EA Sports‘ FIFA series has been aimed at bringing a super realistic football experience over the years with their gameplay and visuals. Besides graphic animations, the game should also integrate the qualities of real-life players seamlessly into the game, including strength, agility, attack and defense capabilities, and most importantly, pace.
As a result of their ability to sprint and push defenses, legendary players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated matches in FIFA 23. However, the AcceleRATE system appears to bring balance to the game by adjusting the pace stats of different players based on key factors.
What is the AcceleRATE System in FIFA 23?
Acceleration is basically the change in sprint speed of a player over a certain distance. The sprint speed itself and acceleration calculate the average Pace stat of a player. The AcceleRATE system basically categorizes all the players in FIFA 23 into three acceleration types.
Lengthy, Controlled and Explosive are new AcceleRATE archetypes. The feature is a brand-new, Next-Gen exclusive, introduced in FIFA 23 that expands upon the player movement system, dividing players into three unique acceleration types. The new feature, which is inspired by real-life differences between footballers where even players with similar speeds can move very differently across the pitch, has been introduced as a way to showcase more personality in player acceleration, with the goal of improving the viability of different types of players in FIFA 23.
These categories are on the basis of key physicality factors like Height, Strength and Agility. Understand the three categories here:
- Controlled: This is essentially the default acceleration type of players that do not meet the criteria for the other two types. Most player cards will have a Controlled type that offers a balanced acceleration.
- Explosive: This type of acceleration basically offers a high paced headstart to players that gradually decreases after covering short to medium distances. The general criteria for this archetype are short height players with relatively high Agility and lower Strength.
- Lengthy: In this acceleration type, players will have a relatively sluggish start to their run but when they reach their peak acceleration after a certain distance, they can be the fastest players in the field. The primary criteria for this acceleration type are taller players with relatively high Strength but low Agility.
How to get Specific Acceleration types?
Now, these acceleration types make some players more viable in certain positions, even more than their higher-stats counterparts. However, in order for the acceleration types to take effect in-game, players need specific Chemistry type requirements to be met. Apart from a few that fall into the Explosive or Lengthy category as a default, other Controlled players need special Chemistry types that either boost their Strength or Agility. You can check this for any player in your FUT squad tab.
As a general rule of thumb, having the Chemistry type of Artist on shorter players gives a +15 Agility boost that can make them Explosive. And alternatively, having the Chemistry type of Architect on tall players gives a +15 Strength boost that can make them Lengthy. Some versatile Controlled-type players like Antony have stats that can give him either the Explosive or Lengthy archetypes both depending on the team Chemistry.
What makes a player Lengthy, Controlled or Explosive?
Explosive:
- Agility >= 65
- (Agility – Strength) >= 15
- Acceleration >= 74
- Height <= 180 cm (~ 5’11”)
- Example player: Vinícius Jr
Lengthy
- Strength >= 65
- (Strength – Agility) >= 14
- Acceleration >= 55
- Height >= 174 cm (~ 5’9”)
- Example player: Virgil Van Dijk
Controlled
- Any player that does not meet the other two requirements above
- Example player: Son Heung-min
The type a player is assigned to is determined before kick-off, so it’s important to note that it is affected by Attribute changes that can happen before the match, such as Chemistry, but it is not impacted by Attribute changes that happen once the game has started, like loss of stamina.
Are Lengthy players better?
Yes. The hot topic in the FUT community right now is Lengthy players. This is because Lengthy players have been shown to be incredibly powerful runners, and perhaps even overpowered runners, in the early days of FIFA 23. One of the most notable examples of this is Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who felt relatively sluggish and clunky last year, emulating the player he is in real life more accurately this year; strong, powerful, athletic, and able to outmuscle and outpace opposition defenders while in full motion.
Can Chemistry Styles make a player Lengthy?
Yes, Chemistry Styles can change a player’s AcceleRATE type.
When the game is assigning Lengthy, Explosive or Controlled before kick-off, it takes into consideration what the player’s Attributes are after the Chemistry Styles boosts are applied, this means that, for example, it’s possible for a player who would initially be assigned into the Controlled archetype to fit into the Lengthy archetype instead as their boosted in-game Attributes now make them eligible for the different AcceleRATE type.
Not every player in the game can do this though, as some Attributes are just too low on some players to be able to fit them into a different type despite the boosts Chemistry Styles can bring. Chemistry Styles also can’t change Attributes such as height, so some players will be limited to one or two AcceleRATE types. They must be under 180 cm tall (~ 5’11”) to be considered Explosive, and over 174 cm (~ 5’9”) tall to be considered Lengthy.
