Halo Infinite's Warthog is a lightweight. That might sound like a diss, but I say it with love—of all seven iterations of Halo's iconic four-wheeled gun truck, I actually like Infinite's best. It's fast, looks cool as heck, turns corners on a dime, and doesn't flip over every time I bound over a medium-sized rock. But I have to admit that it doesn't really feel like a classic Warthog. Infinite's hog is so quick and light that it glides across dirt. It feels more like a zippy supercar than Bungie's original big-boned humvee, and 343 is trying to do something about that in Halo Infinite's Season 2 update.
That's right, Halo Infinite has Warthog patch notes, and they're surprisingly extensive.
"The Warthog's tire positions and suspension have been adjusted to better improve its handling on uneven terrain," read the official patch notes. Sounds simple enough, but click on the "Developer Notes" dropdown below that and you get into the nitty gritty truck tweaks. 343 said the Warthog was "taking the bumps in the road rougher than it should," causing it to "twist or roll a frustrating amount."
It's true. The Warthog's impressively springy suspension lets it handle rocky terrain pretty well at slower speeds, but pick up your pace and the back tires will start to sway as if they're floating. To help address this, 343 has put some meat on the Warthog's bones—170 pounds worth, to be exact.
- Increase mass from 3130 lbs to 3300 lbs
It's hard to tell exactly what an extra 170 digital pounds is supposed to feel like on a Warthog, so I fired up the game to see if I can tell the difference. I'd say the Season 2 Warthog still feels largely the same. It can still zip around the map and take corners without a ton of resistance, but I do detect some extra junk in the trunk. There's definitely more weight getting pushed around when I suddenly brake (possibly thanks to the "increased inertia tensor scale" mentioned in the patch notes) and the tires are glued a bit harder to the ground now. Still a far cry from the elephant-like maneuverability of Halos 1 through 3, but I like the change.
As for the other minute tweaks, like adjustments to traction at certain angles or how the rear tires have been pushed back from "0.56wu to 0.66wu (world units)", the difference was pretty much invisible.
My main takeaway here is that 343 takes its vehicle handling pretty seriously. I wouldn't have guessed Warthog patch notes would include centimeter-level tire tweaks or exact measurement of digital poundage. This could allude to the density of tools players will have access to when Forge finally comes to the game… eventually. Will I be able to make a custom Warthog race map where every truck weighs 14 pounds?
For now, Halo Infinite Season 2: Lone Wolves has a few new maps and modes to play with, another battle pass filled with shoulder pads, melee updates, and a chunkier hog.
