Bethesda has discussed its reasons to not include vehicles in Starfield at launch. When you land on one of Starfield’s many planets there’s a vast area to explore in all directions, but you must do it on foot with just your Jetpack for transportation.
Bethesda’s Todd Howard says this is by design and makes for a more personalized experience. When recently questioned by Bloomberg about the lack of ships Todd had this to say.
“And in one sense, you do have a vehicle. You have your spaceship, you can go around space. On the surface you have a jetpack you can upgrade which is super fun.”
Could vehicles come in a future DLC update? It’s not off the table, but players seem to prefer it this way, appreciating that the lack of vehicles allows discoveries to be focused on certain smaller areas of the map. During the interview, Howard was also questioned as to why Starfield was not optimized for PC. Bethesda reinforced that the game is next-gen and runs great on PCs, suggesting that it doesn’t run well on yours it may be time to upgrade your system. Could Starfield help push next-gen systems? Sure, but needing to upgrade your rig to play a title isn’t something many gamers want to hear.