Star Wars: Galactic Racer beautifully pays homage to the classic Star Wars podracing games from the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2.
Every Star Wars fan, new and old, fell in love with podracing when it made its debut in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. It’s no surprise that the chaotic sport was adapted into video games but it’s been years since we last took one for a spin. In 2026 they’re back in full force.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer Is Basically Two Games In One
My journey started with a whistlestop tour of the fleet of vehicles on offer in the game. landspeeders, speeder bikes, and the elusive skim speeders make up the main trio but I know what you’re really here for. Yes, podracers are back and we’ll get to them shortly.
Every form of speeder has different handling and stats. Ultimately it’ll come down to personal preference on which one you drive the most but in my hands-on sessions I definitely found myself favouring the skim speeder for its manoeuvrability.
When it came time to put my skills to the test you could easily tell Star Wars: Galactic Racer was made by ex-Burnout developers. Summer Game Fest 2026 was definitely one for the racing fans.
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The game challenges you to choose either speed or safety. Using the built-in booster on your speeder will see you swiftly overtake other racers but leave you more prone to crashes.
Crashes are a thing of beauty though provided you’re not the one in the driver’ s seat. Should you play rough and send one of your rivals flying, the camera will pan around and present you with slow-motion footage of them hitting the obstacle.
I did appreciate this however it started to get old after a while. It also inadvertently messed up my own driving as the camera would often pan back to my point-of-view right before I hit a wall myself. Fortunately this feature can be turned off in the settings should you think it’s causing more harm than good.
Overall the speeders were great fun as I knew they would be. I only got to drive them alongside NPCs though I’d imagine speeder races with humans would be a brutal affair.
That’s just the speeders though. Podracers are a different animal entirely and while the singleplayer campaign focuses primarily on the three speeders I mentioned earlier, there’s a spin-off podracing mode available straight out of the gate.
Sebulba makes his grand return to the Star Wars mythos as a playable character and players can take his infamous podracer onto the track to tear up the competition.
Podracers aren’t just fast, versatile but extremely fragile, and can be equipped with offensive and defensive measures to sabotage rival racers.
Like many other Star Wars fans I was eager to jump straight into the podracing mode first so I’m thrilled that it’s ready to go as soon as you boot up the game.
However, that’s not to say the campaign doesn’t have its merits. I was surprisingly impressed with the depth of this mode.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer’s Story Mode Is A Racing Rogue-Like
The story itself isn’t much to write home about. Your custom character aims to become the best racer in the galaxy but to do that they’ll need to qualify for the big leagues. That means taking part in increasingly tougher races across multiple planets before finally getting your shot at the title.
What I loved though was it was up to you how you progressed through the contest, including modifications to your speeder.
Every victory nets you a suite of new upgrades which will affect your speed, acceleration, brakes, handling etc. I played it safe and selected upgrades that’d give me a mixed bag build, but there’s nothing stopping you from going all in on a certain stat.
To spice up the gameplay further there came the introduction of mystery parts. A fellow competitor kindly offered me one of the spare parts of his speeder, but I was warned it could be faulty.
On a gamble I had it installed onto my craft and sure enough for the next couple of races my speeder would veer to the right by itself. I had to constantly fight with the controls to keep moving in a straight line, but when a sharp right turn came up I was almost glad of the sabotage.
I say almost because this is what unfortunately led to my timely demise, and after so many crashes you’re disqualified and knocked back down the league.
Out of everything I experienced in Star Wars: Galactic Racer I adored this feature the most. It kept things interesting and felt very Star Wars-coded. You see characters attaching all-sorts of doohickeys and doodads to their vessels to make them go faster so to have it as a mystery mechanic here was a great touch in my opinion.
All in all Star Wars: Galactic Racer is shaping up to be one of 2026’s best releases. It’ll appeal to those who want to play a serious racer that challenges you to climb the ranks in any way possible, as well as those that simply want to play a modernised version of Star Wars: Episode 1 Podracer.
Both modes are available right from the start and there’s no pressure to spend more time in one than the other, as they’re completely different experiences.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 6 2026.
