How I Learned to Hack Enemy Cars in Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.0 Streets

I never thought I’d be the kind of merc who’d turn a roaring highway chase into a horror show for my pursuers—but here we are. It’s 2026, and after the Phantom Liberty expansion and the 2.0 overhaul, driving in Night City has become a completely different beast. Cops are relentless, gangs are territorial, and El Capitan’s vehicle theft missions now force you into needle-sharp escape sequences. I used to rely purely on my lead foot; then I discovered that I could hack cars, and everything changed.

My moment of revelation came during a botched ride snatch in Santo Domingo. Four Tyger Claw bikes swarmed me like angry hornets, and I was pinned between a truck and a shattered overpass. In desperation, I held down L1 on my controller, aimed my Kiroshi optics at the lead bike, and there it was—a prompt to hack the vehicle itself. I watched the bike floor it into a concrete pillar, scattering sparks and limbs like a firework. From that moment, I was hooked.

This whole playstyle is built on a single cornerstone: the Carhacker perk. It sits in the Intelligence tree, and you can unlock it once you’ve spent four attribute points in that area. If you’re like me and you’ve already done a full build reset with the 2.0 update, you might need to respec—trust me, it’s worth it. The perk lights up when you equip a cyberdeck, which is the same gear you use for standard enemy hacks. But here’s the catch: vehicle quickhacks are thirsty. They gulp down RAM like an old muscle car sucking fuel. My first-tier green deck couldn’t even handle a single emergency brake command before fizzling out. I quickly learned to invest in a higher-tier deck and some RAM-boosting Intelligence perks; otherwise, you’re just waving a magic wand with no mana.

Once I had a tier-4 purple cyberdeck installed—something I scavenged from a netrunner’s hideout in Pacifica—a full suite of vehicle quickhacks unlocked without me spending a single eddy at a shop. Think of it like buying a master key rather than renting each lock; the deck’s tier dictates your arsenal. Here’s what my digital toolbox looks like:

• 💥 Self Destruct: My favorite for dramatic exits. I trigger it on a trailing truck, wait for the beeping crescendo, and watch it become a metal volcano. Perfect for clearing a blockade or just sending a message.

• 🏎️ Floor It: This one turns an enemy’s accelerator into a greased catapult. I love using it on a car that’s trying to cut me off—it suddenly turns ninety degrees and launches into a building like a pinball that can’t decide which bumper to hit. It’s chaos you can’t script.

• 🛑 Emergency Brake: The exact opposite—this hack forces a dead stop. I often use it on a police cruiser that’s riding my bumper; the car’s nose dives like a submarine, and the tail of traffic piles up behind it. It’s the quickest way to turn a chase into a parking lot.

You execute these hacks the same way you’d fry a network: hold L1/LB, center the camera on a vehicle, and pick your poison from the wheel. Timing is everything. If you’re too slow, you eat a hail of bullets, but if you’re fast, the traffic around you becomes a weapon. I often think of my cyberdeck as a theremin—I’m not touching anything physical, but my gestures shape the air into pure discord.

The most exotic tool in the shed is Take Control. This quickhack lets you remotely steer any nearby car like a toy. Its range is limited—a small meter at the top of the screen depletes when you drift too far—so it’s not the star of chase sequences. But for side gigs, it’s my favorite mischief-maker. I once guided a Valentino’s ride right off an overpass into a scrapyard while sipping a synth-beer across the street. It’s a delightfully cruel puppet show.

I do have to warn you about RAM management. Even with a top-shelf deck, overusing vehicle hacks in a dense firefight will leave you staring at a gray icon and a lot of angry headlights. I always keep a few RAM Jolt inhalers on me, and I’ve planted the Feedback Loop perk so that killing an enemy returns some RAM. Another tip: hack the lead vehicle in a convoy first. The crash domino effect often deals with the rest without extra cost.

One more thing—since the 2.0 update, Night City’s police have no mercy. Their pursuit AI now uses flanking patterns and roadblocks that feel almost human. Hacking their cars isn’t just fun; it’s a survival tactic. I’ve ended more chases by Floor It-ing a cop car into a gas station than by outrunning them. The streets are unforgiving, so why play fair?

If you’ve slept on Intelligence builds because you thought they were only for stealth netrunners, I urge you to reconsider. The Carhacker perk turns you into a conductor of vehicular anarchy—every chase becomes a chance to compose mayhem. So grab a good deck, invest a few points, and start turning Night City’s roads into your own demolition derby.