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CrossOver

How to play Pacific Drive on Mac

Survival · 2024

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

Overall rating: Runs great on Mac · 100% of 1 players say it runs well

Your setup
Detect your Mac to see whether Pacific Drive will run.

Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.

How to run Pacific Drive on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Pacific Drive natively on Apple Silicon by translating DirectX to Metal. One-click install, no Windows VM, full local performance.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 / $39/yrGet it ↗
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/yrGet it ↗
BoosteroidEstimateEasy$9.95 /moGet it ↗
Get CrossOver Try Parallels Buy on AllKeyShop See all methods & install guide ↓

Pacific Drive

Face the supernatural dangers of the Olympic Exclusion Zone with a car as your only lifeline in this driving survival adventure! Scavenge resources, load up your trusty station wagon, and drive like hell to make it through alive.

Pacific Drive is fully playable on Apple Silicon using CrossOver with D3DMetal enabled, providing a near-native experience on M2/M3 Pro and Max chips.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
Pacific Drive screenshot 1Pacific Drive screenshot 2Pacific Drive screenshot 3Pacific Drive screenshot 4Pacific Drive screenshot 5Pacific Drive screenshot 6

What the world thinks

  1. Install CrossOver (v24 or newer recommended).
  2. Create a new bottle and search for/install Steam.
  3. In the bottle settings on the right sidebar, ensure D3DMetal is toggled ON. This is crucial for fixing the lighting bugs found in earlier versions.
  4. Ensure M-Series (MSync) is also enabled for better CPU frame pacing.
  5. Launch Steam and install Pacific Drive.
  6. First Run Fix: If the game crashes on startup, add -dx12 to the Steam Launch Options.

Boosteroid (Cloud Gaming)

Since Pacific Drive is not currently available on GeForce NOW, Boosteroid is the primary cloud alternative. This bypasses all hardware limitations but requires a stable internet connection (15Mbps+).

Performance

How Pacific Drive runs on your Mac, from our performance model and player reports.

See exactly how Pacific Drive will run on your Mac

Pick your chip and RAM for a personalised estimate.

Best way to play it on Mac

Pacific Drive is fully playable on Apple Silicon using CrossOver with D3DMetal enabled, providing a near-native experience on M2/M3 Pro and Max chips.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
See if this is the right method for your setup

Ways to play Pacific Drive on Mac

Here are all the options available, ranked by what we recommend first.

Compare methods at a glance

Lower = better

How each supported method stacks up on setup effort, time and runtime overhead.

  • CrossOverTranslationTop pick
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    15 min
    Overhead
    Medium
  • BoosteroidCloud
    Setup
    Simple
    Time
    5 min
    Overhead
    Low
  • ParallelsVM
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    30 min
    Overhead
    High

Where to buy Pacific Drive

Live prices compared across trusted PC key sellers — updates every few hours.

Platform-by-platform reliability

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Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Pacific Drive on Mac with CrossOver

Good· Compatibility

Running Pacific Drive through CrossOver translates its Windows DirectX calls into Metal on Apple Silicon — no reboot, no Windows license, no virtual machine. Most setup time is spent on first-time bottle configuration and installing the game launcher (Steam, Epic, etc.) inside CrossOver. Once that's done, launching feels close to native. Expect 15–30 minutes of setup on the first run.

Step-by-step

Step 1 — Create a bottle

  1. Open CrossOver → click New Bottle
  2. Name it after the game (e.g. Pacific Drive) and choose Windows 10 64-bit
  3. Open the bottle's Settings and set:

- Graphics: D3DMetal (not DXVK)

- Synchronization: ESync

- High Resolution Mode: Off

Step 2 — Install the game launcher

  1. Inside CrossOver, click Install Application → search for Steam (or Epic Games Launcher if you own it there)
  2. Install it into the same bottle you just created
  3. Launch Steam, log in, and let it fully update before proceeding

Step 3 — Install and launch Pacific Drive

  1. Open Steam (or your launcher) inside CrossOver
  2. Install Pacific Drive through the launcher as normal
  3. Launch the game — use the launcher's Play button, not CrossOver directly
  4. First launch may take 30–90 seconds to show a window. Don't force-quit unless it hangs for several minutes.

Step 4 — If you hit issues

  • Black screen / stuck in small window: go to Settings → Graphics in-game, set Screen Type to Fullscreen, then restart
  • Resolution resets on every launch: find the game's config/settings file and set the resolution values manually, then mark the file Read-Only to prevent the game overwriting it
  • Crashes on startup: try switching the bottle's Synchronization from ESync to MSync, or vice versa

Video proof

Try CrossOver free for 14 days ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Pacific Drive on Mac with Parallels

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Pacific Drive means running a full copy of Windows 11 ARM inside macOS. This is the most "it just works" approach for games that don't behave under CrossOver, and DirectX 11 is hardware-accelerated. You'll need a Windows license and roughly 80 GB of disk space.

Step-by-step

  1. Buy / start a trial of Parallels Desktop.
  2. Install Windows 11 ARM via the one-click wizard.
  3. Inside Windows, install Steam / Xbox app and Pacific Drive.
  4. Enable DirectX 11 in Parallels settings for best 3D performance.

Video proof

Try Parallels Desktop free ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Pacific Drive on Mac with Boosteroid

Estimate· Streaming

Streaming Pacific Drive through Boosteroid is the fastest way to start playing on a Mac — there's nothing to install, no Windows VM, no compatibility layer. The game runs on a remote GPU and your Mac just receives the video, which means even a base M1 MacBook Air can play the most demanding AAA titles at high settings. The tradeoff is that you need a stable internet connection (ideally wired or 5GHz Wi-Fi with 25+ Mbps down) and a subscription.

Step-by-step

  1. Create a Boosteroid account and pick a plan.
  2. Use the web client or download the macOS app.
  3. Add Pacific Drive from their library (you'll need to own it on Steam/Epic).

Video proof

Get Boosteroid ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

Our recommendation

For most Mac players we recommend CrossOver as the fastest, smoothest way to play Pacific Drive. One-click local install, official support.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 one-time / $39/year
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/year + Windows licence
BoosteroidEstimateEasy$9.95 / month
Try CrossOver free for 14 days

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