between The Sims 2 and 3. It’s not fully expansive and open as The Sims 3, but is also not as restrictive as The Sims 2. The Sims 4 worlds are divided up into neighborhoods. Some only have one neighborhood, while others can have half a dozen areas. These areas can be pretty big, but whether or not they’re viable for cars is dependable. Many of the worlds do feature roads, even with cars driving along them, but if, for example, cars could be driven around them, there wouldn’t be much space. There might only be one road to drive up and down. If this is the case, the best option for cars being driven around The Sims 4 is to be able to go along the roads to another neighborhood, or going off screen similar to The Sims 2.

There’s another issue with worlds and cars in The Sims 4: the way the Lots are designed. In The Sims 2 and 3, all Lots were placed along roads. This way, when building driveways, they would connect to the road so your Sims could pull out in their cars. With The Sims 4, not all Lots are positioned next to a road. Some Lots are located in the middle of prairies or fields or deserts.

Another reason why cars aren’t needed in The Sims 4 is how travel works. You just get your Sim’s phone up, select Travel, and just like that, the world map is brought up, and you can go wherever you like at the click of a button. There’s no waiting for taxis, no getting in cars and driving away, no walking. You just select your desired destination and after a brief loading screen, you’re there! No hassle required. This quick and easy form of travel in The Sims 4 removes the necessity for modes of transport such as cars. 

Traveling around in The Sims has never been easier than in The Sims 4.

How Drivable Cars Could Work in The Sims 4

I’ve talked about the possible reasons why drivable cars have not yet been brought into The Sims 4. That’s not to say that it is impossible. I believe that drivable cars can be a thing in The Sims 4, and here are my theories on how it could work.

One thing I loved about cars in The Sims 2 was watching my Sims get in the car and seeing the car pull off the driveway and zooming off to whatever destination I had selected. That might be something that’s possible to do in The Sims 4, but the more likely scenario is what The Sims 3 did: having a parking slot for cars, then the car warping onto the road and zooming away when your Sim set out somewhere. Watching a car driving along a designated road in a Sims 4 world sounds simple enough, and plausible, but what about those Lots where there’s no access to any roads? It’s still not entirely impossible to have a car on your Sim’s Lot. You at the very least only need to place the car on the Lot, or even in your Sim’s inventory, like The Sims 3, in order to own one and use it. If having the animation of the car driving along a road to a destination simply isn’t possible, then just omit it.

What about when your Sims are out and about in their cars? In the different worlds and their neighborhoods, I’ve seen plenty of places where parked cars can go, such as parking lots. Even parking in the road is something that can be done. That’s what happened with cars in The Sims 2; they would simply be parked up along the road outside the Community Lot. What’s the point of making these parking lots decorative when they can actually function as parking lots for your Sims driving around?

The Sims 4 already has parking lots throughout the worlds. Why not let your Sims park actual cars in them?

Then there’s the cars themselves. Aside from driving to different Lots, what else can you do with them? The Sims 2 used to let your Sims go out on a cruise in their cars, off screen of course, but it was still something to do. Cars also gave your Sims a new place to WooHoo, so why not in The Sims 4? But there is something I think that you should be able to do with cars in The Sims 4: fix them up.

I’ve previously mentioned that the fixer-upper car was a favorite object of mine from The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion, and in The Sims 3, they got their own fixer-upper car that came with the 1920s inspired world Roaring Heights. Why can’t The Sims 4 do something similar – and more? The Sims 2 and 3 only had one model car that you could fix up. The Sims 4 could have a lot more models of cars to fix up from scratch. Why not be able to fix up motorbikes or vans as well? In fact, a whole new type of career could be created out of this idea: your Sims being mechanics!

A Mechanic career in The Sims 4 would be really cool and fun.

This could either be an active career or freelance career, where your Sims are assigned to fix up a client’s car. Maybe it’s broken or they want you to build a specific kind of car? Your Sim has lots of options when working on cars, since they’re such complex machines with various parts. Perhaps the tyres need changing, or the engine needs work done to it? Perhaps the oil needs changing, or the body needs work? Once the job is complete, your Sim sends it back to the client and they get paid. With your Sims being able to work on cars, perhaps this calls for a brand-new Mechanic skill that is separate from the Handiness skill. The higher your skill level, the better quality work you can do, or the faster you can complete it, or perhaps you unlock more options for working on the car. There’s so much you can do with a Mechanic career in The Sims 4.

With cars, there’s another career for consideration: being a racing driver! With a selection of racing cars on offer, your Sims can train to be professional drivers, then go off to the races to win titles and earn money. 

Why not let your Sim be a professional racing driver if the game is going to have cars.

If cars were to be added into The Sims 4, there would be a need to introduce objects to allow you to build proper garages, with garage doors and car-related decorations to deck it out. Also, with the inclusion of a Mechanic and Racing Driver career, your Sims would need to look the part in overalls and racing suits.

I think if The Sims 4 ever was to add in cars to this level of detail and gameplay, it would either come in the form of a free update or a Game Pack, possibly even an Expansion. Perhaps have drivable cars for free in the base game, but the car-related careers in a paid DLC.

I’m not saying that this is something that could definitely happen with The Sims 4, but along with a lot of other players, I really hope it does one day. Thinking about how it could be done, I’m surprised it hasn’t yet. It’s something that could be a big hit for players.

Are There Any Drivable Car Mods for The Sims 4?

Drivable cars may not have officially made their way into The Sims 4 yet, but there is always the option of mods. Thanks to the magic of mods and players’ dedication to creating content for the game, there is in fact a mod that allows you to have some form of drivable cars in The Sims 4. Created by a user called Dark Gaia, the Ownable Cars mod adds 5 cars that you can buy in the game, priced between 10,000 to 20,000 Simoleans. The cars must be placed on terrain on your Sim’s Lot, and then you can use “Drive to…” to travel to any destination, which brings up the world map the same as using your Sim’s phone. When traveling anywhere by car, your Sims gain an emotional moodlet depending on the car you drove in. Although the cars aren’t animated, it’s the closest you’ll get to drivable cars in the game. Plus, it’s base game compatible.

If you’re looking for more mods for The Sims 4, you can check the ones out in our article The Definitive Guide to the Best Sims 4 Mods.