Key Highlights:
- The Golf Cart is a drivable, solar-powered vehicle added in Patch 07.
- Found mostly near the golf course and eastern beaches, it offers faster travel across the island.
- It can be pushed, flipped, or even used to run down cannibals for heavy damage.
The Golf Cart in Sons of the Forest completely changes how you move around the island. When it dropped in Patch 07, it instantly became one of my go-to transport methods, not just for convenience but also for the chaos it can cause.
The island is vast, packed with rough terrain, and patrolled by hostile camps. Being able to hop into a working cart and cover ground quickly makes exploration far less punishing.
Drivable carts are easy to spot because they are light blue, unlike the broken white ones scattered everywhere. You can climb in without needing any extra tools, meaning they are accessible as soon as you spawn. The best place to look is the northeast golf course, where several sit near flagsticks, though you can also find them on the eastern beaches and occasionally further inland.
Driving is simple. Approach the cart until the steering wheel prompt appears, then interact to sit in the driver’s seat. Movement is mapped to your normal controls, and braking uses the jump key.
The cart can reach up to about 20 miles per hour, fast enough to outrun patrols, though steering can feel heavy if you clip rocks or dense vegetation. On smoother trails, it handles cleanly, but even off-road it keeps surprising grip.
I’ve taken one up near-vertical slopes, and like a horse in Skyrim, it just clings to the mountain.
The cart is solar-powered. During the day, it recharges passively, regaining one unit of energy every 30 seconds when idle. After 6:00 pm, driving drains energy at the same rate until sunrise.
I didn’t even notice the solar panel on top at first, but it explains why you can’t just drive endlessly through the night. There’s no way to charge it manually, so managing your travel window is part of the strategy.
One thing I learned the hard way is that the cart does not have an emergency brake.
Park it on a slope and it will happily roll downhill without you. It can also damage your builds if structure damage is enabled, so think carefully before driving it around a base.
That said, it’s also great at wrecking enemy defences, smashing through saplings, effigies, and other cannibal structures. The cart isn’t just for travel. It can be pushed from the front or back if stuck, and this also flips it upright if tipped. You can even push it while swimming to recover it from rivers or lakes.
In combat, it doubles as a battering ram. At top speed, it can instantly kill some of the strongest mutants, including Fingers and Caterpillars, while lighter cannibals can be maimed or dismembered. Brutes are the main threat, since they can knock you straight out of the driver’s seat, leaving you vulnerable.
It’s not as quick as the Knight V unicycle, running at about half its speed, but it makes up for it with climbing ability and momentum. Once you release the accelerator, it keeps rolling for a while before stopping, which makes downhill travel smooth.
The passenger seats are functional too, with space for up to three other players, although Virginia cannot ride. Kelvin, however, can sit in the passenger seat if he’s ordered to follow.
For immersion, the Golf Cart even has a built-in music player, complete with multiple tracks. Cruising through the forest with music blaring feels bizarrely fitting in between encounters with mutants.
There are a few quirks worth knowing. The cart’s stealth is inconsistent, but I’ve personally crept right past cannibals without them reacting to its low hum. Once you get out though, they’ll spot you immediately.
It also can’t be destroyed, no matter how recklessly you drive. If you want to keep track of one long-term, marking it with a GPS Locator is smart, since it will stay where you left it across saves.
For those hoping to launch it off ramps, temper expectations. The nose-heavy design means it rarely clears jumps cleanly, often flipping or nose-diving. Still, for climbing, exploring, and even running over threats, it’s a dependable machine that adds a new rhythm to exploration.
For more in-depth guides like this, visit the Ultimate Sons of the Forest Guide and find exactly what you need.