Star Wars: Galactic Racer hands-on preview – this is not just podracing

From the makers of Burnout and Need For Speed comes a new Star Wars arcade racer that’s looking to redefine the whole future racing scene.

Even after 27 years, fans are still passionately debating the qualities of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but there’s one thing that came out of the movie that almost everyone agrees was good, and that’s N64 game Star Wars Episode I: Racer. Released at a time when F-Zero and Wipeout were still viable franchises, Racer held its own and spawned a, largely forgotten, sequel in 2002.

But since then, there’s been nothing, with the popularity of future racers in general fizzling out at around the same time. If there is to be a comeback you wouldn’t necessarily have thought it’d be led by Star Wars, but as nostalgia for the prequel trilogy grows, amongst those that grew up with it as young kids, Star Wars: Galactic Racer has become the franchise’s first dedicated racing game in over 20 years.

I not only got a chance to play the game but also speak to Fuse Games founder and CEO Matt Webster and Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craigg Derrick, who were keen to emphasise that Galactic Racer is aiming for something more ambitious than just nostalgia bait, by building an entirely new motorsport culture inside the Star Wars universe.

One of the first questions hanging over the project is obvious: did this start as a Star Wars game or a racing game? Especially considering there hasn’t been any other motorsports in any of the more recent Star Wars movies or live action shows. The answer is both simpler and more interesting than expected.

‘I think a little bit of both,’ Derrick said. ‘We haven’t done a Star Wars racing game in over 20 years. Racing is a huge component of all Star Wars storytelling. It felt like the right time to bring back racing to Star Wars in an exciting new story.’

If the name Fuse Games doesn’t immediately ring a bell, the résumés of the people working there certainly will. The studio was founded by veterans from Criterion Games, the team behind Burnout Paradise, Burnout 3: Takedown, and multiple Need for Speed entries. Many of the team have also worked on Star Wars projects before, including Star Wars: Battlefront.

‘We’ve always loved second-to-second visceral arcade style racing games,’ said Webster. ‘When you put it in your hand, you feel like a hero racer straight from the beginning.’

That’s perhaps the most important thing about Galactic Racer. Within seconds of playing the game, the controls feel immediately intuitive. It follows the classic arcade-racing philosophy of being easy to pick up but difficult to master… I tell myself as I hit that canyon wall yet again.

‘It’s incredibly hard to make,’ Webster admits. ‘There aren’t loads of games in that space because it takes years and years of specialisation.’

Fortunately, this is exactly what Fuse specialises in. However, publisher Secret Mode usually only deals with indie titles such as Empyreal and Still Wakes The Deep, making Galactic Racer by far their highest profile release to date and proof that Lucasfilm Games is willing to work with smaller companies, in the right circumstances.

Set shortly after Return of the Jedi – so roughly the same time as The Mandalorian – the game explores one of the most fascinating periods in Star Wars history: the aftermath of the Empire’s collapse. The New Republic is attempting to rebuild but in the lawless Outer Rim criminal syndicates are increasing their dominance and racing becomes the galaxy’s newest obsession. The developers described this era as having echoes of the post-war period after the Second World War.

‘The Empire’s fallen,’ Derrick explains ‘Where did the pilots go? Where did the mechanics go? All that machinery built for war now gets turned into racers.’

It’s a clever premise that instantly feels believable within Star Wars canon. At the centre of this new underground sport is Darius Pax, a Besalisk (the same kind of four-armed alien from Dex’s Diner in Attack of the Clones) mechanic and lifelong racing fanatic who establishes the Galactic League. His dream is simple: restore racing to its former glory. Unfortunately, powerful interests have other ideas. Enter Kestar Bool, the reigning champion and heir to the influential Bool family. The developers describe him as prideful, ruthless, and power hungry.

‘To be fair,’ Derrick jokes, ‘he is the best racer in the league.’ Players assume the role of Shade, a talented pilot recruited by Darius to challenge Kestar’s dominance and save the future of racing itself. But perhaps the most surprising thing about Galactic Racer is that it isn’t structured like a traditional racing game at all.

Instead, Fuse describes it as a ‘runs-based campaign.’ Campaign progression unfolds through Galactic Tours spanning three acts, with players selecting branching routes across multiple planets. Races, eliminators, field tests, and mystery encounters all feed into a run where every decision matters.

League Entry Tokens act as lives. Lose them all and your run ends, forcing you to restart while retaining some progression, including credits, racer styles, and upgrades. It’s basically a roguelite structure for a racing game, which is interestingly unusual.

‘The mechanics of the run-based system really take you through competing, discovering who your allies are, and who your rivals are,’ says Derrick. ‘It brings you into the story in a way that I haven’t seen in a racing game.’

Honestly? They might be onto something. Customisation is where Galactic Racer starts to look quietly absurd. You can modify six base stats, equip active abilities, install passive parts, and unlock 14 distinct racer styles. Parts interact with environmental conditions, abilities, and vehicle classes, creating a staggering number of combinations. Supposedly, the possible combinations reach into ‘the trillions.’

The aim is clear: no two players should race exactly the same way. The game features four major vehicle types: landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders, and podracers. Each handles radically differently. Landspeeders are stable all-rounders built around drifting. Speeder bikes prioritise acceleration and use a kinetic burst mechanic that lets racers explode out of corners. Then there’s the newcomer, the skim speeder, which is somewhere between a hovercraft and a low-flying starfighter.

‘The skim speeder is one of the most unique,’ Webster said. ’It’s all about putting it on the knife edge and taking the apex incredibly tight. It’s almost like a low flying plane kind of thing. We had to capture that experience in the game.’

What’s neat is that all vehicle classes race together. ‘This is landspeeders versus speeder bikes versus skim speeders,’ Derrick explains. ‘It’s important to have different handling and tactical advantages so players can choose how they want to race.’

Now let’s address the bantha in the room: podracing. The developers know exactly what fans want.

‘You can’t make a Star Wars racing game without doing podracing. Podracing is the pinnacle of racing in the Star Wars universe, but there are so many amazing vehicle experiences in the movies.’

Podracers return through both campaign and multiplayer modes, with dedicated events and the return of legendary racers including Sebulba. Importantly, the team also wanted to remain faithful to established canon. ‘Not everybody can race a podracer,’ says Derrick. ‘Anakin Skywalker winning in Episode I was extraordinary.’

The planets are also true to established lore, although many have been invented just for the game. Jakku (the planet Rey lives on in The Force Awakens) transforms wrecked Star Destroyers into dangerous shortcuts, while the all-new Lantaana mixes rivers and lava flows. Frozen Ando Prime is a deep cut reference, whose low temperatures cool engines while disrupting your controls. Meanwhile, Sentinel One is another new one, that features rivers of corrosive acid, while Derven Acos is also created just for the game and serves as the jewel of the Galactic League.

‘Each planet has its own environmental effects and play style,’ says Webster. The environmental systems tie directly into the ramjet mechanic, a secondary boost that delivers incredible speed at the risk of overheating and catastrophic failure. Water cools engines, lava burns, and cold temperatures extend boosts while affecting handling.

While the sci-fi setting adds an extra level of tactics, for racing fans the promise of deep customisation and Burnout-inspired handling is more than enough appeal on its own. But for Star Wars fans, such as myself, there’s extra levels of intrigue. ‘If you love Star Wars, you love spectacle and discovery and adventure,’ says Derrick. And there’s definitely plenty of that in Galactic Racer.

Formats: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Secret Mode
Developer: Fuse Games
Release Date: 6th October 2026
Age Rating: 7

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