Minecraft minecart update: All you need to know

The Minecraft community has been requesting Mojang Studios for an overhaul to the game's minecarts for a long time. It now appears the developer has finally answered this call in the latest snapshot for Java Edition, 24w33a. The snapshot has introduced a major revamp with how minecarts look, work, and feel, as well as a new gamerule that gives one even more control over them.

This article details everything about Mojang Studios overhauling minecarts in snapshot 24w33a.

---

Everything you need to know about the Minecraft minecart changes

Minecart jumps

A minecart being jumped across a gap (Image via Mojang Studios)

One of the best minecart updates that Mojang has brought with snapshot 24w33a is improving its ability to jump. In older versions of the game, minecarts would lose all of their momentum when exiting a rail, even if they were being sent off of a ramp. This made it nearly impossible to jump them a considerable distance.

Minecarts have finally been updated to maintain more of their vertical momentum. This allows them to fly much farther when sent off of a powered Minecraft rail ramp.

---

A new gamerule

The new minecart speed command used in-game (Image via Mojang Studios)

One of the most exciting of the new minecart changes brought with snapshot 24w33a is a new gamerule to control the maximum speed that minecarts can reach. There's also a new gamerule Minecraft command to change this number on the fly in-game. An example of the command to increase minecart speed is:

• /gamerule minecartMaxSpeed 1000

---

Smoother movement

Minecarts will look better going around corners now (Image via Mojang Studios)

One of the worst parts about working with minecarts was that at higher speeds, they would halt or even derail themselves around corners. This has been fixed in this snapshot, as minecarts can articulate their movement better at higher speeds. Visually, they'll also take corners smoother, which is a nice quality-of-life change.

---

Decreased time between using portals

Using minecarts with portals is much faster now (Image via Mojang Studios)

Minecarts have also had their ability to travel through Minecraft Nether portals buffed. In past versions of the game, vehicles like boats and minecarts needed to wait for 15 seconds between dimensional shifts. The latest snapshot has reduced this wait time to just half a second.

This makes it much easier to transport Nether-based Minecraft mobs between dimensions, which, although niche, is a massive quality-of-life improvement.

---

Minecart entity changes

Rails can finally run directly next to each other without any issues (Image via Mojang Studios)

Minecarts are commonly used within traps and Minecraft farms for entity cramming. Entity cramming refers to a mechanic of Java Edition that deals huge damage to a mob when it enters a space filled with other entities. Minecarts could easily be placed on top of one another using dispensers, making for easy cramming traps.

Minecarts can no longer be placed directly onto each other by players or dispensers as of 24w33a, which is among the only controversial changes in this snapshot.

Changes to how minecarts interact also make it possible to have two rails run independently next to one another. Previously, two rails on blocks next to each other would collide. Thankfully, this is no longer the case.