Vehicle Combat
Armor up, lock on, and turn the battlefield into a kill box.
Vehicle Combat in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands puts you in the driver's seat or gunner's position of a variety of vehicles, such as dirt bikes, helicopters, and dune buggies. It is a key part of the open world, letting you traverse the diverse environments—mountains, forests, deserts, and salt flats—and engage enemies from a mobile platform. The system rewards tactical thinking: you can parachute from a helicopter, drive overland, or use vehicles for rapid insertion. While the source does not detail specific vehicle health or weapon cooldowns, it confirms that vehicles are used for both traversal and combat, and that players can use multiple ways to complete objectives, including utilizing long-ranged or short-ranged weapons from vehicles.
- Role
- Combined-arms support and tactical mobility
- Affiliation
- Ghost Recon teams and allied forces
- Notable vehicles
- M1 Abrams, AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, M1117 Guardian, RHIB boats
- Game modes
- Campaign, multiplayer, Ghost War
- Key mechanic
- Vehicle health, weapon cooldowns, crew positions
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Vehicle Combat in the Ghost Recon franchise has been a part of the series since its early days, but Wildlands marks the first entry to feature an open world environment. The game moves away from the futuristic setting of Advanced Warfighter and instead adopts a modern-day setting, similar to the original Ghost Recon. As a result, the equipment featured in the game is based on weapons and gear commonly used by military forces around the world, including vehicles like dirt bikes, helicopters, and dune buggies. These vehicles are not just for transport; they are integral to completing missions. Players can parachute from a helicopter, walk overland, or drive towards their objectives. The game also introduces a dynamic weather system and a day-night cycle, which affects visibility and tactical advantage—completing missions at night offers better concealment and easier infiltration due to some guardsmen being asleep. The creative director stated that the AI of the game is unscripted and has their 'own motivations and agendas,' meaning vehicle encounters can be unpredictable. The game sold over 10 million units by March 2020, and a sequel, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint, was released on October 4, 2019.
In Their Own Story
The Ghosts—Nomad, Midas, Holt, and Weaver—are deployed to Bolivia as part of Operation Kingslayer. They use a variety of vehicles to navigate the 21 areas of the map, each controlled by a buchon associated with one of four cartel divisions: Influence, Security, Production, and Smuggling. In one mission, the team might use a helicopter to parachute into a remote outpost, then switch to a dirt bike to chase down a fleeing target. The game features outposts that can be taken down by players, and vehicles are often used to breach these positions. The Ghosts can grab enemies at close range as human shields while using the other hand to shoot, but vehicles provide a different tactical layer—allowing for rapid movement and fire support. The cooperative multiplayer mode lets up to three other players join, each taking a vehicle role, while solo players are accompanied by three AI teammates who can be given orders. A competitive multiplayer mode, released as part of a free update on October 10, 2017, features an elimination type of game mode in a timed 4v4 match with revives, though vehicles are not specifically mentioned in that mode.
Reader's Guide
Vehicle Combat in Ghost Recon Wildlands is a combined-arms system that lets you command a fleet of vehicles across the open world. Each vehicle type—dirt bikes, helicopters, dune buggies—has its own handling and tactical use. To use a vehicle, approach it and press the interact button; you can then drive, pilot, or ride as a passenger. In solo play, you can give orders to your three AI teammates, who can also use vehicles. The game features a dynamic weather system and day-night cycle, which affects vehicle handling and visibility. Use vehicles for rapid insertion, extraction, or as mobile firing platforms. Remember that enemy forces, including the Santa Blanca Cartel and La Unidad, also use vehicles, so be prepared for ambushes. The game allows you to customize your playable character and equip loot found on enemies' corpses, but vehicle customization is not mentioned in the source. The key is to adapt your approach based on mission objectives and terrain—use helicopters for aerial reconnaissance, dirt bikes for fast ground travel, and dune buggies for off-road combat.
Did You Know?
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands was released worldwide on March 7, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
- It is the first game in the Ghost Recon series to feature an open world environment, including nine different types of terrain such as mountains, forests, desert, and salt flats.
- The game sold over 10 million units by March 2020.
- A competitive multiplayer mode was released as part of a free update on October 10, 2017, featuring an elimination type of game mode in a timed 4v4 match with revives.
- The game's creative director stated that the AI of the game is unscripted and has their 'own motivations and agendas.'
More in Gameplay & Mechanics
Elsewhere in the Ghost Recon universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record