There are two recurring randomized events in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Air Drops and vehicle theft quests. The former are completely freeform - you hear or see an airdrop, you go over to it, do some platforming, kill the guards, breach the lock, and steal the goodies. Vehicle thefts work differently, since each time you steal a marked vehicle it’ll start a side job tasking you with delivering it to one of El Capitan’s chop shops. There’s a little more meat on the bone with these, but not by much, although the rewards are broadly comparable, and if you prefer to indulge in the game’s new [vehicular combat], you may find these more worthwhile than chasing down airdrops. This page will provide a walkthrough for the vehicle theft side jobs in Phantom Liberty, including both the intro job Push It to the Limit and subsequent jobs, all of which are named Just Another Story.

Push It To the Limit - How to Start and Walkthrough¶

To start this series of side jobs you’ll need to advance through Phantom Liberty until you can freely explore Dogtown - which occurs halfway through the main job Lucretia My Reflection. Once you’re tasked with seeking out Reed - and by extension, Songbird - and you leave the safehouse/apartment at Kress Street you’ll be able to engage in a great deal of Dogtown’s new content, including gig, side jobs, airdrops and yes, vehicle theft quests. You’ll even get a call from Mr. Hands telling you that he’s arranged it so you can freely leave and return to Dogtown at your leisure, which is good, considering that none of these vehicle theft jobs could be completed otherwise.

While airdrops get more attention from the narrative, you’re largely left to stumble upon vehicle thefts on your own. As you explore you may spot a blue steering wheel icon on your map, marked as a “Mysterious Signal”. This location is random, but we found them spawning fairly regularly near the pyramid (Heavy Hearts club) along the eastern edge of Dogtown, near the stadium. Which, coincidentally, is close to where you need to go for the main job Lucretia My Reflection. Find a Mysterious Signal marker and head over there to find a gangoon (or several) near a vehicle of some description - the gangers and the vehicle are both random. What’s not random is what you need to do; stealth vehicle (preferably after dispatching the gangers) and you’ll shortly thereafter get a call from El Capitan. Seems he was tracking this vehicle, and there are some eddies in it for you if you deliver it to one of his chop shops. This starts the side job Push It to the Limit.

This first vehicle theft job isn’t too bad, although the location of the chop shop is random as is the vehicle you’ll be driving, as mentioned before. This is a trend that will continue, and sometimes you’ll end up cruising away in some preem wheels that handles like a dream, and other times you’ll find yourself burdened with hauling some fish-tailing junker down the streets. You’ll also have to overcome random objectives as you drive the vehicle to the chop shop, and in this introductory job, you’ll be dealing with the most common hazard - enemies chasing you.

Like most things in these vehicle theft quests, the exact opposition you’ll be facing is random; the number and type of vehicles you’ll encounter (motorcycles, cars, vans, etc.,), and how frequently enemies will spawn all vary. You don’t technically have to kill your enemies to continue, but you can’t enter a chop shop until you lose any hostile pursuers. Whether you’ve got the aim to pick off enemies through windows, you’re willing to expend ammo into destroying chasing vehicles, or you just would rather quickhack the driver to end pursuit is up to you (check out the [Vehicle Combat in Cyberpunk Patch 2.0] page for more info on how this all works).

Shake off or dispatch your enemies as you continue towards the chop shop, park, and exit the car. Leave the garage, approach El Capitan, then get in his car and he’ll explain the premise behind the repeatable vehicle theft jobs. For all his self-professed mystical powers as a car whisperer, it’s not complicated or novel - find a marked vehicle as you explore, steal it, and drive it back to El Capitan for eddies and other goodies. After being interrupted by one of El Capitan’s badged accomplices, exit the car and confirm you’re keen on boosting some more vehicles to complete this job and get a tutorial on Vehicle Contracts.

Vehicle Theft Contracts - Just Another Story Walkthrough¶

Complete your first vehicle heist - and with it the side job Push It to the Limit - and afterward you can randomly find more vehicle contracts on the map. These are marked by the same steering wheel icon as the “Mysterious Signal” that kicked off Push It to the Limit and appear around the map randomly - you’ll notice them as you wander around, just keep an eye on your minimap (note that these events can appear outside of Dogtown, unlike the first one). Randomization is the name of the game here, as the location of the vehicle, the vehicle itself, the enemies guarding it, and the objectives you’ll have to complete after stealing the vehicle are all random. You’re always taking a vehicle to a chop shop, however, but beyond that here are the objectives that you may randomly have to complete:

Moving Target¶

Most vehicles you’ll need to steal are parked, but they don’t always remain so indefinitely, and some will be found driving around. To get this vehicle contract started you’ll need to stop the vehicle - most likely by killing the driver - then hijack it.

Scan and Hijack¶

Perhaps the oddest objective, this is the only one that alters how a vehicle contract begins. Most of the time you just find a steering wheel icon, kill its guards, and then hop in the driver’s seat. Sometimes, however, you’ll find a unique vehicle that will scan for the vehicle you actually need to hijack. Get in the scanning vehicle, wait for it to locate your target, then drive over to the vehicle you need to steal and stay close to it long enough for a “Proximity Meter” to fill up, after which you’ll need to hijack your prey.

Enemy Pursuit¶

Once you’ve got the target vehicle, you’ll need to drive it back to a random chop shop. This is the most common hazard you’ll face and you’ll almost always have to deal with hostile vehicles, often along with other randomized complications. You’ll almost always be attacked by 1-2 vehicles at a time and these can be a single enemy on a motorcycle, two enemies in a vehicle, or three in a van. The types of vehicles you’ll have to deal with are random, as are the number of waves that’ll appear during a heist. You don’t have to kill them, but if you get near the objective you’ll have to lose or defeat them before you can enter the chop shop.

Timed Delivery¶

Another common objective, El Capitan will warn you that he needs the car delivered quickly, and you need to make it back to the Target chop shop before the timer runs out. The time you have to make the delivery generally seems to be correlated with the distance you need to cover when El Capitan contacts you (he doesn’t always start the timer immediately after you hijack a vehicle), but El Capitan doesn’t take numerous variables into account when giving you these time limits. Namely he measures distance as the crow flies, not caring how winding the roads are, nor does he consider how fast your vehicle is or how well it handles. He also doesn’t care if enemies are pursuing you. Sometimes it can be nigh impossible to make it in time to appease El Capitan no matter what you do, but if you fail you’ll just get a somewhat reduced reward.

Good Condition¶

One of the easier conditions to meet, El Capitan wants you to get the vehicle to the chop shop with as few holes in it as possible. This can be a bother if you end up with enemies pursuing you, but we’ve never actually failed at this. Drive safe and you should be fine.

Vehicle Contract Rewards¶

Bring the target vehicle back to the chop shop and you’ll complete the Just Another Story, after which you’ll be free to loot a container nearby. These will always contain a discount shard (reduces the price of purchasing vehicles - these stack, but once you get enough to reduce the price to 0%, further discount shards will not have any effect) and will usually contain other goodies like money shards, weapons, mods, cyberware (of a tier quality appropriate for your level) and usually one or two progression shards (giving a significant boost to Skill XP for a specific skill). These vehicle contracts can be repeated as many times as you wish, and if you complete enough, El Capitan should contact you with the side job [Baby Let Me Take You].