Is it possible to cheat in Rocket League?
The server controls everything about the game including things such as your positioning, velocity, orientation and a lot more. Since the server is in control of almost everything, it's very difficult to cheat in Rocket League. The cheats would need to tell the server what to do but that's not possible to do.
This isn't common in gaming since it can also come with problems. Lag is the biggest problem and why some players look like they're using a teleport hack in Rocket League. The reality is that teleport hacking in this game is impossible but the way the game works means that laggy players can appear to teleport since the server is struggling to see their real positioning. Other games that don't operate the same way as Rocket League are pretty obvious. In those games, players don't usually see such obvious examples of lagging from other players in the game.
What Cheats are available for Rocket League?
While cheating is very difficult, there are some cheats you could technically use in limited situations. There are aimbot cheats that you can only use for private games. They won't work on public servers due to how the servers work. This is typically for when you're playing with friends in pre-arranged games. However, it's generally accepted that the few Rocket League aimbots in existence aren't very good. The aimbots sit around the Gold skill level at best but might still be used as a training tool privately.
There are also legal Easter Egg codes for Rocket League but these aren't cheats and don't change the game. Special codes are also available that can be used to unlock things in the game. These codes do eventually expire and aren't real cheats. None of them change the game much besides giving you some special cosmetics and potentially other small bonuses.
Smurfing is technically not considered cheating since it doesn't use any exploits or hacks. However, developers don't usually approve of this despite their lack of trying to prevent it. There are different reasons why players might use smurf accounts but it's not usually anything to do with cheating.
Why are there no cheats in Rocket League?
Since cheating in Rocket League is a difficult thing to pull off, it needs a lot of time dedicated to making a working cheat. The flip side to this is that the rewards for cheating are also very limited in Rocket League. This is why there are very few Rocket League cheats available, it's a lot of work for a very small reward.
It is possible to make these cheats but implementing them into the game is difficult. The Rocket League bot community is working on this as part of their work to create a “super bot” but no one considers this to have much value outside of being a hobby. The reason for this is that while Rocket League cheats could give you a small boost, it's nothing as significant as other popular games. FPS games like CS2 (CSGO) or Fortnite provide a much bigger pay-off for good cheats. Even with cheats in Rocket League, games like this still require you to be good at the game or at least understand the game mechanics.
So using Rocket League cheats are relatively pointless outside of turning a game with friends into a chaotic mess for the pure joy of it. Even if you use cheats, you still need to be good enough at the game to make using them worthwhile.
The Rocket League Anti-Cheat System
All big or popular games have an anti-cheat system in place. Valve has their own anti-cheat system, Ubisoft uses BattlEye and Psyonix now uses the Easy Anti-Cheat made by Epic Games (https://www.easy.ac/en-us/). Originally, Rocket League did not have an anti-cheat since the games' set-up made cheating impractical anyway. Now that Psyonix has joined the Epic Games family, they've adopted their anti-cheat for Rocket League as well.
This system uses different methods to prevent cheating such as limiting intrusive software. Easy is being used for a lot of different games now including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, Fortnite and Gears 5. It focuses more on preventing cheats instead of doing mass ban waves every so often like with some other games. This system also makes it harder for players to use Rocket League cheats and makes cheating even less worth doing in this game.
The addition of this anti-cheat software makes it much more difficult to use cheats in private matches as well. It requires a lot more work to implement the cheating software. Even doing this, however, puts your account at risk of a suspension or ban.
Final Thoughts
Cheating in Rocket League is a very difficult thing to do. The server controls most of the gameplay mechanics which makes implementing cheats much more difficult. Due to the nature of the game, you need to be a good player to make the most of such cheats which also makes using them pretty redundant. Even before the addition of the Easy Anti-Cheat, there were very few cheaters in the game. Rocket League cheats just aren't worthwhile making this the perfect game to play if you hate cheaters.
Private games, however, can be enhanced with different cheating software. These can add aimbots and other cheats to the game which can be fun to play with friends. They can add a different layer of chaos to the game which can be great for games night. However, the Easy Ant-Cheat software also makes using cheating software in private games more difficult now.