CarX Street Update 1.16.0 is live on PC, bringing dramatic weather and a much more powerful set of customization tools. Released on October 30, 2026, the racing game's new patch introduces lightning storms, volumetric lighting, an expanded 700-layer livery editor, adjustable driving cameras and an improved Photo Mode.
CarX also reports changes to online racing, startup speed and frame-time consistency. These are the developer's claims from the official Steam announcement, not independent performance tests. Here is what drivers can expect and what the release notes actually confirm.
Storms, lightning and volumetric lighting
The most visible new addition is stormy weather, with lightning, rolling thunder and stronger wind. Players can enable storms and lightning through the weather settings instead of having the effects imposed in every session.
Volumetric lighting creates visible shafts of light in mist and unsettled weather. Headlights now participate in the effect, so nighttime driving could look markedly different in fog or rain.
CarX has also reworked vehicle materials to make paint respond more naturally to different lighting. Vegetation reacts to wind and passing cars; rain sounds and droplets on vehicle windows receive refinements.
The team calls these visual improvements, but the notes do not include hardware benchmarks. The effect on your frame rate will depend on graphics settings, weather conditions and your PC.
CarX Street's livery editor now supports 700 layers
The game's customization suite has received one of its biggest practical updates. The maximum livery layer count rises to 700, giving creators more freedom to build detailed, multi-part artwork.
Other new editing tools include:
- Undo and redo to reverse accidental changes.
- New projection options, with controls over decal depth and angle.
- Decal opacity for transparent and layered designs.
- HEX color codes for accurate color matching.
- A used-color history and the ability to favorite decals.
These changes should be especially useful for players recreating race-team liveries or building custom graphics. However, the developer has not promised that every 700-layer design will have identical performance on all computers.
Photo Mode and driving cameras get more control
Photo Mode now lets players adjust weather and time of day, freeze time, operate headlights and indicators, and add cinematic film grain. A free drone camera and a dedicated Photo Mode key make composing shots easier.
Normal gameplay cameras get additional settings, including viewpoint height, position offset, field of view, shake and horizon stabilization. A new idle cinematic camera also appears in Free Ride.
For racing creators, this means better control over screenshots and video framing. For everyday drivers, it offers more ways to find a comfortable view without changing the handling of the car itself.
Multiplayer and drag-race changes
A new Rivals Leaderboard shows competitors' positions and time differences while a race is in progress. According to CarX, it appears during club events, drag races, duels, Runlist competitions and custom rooms.
Players can now move, resize or hide HUD elements, which should help those using wider displays or recording gameplay.
The developer also reports improved netcode and a soft-collision system. No numerical latency benchmarks or exhaustive collision rules were provided, so it is better to describe these as changes announced by CarX rather than guaranteed fixes for every online problem.
Drag racing gets three adjustments: burnouts are performed once at the start of a race, rounds can be skipped, and rivals now execute more realistic burnouts.
Full CarX Street 1.16.0 changes at a glance
| Area | What changed |
|---|---|
| Weather | Toggleable storms, lightning, thunder and stronger wind |
| Graphics | Volumetric light, revised car paint and reactive vegetation |
| Livery editor | 700 layers, undo/redo, opacity, projection and HEX colors |
| Photo Mode | Freeze time, weather settings, drone camera and lighting controls |
| Cameras | FOV, offset, camera shake and horizon stabilization |
| Racing | Live Rivals Leaderboard and drag-race refinements |
| HUD | Resize, reposition or hide individual interface elements |
| Online | Developer-reported netcode and soft-collision improvements |
| Performance | Faster starts and fewer frame drops according to the patch notes |
| Balance | Reduced power for the LL2 engine |
The announcement also says render distance can be configured independently of graphics presets, and the speedometer can display km/h or mph.
Which bugs are fixed?
CarX specifically mentions rain appearing under bridges and inside tunnels, black raindrop artifacts and fog showing up in menus. It also lists fixes affecting Photo Mode, Spectator Mode, TAL collisions, the FGT cockpit camera and Steam Workshop.
Alongside those corrections are general bug fixes and optimization changes. The team has not published a reproducible before-and-after performance table, so players should avoid assuming a fixed percentage increase in FPS.
Drivers who have tuned a car around the LL2 engine should also revisit their setup: the release notes explicitly state its power has been reduced.
How to install CarX Street Update 1.16.0
On PC, the patch appears in the game's official Steam news feed. Let Steam finish downloading the latest update before launching CarX Street. If the update does not appear, restart the Steam client and check the download queue.
After updating, explore the weather, camera, Photo Mode, HUD and livery-editor settings to find the new options. The exact control labels may vary by language or interface layout.
This announcement concerns the PC Steam update. It does not confirm a matching release time or feature parity for mobile or other editions.
Does 1.16.0 add new cars?
The official patch highlights do not announce a new vehicle roster. The specifically named engine change is reduced LL2 power.
Are storms always enabled?
No. The developers say players can switch stormy weather and lightning on through weather settings.
Will this update improve FPS?
CarX reports a faster startup and fewer frame drops, but supplies no standardized hardware comparisons. The added visual effects may also place more load on the GPU in certain scenes.
The bottom line
CarX Street 1.16.0 is a meaningful visual and customization update, rather than just a small stability patch. Lightning storms, volumetric lighting, 700 livery layers, advanced camera controls and live race rankings give players new reasons to return to the city.
For exact changes and future corrections, consult the CarX Street team's official October 30 update notes. The article's accompanying Steam artwork illustrates the game itself; it is not presented as a screenshot of the new storm system.
Source date: October 30, 2026