Our most comprehensive learning experiences

Pathway

Collections of tutorials and quizzes organized to teach a specific topic

Course

Tutorial

Create a 2D game

Build a VR Experience

2D Lighting Pixel Art

Create with Shader Graph

Unity Studio

Editor Essentials

Scripting

For Educators

Objects & Components

Physics

Materials & Shaders

Audio

AI & Navigation

Animation

All content in this course uses:

Use methods, vectors, and variables to read arrow key input and drive a vehicle that moves forward, backward, and turns.

Lesson 1.4 - Step into the Driver's Seat

In this lesson, we need to hit the road and gain control of the vehicle. In order to do so, we need to detect when the player is pressing the arrow keys, then accelerate and turn the vehicle based on that input. Using new methods, Vectors, and variables, you will allow the vehicle to move forwards or backwards and turn left to right.

When the player presses the up/down arrows, the vehicle will move forward and backward. When the player presses the left/right arrows, the vehicle will turn.

The code you’ll add in the following steps uses the 

 to handle player controls. To ensure the code works correctly, verify that your project is configured to allow both input systems to run side by side.

The Unity Editor will automatically restart to apply this setting. After restarting, your project will be correctly configured to handle input from both the original Input Manager and the newer Input System.

Configure project settings for the Input System

Until now, the vehicle has only been able to move straight forward along the road. We need it to be able to move left and right to avoid the obstacles.

At the top of PlayerController.cs, add a 

transform.Translate(Vector3.right * Time.deltaTime * turnSpeed);

Allow the vehicle to move left/right

Now let’s introduce Unity’s newer Input System and expose a Move Action so you can bind the arrow keys directly in the Inspector.

 not being found, hover over the error and use 

 to add “using UnityEngine.InputSystem;”,or manually add the 

 statement at the top, save, and the error will disappear.

Save and return to the Editor. You should now see 

Add a MoveAction variable

. You’ll see child parts: Up, Down, Left, Right.

x comes from Left/Right (Left = -1, Right = +1)

y comes from Down/Up (Down = -1, Up = +1) On a keyboard it’s typically -1, 0, or +1; on analog sticks it’s a continuous range.

How does Vector2 relate to Vector3? For ground movement, map Vector2(x, y) to the XZ plane in 3D as Vector3(x, 0, y). That keeps vertical (Y) at 0 while moving on the plane.

 to keyboard/w (you can type to search or select 

 for each binding to quickly capture the key you press. Save your script/scene as needed; bindings are stored with the component.

Assign bindings to the action

window so you can see input values live in Play mode.

moveInput = MoveAction.ReadValue<Vector2>();

window change as you press WASD/Arrow keys (x = left/right, y = forward/back).

Steering-style movement: use moveInput.y to move forward/back and moveInput.x to rotate the vehicle around Y (turning) with turnSpeed.

Debug the input values

 is the vertical axis of the 2D Vector (Up/Down). We map it to forward/back movement on Z. moveInput.x is the horizontal axis (Left/Right), mapped to movement on X.

 and test forward/back with W/S or Up/Down.

Now test left/right with A/D or Left/Right. If it doesn’t move, your turnSpeed is likely 0 in the Inspector.

 to a non-zero value like 5 in the Inspector, then enter Play Mode again.


Make the vehicle move forward and sideways

Now replace the sideways Translate with a Rotate so the player steers around the Y axis.

In PlayerController.cs, add this line at the end of the Update() function 

transform.Rotate(Vector3.up, Time.deltaTime * turnSpeed * moveInput.x);

transform.Translate(Vector3.right * Time.deltaTime * turnSpeed * moveInput.x);

 spins the object around its local Y axis (up) by “angle” degrees.

, so rotation is frame-rate independent and scaled by your input (−1 to +1).

Positive x input turns right; negative turns left.

Make the vehicle turn instead of sliding

Now let’s improve readability with comments and make the input Vector2 private, since it’s only used internally.

 to add comments to each section of code.

Clean your code and Hierarchy

When the player presses the up/down arrows, the vehicle will move forward and backward

When the player presses the left/right arrows, the vehicle turns 

Lesson Recap

Demonstrate basic Unity programming skills, such as identifying and editing methods, selecting the correct variable type, and comprehending simple scripts

Level 1 Code Comprehension

Joy Horvath

Instructional Designer

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Gain user input with Input.GetAxis, allowing the player to move in different ways

Use the Rotate function to rotate an object around an axis

Clean and organize your hierarchy with Empty objects

Identify the purpose of common methods found in MonoBehaviours such as Start() and Update()

Define the major features of a script such as namespaces, classes, variables, and methods. 

Comprehend simple code by identifying essential programming structures

Identify common data types, including ints, floats, doubles, bools, strings, arrays, lists, and dictionaries

Devise comments that describe a given code block

Recognize naming conventions conforming to Unity standards, given a set of code blocks

Distinguish object-oriented code from data-oriented code

Distinguish an ECS (Entity Component System) class from any other type of class, given a code block containing a class definition

Interpret basic code in a Unity code base

Correct common syntax errors (e.g. missing semicolons, missing curly braces, type mismatches, etc.) by using the IDE's error checking features

Change a variable's accessibility in the Inspector by editing its access modifier to public or private

Efficiently code with correct method and parameter names by using the IDE’s intellisense (autocomplete) features

Unity バージョン 6.0