The game will move away from the desert environments of the original title and relocate itself in "a lush island environment, full of interactive vegetation"; also included will be monster trucks and four-player split-screen capability. Monster trucks will be able to ride over cars, break most vegetation, and destroy structures. Custom music tracks within races will be available, and camera angles will be improved for crashes; vehicle damage will also be improved. Two new confirmed race terrains are mountain hillsides and caves.
The 16 tracks (compared to 8 tracks in the first game) will contain "thick mud, tangled undergrowth, swift flowing rivers, choking volcanic clouds and searing lava pools". Another new feature in Motorstorm: Pacific Rift is the presence of water in the form of rivers and pools. Water also cools down the car's engine, which presents a whole line of new tactics; vehicles will slow down as they go through deep water, with buoyancy featuring for vehicles that venture into water too deep for that vehicle type.[1] Vegetation will fight back against the smaller vehicles and only the bigger vehicles will be able to go through