Here’s the weirdest thing about hating WARDOGS vehicle controls: the developers literally begged you not to buy their game. Bullethead released a “10 Reasons NOT to Buy” video before launch. They listed performance issues, slow content updates, their own failed history with Battalion 1944, and the fact that this game punishes dying like a medieval king punishing treason. They practically held a press conference saying “this won’t be for you.”
And you bought it anyway.
So when you’re holding down the 0 key, waiting for your soldier to slowly cycle through vehicle seats like a carousel operated by a sloth, remember: they warned you. Doesn’t make the controls less terrible though.
The Seat-Shuffle Shuffle
Hold down 0. Wait. Your soldier moves to seat two. Need seat one? Better hold 0 again and cycle through all of them. Want to get out? That’s a different button, held for a different amount of time, with a different menu interaction.
The source material describes this as “probably my least favorite thing about the game at the moment.” That’s generous. It’s like driving a car where changing the radio station requires filing paperwork with the DMV.
Here’s the fix that should exist: hotkeys. Press 1 for driver, 2 for gunner, 3 for passenger. Simple. Intuitive. The fact that it doesn’t work this way suggests either a design philosophy (punishing quick vehicle entry) or a technical limitation they haven’t solved.
One player noted that getting in is fine, but getting out requires “scrolling down, holding F, just doesn’t feel very good.” That’s the entire WARDOGS vehicle experience distilled: nothing feels natural, everything fights you.
The Scrolly-Wheel of Doom
The vehicle menu doesn’t use hotkeys for anything. Engine on/off? Scroll. Get in? Scroll. Get out? Scroll and hold F. Change seats? Hold 0 and wait. It’s like the UI was designed by someone who hates efficiency.
The source material suggests this might be intentional: “maybe this is an intended mechanic to make the vehicles not just instant getting in and out.” If that’s true, it’s a bad call. There’s a massive difference between “deliberately slow” and “frustrating to interact with every single time.”
Escape from Tarkov has slow, deliberate vehicle interactions. But they’re clear. You know what’s happening. WARDOGS hides everything behind vertical scrolling menus that don’t communicate well.
Locking and unlocking vehicles adds another layer. Currently, only the driver can unlock a vehicle. If you bought a car for a friend, they can’t get in unless you walk up, unlock it as the driver, get out, and let them take over. The source calls this “musical chairs.” It’s accurate.
Vehicles Explode If You Blink
Here’s a fun one: vehicles self-destruct if you aren’t actively maintaining them. Drive a Ural to a forward operating base, deposit supplies, start building, and by the time you return, the truck has exploded. The source describes this happening constantly.
The solution? “Be really cognizant of the Ural where its position is and listen out for it taking damage and then getting in to reset whatever time route it is.” So you’re supposed to babysit your truck like a toddler who might spontaneously combust.
The developer logic makes sense: vehicles need cleanup to prevent map clutter. But for builders doing supply runs, it creates a loop where you can’t actually build because you’re too busy running back to your truck every 90 seconds to prevent it from exploding.
The source suggests reserving at least one vehicle per player that won’t despawn. That’s reasonable. So is letting players sell vehicles back at a reduced cost, which the source also mentions. Neither exists yet.
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The Ural Pallet Puzzle
Transporting supplies in WARDOGS requires a driver class level of 4 (now reduced to 3 after feedback). Before that, you’re stuck with small logistics crates that require manual unloading: drive to the FOB, get out, unpack each crate into your bag, walk the items into the FOB, repeat.
The source describes this as “an incredible faf.” That’s British for “painfully tedious waste of time.”
Once you unlock pallets, it gets better. But buying them is a mess: purchase a pallet, and the menu resets to the beginning. You have to click back through the entire menu to buy a second one. This is the kind of UI friction that makes you wonder if anyone at Bullethead actually played their own game long enough to find it annoying.
You can’t reload pallets back into vehicles once they’re deployed, either. If someone puts a pallet in a stupid spot, it’s stuck there forever. The source asks for the ability to “pop it on the back of one of the Urals and move it a little bit.” That’s not an unreasonable request.
What WARDOGS Gets Right (Yes, Really)
The artillery is genuinely fun. The spotting system works well, despite a bug where you can’t spot through unbroken windows. The core loop of buying gear, heading to the hot zone, and fighting over objectives has potential.
But vehicles are the game’s Achilles’ heel. They’re clunky, unintuitive, and actively hostile to players trying to do anything beyond “drive from point A to point B and abandon the vehicle.”
The vehicle blow-up timer alone kills the builder playstyle. Why spend 30 minutes setting up a logistics chain when your truck will explode halfway through? The source reports that experienced players just take whatever loadout they want and use a recon drone to level up spotting instead. They’ve found ways to play around the system.
That’s not a solution. That’s an exploit of poor design.
The Real Fix: Treat Vehicles Like Tools, Not Obstacles
Bullethead has shown they can iterate. The progression system got reworked before early access. The driver unlock for pallets dropped from level 4 to level 3. They’re listening.
But vehicle controls remain a stubborn problem. The source material suggests several fixes:
Hotkeys for seats instead of the 0-key cycle. Persistent waypoints for navigation. The ability to sell vehicles back. Reserved vehicle slots for builders. Each suggestion is simple, implementable, and would dramatically improve the experience.
The hard part is Bullethead’s stated philosophy: “War Dogs is not for everyone.” They want consequences. They want death to matter. They want the journey from base to combat to be meaningful. That’s fine for gunplay and survival.
But vehicle controls being terrible doesn’t make the game more hardcore. It makes it annoying. There’s a difference between “deliberately challenging” and “poor UX.” WARDOGS vehicle system is firmly in the second camp.
The Bottom Line
Bullethead shipped WARDOGS knowing it had rough edges. They were honest about it. That doesn’t excuse the vehicle controls being a mess.
The game has 21 vehicles at launch. That’s a lot of content if the controls worked. As it stands, most players will stick to infantry or helicopters because ground vehicles feel like punishment.
The source material hints that the helicopter controls were also wonky in the beta—the Z-20 Lakota had “sluggish pitch” until a day-one patch. So maybe there’s hope. Maybe Bullethead will address the same issues for ground vehicles.
Until then, WARDOGS vehicle system is a running joke within the community. And the worst part? The developers told you to wait. They said “don’t buy it yet if you’re not sure.” They made a whole video telling you not to rush in.
But you ignored them. Now you’re holding down the 0 key, watching your soldier slowly cycle through seats, wondering why you didn’t listen.
