Star Wars: Galactic Racer, developed by Fuse Games, has earned a perfect 5/5 rating in our review. The game, launching on PS5, Xbox, and PC on October 6, 2026, fuses the spirit of Burnout and Episode 1: Racer with a refreshingly new campaign style that is unabashedly a Star Wars story.
Visuals and Performance
The first thing that hits you about Star Wars: Galactic Racer is how beautiful it looks. As the first proper Star Wars racing game in 15 years, there was always going to be a leap in graphics, but Fuse Games has done a remarkable job recreating the look and feel of the universe from the seat of a cockpit.
Even on a base PS5, zooming past frosted caverns, across salt plains, and through lava lakes holds a steady 60fps, making you feel the rush and power of the vehicles. Combined with excellent sound design that makes it easy to identify crafts by their engine's screams and judders, Galactic Racer is wholly authentic to Star Wars.
Story and Campaign
Set during the New Republic era, not long after the fall of the Galactic Empire, Galactic Racer's narrative is surprisingly substantial for a racing game. Instead of unrelated tournaments, it offers a runs-based story mode where you take on the role of Shade, an up-and-coming racer with a personal vendetta against the Galactic Racing League's prized star.
You build up and improve your Landspeeder, Speeder Bike, or new Skim Speeder craft as part of this roguelike-style campaign. The story is a core part of the game, with Fuse Games' willingness to put you in Shade's shoes and let you walk around paddock hubs in between racing events. This is necessary for buying new parts, abilities, and randomised vehicle upgrades, as well as interacting with characters like Hibi, the Ardennian mechanic, and the League's founder, Darius Pax.
Racing Mechanics
The actual racing takes an extremely involved approach. Success is about managing your vehicle's battery, learning each track intimately (there's no mini-map), and carefully fluttering between the boosting capabilities of your Afterburner and Ramjet. Each vehicle type handles slightly differently, such as Speeder Bikes storing energy after boosting or Skim Speeders rolling onto a Knife Edge to better handle tight corners.
The runs-based, three-act campaign presents the ideal opportunity to experiment with these differences. Should you fail to complete an act the first time, you can apply a whole different range of buffs and effects to your vehicle. When treated as a learning experience, the game truly begins to come into its own in ways never seen in an arcade racer before.
Drawbacks and Tribute
The one drawback is that it can take a while to tap into the degree of foresight needed when racing on a route for the first time. The lack of railings or an actual track makes it initially tricky to tell when a turn is coming or which way is forward. However, racing across these planets often enough makes it second nature, and applicable abilities like the Shield or Auto Pilot help take the edge off.
The game doesn't shy away from the sillier side of the cinematic universe. Sebulba plays a significant part in the campaign, and Fuse Games shows a real reverence for Podracing. Even though it's not one of the three main vehicle classes, Galactic Racer constantly puts you in the seat of a Podracer, be it in the third act or the dedicated Podracer playlist in Arcade mode. It pays affectionate tribute to 1999's Star Wars Episode 1: Racer.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer channels unprecedented speed and challenge, letting you take advantage of them from the seat of countless iconic Star Wars vehicle types. It's beautiful to look at and listen to, with top-notch racing fundamentals, booster management, vehicle upgrading, and an ever-changing campaign structure building an amazing degree of depth. This is one racing game that can influence many others, because it's not just podracing, it's so much more.
