Star Wars: Galactic Racer, developed by former Burnout developers, will be released on October 6.

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      Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the forthcoming racing game set in the expansive sci-fi universe and developed by a group of former Criterion developers at Fuse Games, has its release date confirmed. It is set to arrive on PS5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC on October 6, and it has achieved something I thought was impossible: It has made me care about Star Wars.

      I’ve only watched maybe three Star Wars films—specifically, not the ones typically recommended—and I have vague memories of playing Episode I Racer on the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast. The closest the franchise came to capturing my interest was the introduction of pod racing, though I never enjoyed that game as much as others did, and I missed the chance to play Sega’s entirely different Star Wars Racer Arcade that came out around the same time.

      However, even as someone who is largely unaware of the lore and doesn’t actively wish to learn it, the Star Wars universe can seem genuinely intriguing at times, and occasionally, some games manage to tap into that potential. Galactic Racer seems to be one of such games. Honestly, if you removed Star Wars from the title and rebranded it as Steampunk Wipeout on Alien Planets, I would still eagerly join in.

      The visuals we’ve seen so far are stunning, featuring a combination of intricately designed, tight courses and expansive landscapes. Most racing games don’t manipulate scale quite so dramatically; in fact, it evokes memories of another classic PlayStation racing game that might be even more fitting than Wipeout.

      I'm getting strong MotorStorm vibes from this—not just from the rich environments, but also due to the variety of vehicle weight classes it incorporates, ranging from speeders to larger vessels. The combat aspect of Galactic Racer seems to be primarily focused on colliding with other racers to take them out (the team at Fuse comes from the Burnout legacy, after all), which adds another MotorStorm-like element. That series combined motorcycles and trophy trucks on the same tracks, with motorcycles having the edge of maneuverability in traffic and taking alternate routes, while trophy trucks clearly dominated in direct confrontations.

      Perhaps I'm raising my expectations too high, but I’m genuinely looking forward to Galactic Racer. The year 2026 is shaping up to be surprisingly bright for racing games, extending beyond the attention that Forza Horizon 6 naturally garners. You have unexpected titles like Screamer, promising prospects like Galactic Racer, and ongoing updates for solid early access projects, such as Wreckfest 2 and Assetto Corsa Rally. Even an unreleased Ridge Racer game has come to light. Who says miracles can’t happen?

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