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How to Grav Jump in Starfield

Plus, how to upgrade your Grav Drive.

starfield steam promo art grav jump
Image credit: Bethesda

Knowing how to Grav Jump in Starfield is probably one of the most important things to know before you start exploring space. After all, Grav Jumping is part of fast travel, and it will help you get to new systems and planets, and it can even help you escape trouble sometimes.

Your ship is a big part of your time in Starfield, and the Grav Drive is just one of several important parts of it. Now, you are told a bit about your Grav Drive by Vasco in the beginning but then you're kind of left to it so it can be a bit confusing.

We're going to show you how to Grav Jump in Starfield and how to upgrade your Grav Drive.

On this page:

Our latest look at Starfield gameplay footage.Watch on YouTube

If you’d like more help in your galactic adventures, visit our Starfield guides, tips and tricks page.

How to Grav Jump in Starfield

To Grav Jump in Starfield you need to make sure that there is power going to your Grav Drive in your ship. To do this, enter your ship and then look at your ship systems overview on the lower left side of your screen.

starfield first person pov ship grav drive system indicator
starfield third person pov ship grav drive system indicator
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

Use the prompted controls to navigate your ship systems and increase the power in your Grav Drive. You may need to remove power from other systems to do this, we knew we were jumping between safe-ish systems so we took it out of our weapons.

Once you have power in your Grav Drive, enter your star map. Now, here is where you can choose if you simply want to jump to another system or a specific planet in another system.

Jumping to another system

To Grav Jump to another system, enter your star map and then hover over the target system. Then, use the prompted controls in the bottom right corner of your screen to 'Set Course' to the system.

starfield alpha centauri system map set course option highlighted
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

Once you've done this, a sub-menu panel will appear on the right side of your screen. This will give you information on your jump, including how much fuel it will consume.

starfield grav jump data panel
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

At the bottom of this menu will be a control prompt to 'Jump'. Simply use the indicated command to jump to your target destination.

You'll then be taken back to your ship and a countdown will begin. The more power that's in your Grav Drive, the faster the countdown will be. When the countdown ends, you'll Grav Jump!

Jumping to a planet in another system

To Grav Jump to a specific planet in another system, enter your star map and then hover over the target system. Then enter the map for that star system and select the planet you want to jump to. Then, use the prompted controls in the bottom right corner of your screen to 'Set Course' to the planet.

starfield alpha centauri system planet map set course highlighted
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

Once you've done this, a sub-menu panel will appear on the right side of your screen. This will give you information on your jump, including how much fuel it will consume.

starfield grav jump data panel
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

At the bottom of this menu will be a control prompt to 'Jump'. Simply use the indicated command to jump to your target destination.

You'll then be taken back to your ship and a countdown will begin. The more power that's in your Grav Drive, the faster the countdown will be. When the countdown ends, you'll Grav Jump!

starfield grav jump countdown
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

However, to jump to another destination you may need to travel a specific route from system to system or planet to planet. You cannot jump from one system directly to another unless there's a direct route link between them. For example: If you want to jump to a system, but there are two systems between you and the target, you'll need to follow the route to get to your target, even if it means jumping to some systems you don't want to go to.

How to upgrade your Grav Drive in Starfield

You'll need to upgrade your Grav Drive to be able to make bigger jumps to systems further away.

To upgrade your Grav Drive in Starfield, you need to find a ship technician. There's one on the landing pad in New Atlantis. Speak to any ship technician and choose the 'I'd like to view and modify my ship' conversational option when it appears.

starfield modify ship systems ship tech conversational option
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

You'll then be taken to the ship overview screen. Here, you'll want to follow the control prompt at the bottom of your screen for 'Upgrade Ship' to find the easiest way to upgrade the Grav Drive.

Here, you can upgrade your Grav Drive by selecting the 'Grav Drive' option. This will then show you the Grav Drives that the technician has on offer that you can upgrade your existing one to and how many Credits it will cost.

starfield ship overview upgrade ship grav drive option selected
Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda

When you hover hover one of the available Grav Drives, its stats will appear in a box on the left side of your screen. If a stat is blue with an upwards triangle next to it, they're better than your existing ones. If a stat is red with a downwards triangle next to it, they're worse. If there's no triangle there, the stats are the same.

You can use this panel to decide whether or not an upgrade is worth it for your ship. When you find one you're happy with, simply select the Grav Drive upgrade you want, then exit the 'Upgrade' screen and you'll pay the technician for the part.

You can also buy bigger and better Grav Drives with Credits in 'Ship Builder' when speaking to a ship technician as well.

That's it for Grav Jumping! If you want more Starfield content, check out our Earth explainer if you want somewhere else to fly to or our lockpicking guide to learn how to get into people's valuables.

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