Edit handling.meta in FiveM: speed, grip, brakes and HANDLING_FILE

You want a car to accelerate faster, grip better or brake harder, and the values are in handling.meta. This guide shows what the key fields do, how the file is loaded, how it is tied to the vehicle and how to test your changes without guessing.

#How handling is tied to a car

A car has a handling entry, and the car points to it by name:

<!-- vehicles.meta -->
<Item>
  <modelName>mycar</modelName>
  <handlingId>MYCAR</handlingId>
  ...
</Item>

<!-- handling.meta -->
<Item type="CHandlingData">
  <handlingName>MYCAR</handlingName>
  ...
</Item>

The handlingName in handling.meta must be the same as the handlingId in vehicles.meta. If they differ, the game does not find the entry and the car uses a default one. If two packs use the same handlingName, one of them wins and the other car handles wrong, so keep names unique.

#Load the file

The resource must declare the file in fxmanifest.lua:

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'

files {
    'data/handling.meta',
    'data/vehicles.meta',
}

data_file 'HANDLING_FILE' 'data/handling.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_METADATA_FILE' 'data/vehicles.meta'

Without the HANDLING_FILE line, the file is not used and your edits do nothing. The full set of files for an addon car is in how to add addon cars.

#The key fields

The handling file has many values. These are the ones you will change most:

<fMass value="1500.000000" />
<fInitialDriveForce value="0.320000" />
<fInitialDriveMaxFlatVel value="160.000000" />
<fBrakeForce value="0.800000" />
<fTractionCurveMax value="2.400000" />

• fMass: the weight of the car in kilograms. A heavy car is harder to push around and to stop, and it wins collisions with lighter cars.
• fInitialDriveForce: acceleration. A higher value gives a harder push off the line. Cars in the base game usually sit well under 1.0, so a change of a few hundredths is already visible.
• fInitialDriveMaxFlatVel: the top speed the engine can reach on flat ground, in a unit close to km/h. The speed shown in game does not match exactly, as drag and gearing also play a part.
• fBrakeForce: braking power. Raise it for shorter braking distances; too high makes the car lock up or flip the nose down.
• fTractionCurveMax: the grip of the tyres in a turn. Higher means more grip, until the car feels glued to the road.

Others you may meet are fInitialDragCoeff (air drag), fTractionCurveMin (grip when the car slides), fSteeringLock and fSuspensionForce. Change one thing at a time so you know what caused the result.

Tip: copy the original file before you start, and change values by small steps, about 10 to 20 percent. A few large changes at once make the car hard to understand and hard to undo.

#Test your changes

Handling is read when a vehicle is created, so:

1. Restart the resource (restart mycar), or the whole server if a restart of the resource does not seem to apply.
2. Delete the car and spawn a new one. An already spawned car keeps its old values.
3. Drive the same test route each time: a straight road for top speed and acceleration, a long curve for grip, a sudden stop for brakes.
4. Change one value, test, write down what changed.

If the car still behaves as before, work through the causes: the data_file line, the handlingName match, and whether another resource also defines the same handling name.

#Change handling at runtime

For a value that depends on a situation, such as a nitro boost, a job car or a damaged engine, you can change a vehicle's handling from a client script:

local vehicle = GetVehiclePedIsIn(PlayerPedId(), false)

if vehicle ~= 0 then
    local mass = GetVehicleHandlingFloat(vehicle, 'CHandlingData', 'fMass')
    SetVehicleHandlingFloat(vehicle, 'CHandlingData', 'fMass', mass + 200.0)
    SetVehicleHandlingFloat(vehicle, 'CHandlingData', 'fInitialDriveForce', 0.35)
end

SetVehicleHandlingFloat changes the value for that one vehicle, for as long as it exists. It does not touch the file, other cars of the same model, or the next car you spawn. It is the right tool for temporary effects, and the wrong one for permanent tuning: put those in handling.meta so that every car of the model has them.

Warning: do not run the change in a loop every frame. Set it once when the situation starts, and set the original value back when it ends.

#Replacing a base game car

A handling entry with the name of a base game car, in a resource, changes that car for every player and every spawn, including traffic. This can be what you want for a "realistic handling" pack, but test it, since all the cars of that model change at once.

#Common problems

• No change at all. Check the HANDLING_FILE line, the handlingName and the handlingId, and spawn a new car.
• The resource does not start. The path in files is wrong, or the XML has a mistake such as a missing closing tag. See couldn't start resource.
• The car flips or spins. fInitialDriveForce or fTractionCurveMax is too high for the mass. Go back a step.
• A different car changed. Two files use the same handlingName. Rename yours and the matching handlingId.

#Checklist