Star Wars: Galactic Racer Launches Today with an 88 Metacritic

Podracing is back. Star Wars: Galactic Racer launched October 6, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and early reviews suggest it's the racing game Star Wars fans have been waiting twenty-five years for. It currently sits at Metacritic 88, with critics praising the speed, the course variety, and a campaign that doesn't feel like a tie-in afterthought.

Who Made It and Why That Matters

Galactic Racer was built by Fuse Games, a studio founded by veterans of Criterion — the team behind Burnout and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. That pedigree shows immediately. The game's handling model prioritizes momentum and physical feel over arcade simplicity: speed builds across straights, turns require commitment, and crashing has consequences you actually feel rather than just see. The Burnout DNA is unmistakable, and it fits the Star Wars universe better than it probably has any right to.

What You're Actually Racing

The campaign follows Shade, an up-and-coming pilot, through the underground Galactic League — a series of unsanctioned races set during the New Republic Era. The story puts you on seventeen original tracks spread across seven planets, plus classic locations adapted from across the franchise's history. Rivals have distinct playstyles and will actively try to wreck you rather than just drive faster.

Outside the campaign, the game offers an arcade mode for quick runs and a full PvP multiplayer mode supporting up to 12 players with cross-platform play. Fuse confirmed there is no season pass — any post-launch content will be sold à la carte or released free, which is worth noting given how padded racing game monetization has become.

The Reviews

Critics landed mostly in the 85–92 range. The consistent praise: track design is imaginative and readable at high speed, the vehicle roster has genuine personality differences (not just stat shuffles), and the multiplayer is remarkably stable at launch. The consistent complaints: the campaign is on the short side at around eight hours, and the story doesn't do much with its New Republic setting beyond providing an excuse to travel between planets.

For context, the last dedicated Star Wars racing game was Star Wars Racer Revenge in 2002. Galactic Racer isn't trying to be a sequel to that — it's building something new on a more modern racing foundation while keeping the visual language of podracing intact: exposed engines, trailing heat, impossible terrain, and the particular chaos of a dozen vehicles moving faster than they should.

Pricing and Editions

Standard edition is $59.99. A Deluxe edition at $79.99 includes a vehicle skin pack and early access to an upcoming expansion. A Collector's edition starts at $149.99 and includes physical items. The game is available on PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

If you've been waiting for a racing game that takes the Star Wars setting seriously rather than treating it as a skin on a mediocre driving engine, Galactic Racer appears to be the real thing.