I think you even have to put the vehicle on a lift depending on what you want to repair/upgrade. You need keys to start them, some are broken and need repair, it's pretty hard to see if you damage your headlights, you can siphon gas from others and use it for your own, trunks (with different sizes depending on the vehicle, a cube van will carry a lot more than a sedan), and you can scavenge for parts and upgrade it (but you have to build that skill). The vehicles aren't super fancy per se, but have pretty good physics (you can see the suspension moving as you drive offroad). to explore), and some pretty realistic scenarios (for example you can pick up a sheet, and then use it to cover a window). Survival (have to eat/drink/stay happy), apocalyptic (zombies and abandoned houses/farms/stores/mechanic garages/etc. I like the isometric style, so that drew me in personally, but I'd say don't let the graphics turn you away if you aren't a fan of them. No first/third person perspective (it's isometric), but maybe try Project Zomboid. I know it sounds pretty picky, but after 15 years of gaming it's getting really damn hard to find something I haven't seen yet. What I'd like too see is a gameplay loop of driving your vehicle somewhere, getting out, scavenging the area, possibly fighting, then getting back to your vehicle, refueling/repairing/upgrading and moving on. Games like Space Engineers/Empyreon/Stormworks, where you build your own vehicles are fine, but not exactly what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something complex and it is just very minimalistic. Overland, while technically might count, even though you do switch vehicles, is extremely restrictive when it comes to actual gameplay. You don't really live out the vehicle though and the map eventually just gets boring. My Summer Car has an absolutely superb aspect of driving and car maintenance/upgrades, if that game had a post-apocalyptic setting and some action, that'd be exactly what I was looking for. Jalopy is another good example, with driving, car upgrades and having cargo. Moving around and scavenging for supplies to keep your vehicle running was very satisfying. FAR: Lone Sails was actually decent enough in that regard.

Preferably something in first/third person perspective. I am looking for a survival game where you operate out of a vehicle which you can drive and also upgrade/maintain, preferably some sort of a car/truck.

Opera game