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GUIDE · BEGINNER · 3 MIN READ

How to save: goalkeeping in car football

Get back to the middle of your goal, face the ball and jump just before the shot reaches you. Where to stand, high shots, clearances and the SAVES challenges.

To make a save, get back to the middle of your goal, turn to face the ball and jump just before the shot reaches you, so your car is in its way. Staying central means you can reach both corners. Once it’s stopped, knock the ball away from goal and out towards the side of the pitch.

How to make a save · 0:20 · transcript on the video page

Where should I stand in goal?

  • In the middle, facing the ball. From the centre of the goal you can reach either post. Sit on one post and the far corner is open.
  • Between the ball and your goal. The loading screen puts it simply: STAY BETWEEN THE BALL AND YOUR GOAL WHEN YOU ARE THE LAST ONE BACK. As the ball moves across the pitch, shuffle across with it.
  • With the ball in view. Keep BALL FOCUS on so the camera follows the ball. The game calls it best for reading the play.

How to make a save, step by step

  1. Get back early. When the ball heads your way, drive back to your goal. Boost if you need to, and go through a corner pad on the way to fill your tank.
  2. Turn to face the ball. DRIFT spins you round quickly. On the PRO layout, ROLL L and ROLL R drift on the ground.
  3. Watch the shot come in. Stay central, and only move to stay in line with it.
  4. Jump just before it reaches you. Too early and you’re coming back down as it arrives.
  5. Clear it. If you get a second touch, hit it away from goal towards a side wall, never back across your own goal.

The saves video shows these steps in under 20 seconds, and the keeper’s-eye video puts you behind the car for six shots in a row.

TRAINING: shot challenges, with SAVES at BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED

How do I save high shots and lobs?

A full jump, holding JUMP for a moment rather than tapping it, lifts your car about 2.3 metres. The crossbar is far higher than that, so for chips and shots at the top corners you need a double jump, or a jump and BOOST with your nose tipped up, which is the start of an aerial. Watch the bounce too: the ball loses height every time it lands, so a dropping ball is often easier to meet after a bounce. How to flip and double jump and how to aerial cover both moves.

Practise it

  • SHOT CHALLENGES › SAVES · BEGINNER. Eight shots, a 7-second clock for each and a full tank. You face slow rollers at each post, a lob towards the crossbar, rollers from either side, a bouncing shot at the middle, a chip, and one where you start off to the side. A shot is SAVED! if nothing goes in before the clock runs out, or early, once your touch sends the ball away from goal at 4 m/s or more for a second.
  • SAVES · INTERMEDIATE (6 seconds, half a tank) adds driven shots into the low corners and chips over you into the top ones. SAVES · ADVANCED (5 seconds, mostly a third of a tank) brings faster shots and one where you have to race back.
  • MY DRILLS: tap NEW SET, set the category to SAVES, and build the shots you keep letting in.

Common mistakes

  • Jumping too early. You’re on the way down when the ball arrives, and it goes over you. Fix: wait until it’s nearly on you.
  • Hugging a post. Fix: get back to the middle after every save.
  • Sitting side-on, or facing your own goal. You can’t see the ball coming or reach it in time. Fix: turn to face it before the shot.
  • Clearing across your goal. A weak clearance across the face of goal hands the bot another shot. Fix: hit it out towards a side wall.
  • Racing back facing the wrong way. Fix: a half flip turns you round in one move (see the tip).

Facing away from the ball as it comes at your goal? A half flip turns you round in one move: backflip, push the stick up to stop it halfway, then air roll your wheels down. Better still, get set before the shot comes: how to defend covers positioning.

Updated 20 October 2026

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