Tesla brings more than 6000 video games to in-car screens

US electric vehicle giant Tesla has rolled out an update which allows owners to play some of the world’s most popular video games on their car’s infotainment screens – but Australian customers miss out on the technology for now.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, Tesla announced it had added the ability for owners of certain Model S and Model X electric cars to play ‘Steam Deck’ video games on the models' infotainment systems.

Steam is the world’s most popular video game distribution platform, with more than 120 million people using the service to buy, download and play games on their computers.

In February 2022, the Steam Deck handheld gaming device was launched, allowing users to play select computer games while on the move – a version of which is now available in the Tesla vehicles.

The newly-added support for Steam video games joins a selection of arcade games that have been available to play in Tesla cars in Australia and abroad since 2019.

According to Tesla, video games available on the Steam Deck can now be played on examples of the facelifted Model S and Model X, which were built from early 2021.

These cars are fitted with an AMD RDNA 2 graphics processing unit (GPU), also used in the latest PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X gaming consoles.

Unfortunately for Australian Tesla customers, the facelifted Model S and Model X vehicles available with the gaming capability have yet to be introduced locally, with prices and estimated arrival times for both cars removed from the company's local website in December 2021.

Tesla’s website does include the ability to pre-order either electric car for $350 – but it is not clear when Australian deliveries of the vehicles will begin, some two years after they launched in the US.

Tesla’s YouTube video featured the Cyberpunk 2077 game being played on the in-car screen by using a PlayStation controller, though the system can run more than 6000 games which have been verified for Steam Deck, including Forza Horizon 5, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto V.

In a post on Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk – who also owns the social media platform – claimed the gaming system "even works with (a) keyboard and mouse".

While the list of games now available to play is expansive, it’s not the first time Tesla has brought video games to its in-car screens.

In June 2019, the car-maker launched Tesla Arcade on its infotainment systems, which included mini games such as Chess, Solitaire and even Sonic the Hedgehog.

Last year, Tesla expanded Arcade’s abilities by launching ‘Passenger Play’, enabling the use of the infotainment display as a monitor for playing video games while on the move.

This function was intended for the front-seat passenger only, however it was found Passenger Play could easily be activated and used by the driver. 

An investigation by the US National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) and increasing pressure from the road safety authority led to Tesla disabling the system while the car is moving.