Star Wars: Galactic Racer Preview - A Cinematic Racing Experience

The Star Wars franchise is one of the biggest grossing media franchises on the planet, generating some of the most iconic films known to man and taking in tens of billions of dollars in merchandise alone. It’s something everyone knows about, whether through social media or through the years upon years worth of content that Lucasfilm and now Disney produce.

It goes without saying that they also produce a good number of video games, as well, and we’ve seen some absolutely fantastic games in the past. This includes the more recent Jedi subseries from Respawn Entertainment, the deep rich world of Knights of the Old Republic from BioWare, and the Battlefront shooters, or at least the ones from twenty years ago.

We were able to get some hands-on play time with the next step in the Star Wars racing genre at Summer Game Fest earlier this month, Galactic Racer, and we were greatly impressed by the amount of detail and dedication that went into replicating a proper racer experience in such a beloved universe.

A Narrative Racer

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is developed by Fuse Games, a relatively new developer out of Surrey, England and focuses on a narrative-driven racing experience. Being set in the Star Wars universe, there’s a lot of potential for different types of vehicles and pods, and it certainly has it.

This isn’t a simple racer where the player simply navigates the menus and goes into a race immediately. Instead, at least from what we played at Summer Game Fest, it’s much more of a cinematic experience. The protagonist comes down onto a planet where they’re immediately deemed the next racer. Giving them the keys to a vehicle, they immediately throw the protagonist directly into a race to see how he does.

There are a handful of planets to choose from, meaning various biomes to race through. This includes the desert of the iconic Jakku, a more tropical location such as Lantaana and a more frigid setting. We experienced more of a desert setting, as we were racing through downed destroyers and various empire ships. For a racing game, this is one of the most visually striking Star Wars games out there.

As one might expect from a racing game, there are also a handful of paths players could take during a race, some of which are shortcuts while others are just alternate scenic routes that felt like they took the same amount of time as the others. The handful of tracks were a little on the drier side (pun intended), but splitting through the various wrecked spacecrafts added a lot to the variety and scenery.

Cruising Across the Finish Line

On top of the tracks, there will be various types of vehicles to choose from, such as Speeder Bikes, Skim Speeders, Podracers, and so much more. Whatever a fan may fancy, Galactic Racer likely will have.

The racing mechanics themselves felt crisp. The player will never have to worry about getting too far behind, at least from our short play session, as even if they crash a vehicle, they will speedily respawn back into the race. And suffice to say, racers will try to run the player off the track whenever possible. It’s a very fast-paced experience, one that ensures the player is immersed and drawn into every race.

...one of the most visually striking Star Wars games out there.

Turning or drifting around corners never felt so good, as there was weight to each vehicle, and with ones with multiple parts, you could feel the tension in each turn. This wouldn’t be a Star Wars racing game, or a racing game in general, without some sort of boosting, and Galactic Racer has that. Afterburners are used when a simple gauge is filled up, but Ramjets are more interesting. These can be used to excel even faster, but they come at a cost. If not properly maintained or managed, they can cause the vehicle to overheat and explode. It’s a bit of a balancing act but one that, if optimized, can propel you ahead of everyone.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is something that has been done a fair amount, as even going back to the N64 era, we had Star Wars Episode 1: Racer, an iconic Star Wars racing experience. But with that said, over many years, there have been very few that truly hit the right balance. Galactic Racer looks to set a new benchmark for Star Wars, being a fast-paced, intense and highly fulfilling racing game.

Star Wars Galactic Racer is out October 6 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.