Star Wars: Galactic Racer was one of my longer appointments on Sunday offering a full hour of the game. I will say, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Star Wars Episode I: Racer (however, it’s Leo’s favorite Star Wars game), not because it was bad, but it just didn’t appeal to me. I was more of a Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces I & II kind of kid. While Leo was fuming that I was able to get my hands on the upcoming Galactic Racer, I was going in with lower expectations. While I went in mellow, I left hyped: this is some fun racing right here with a good campaign structure.

If you don’t already know, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is set in the New Republic Era as it struggles to rebuild after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Underground chaos booms from gambling, entertainment, and other ways to gain fame. Darius Pax creates an unsanctioned racing circuit where syndicates sponsor pilots, fortunes are won, and only the bold survive. I was introduced to my character, Shade, a lone racer with a dream of glory and revenge. I was able to do some light character customization like body type, helmet style, clothing color, and cape design. The customization isn’t extensive, but that’s fine. It’s a racing game at the end of the day, and since I’m guessing Shade doesn’t show their face until a good story reveal deems worthy, I was fine with the basic choices.

Meet Shade, your mysterious main character.

I will be honest, with the busy floor and noise going on, it was hard for me to pay attention too closely to the story beats and dialogue. But to give a bit of a summary of the what’s going on, Shade isn’t only looking for glory as a racer, but is also out for revenge. Standing in their way is Kestar Bool, a ruthless rival who is the current champion of the Galactic League. Being sponsored in at the lowest levels means I had the worst landspeeder and had to earn a League Entry Token.

I enjoyed how they handled the progression here, it really feels like you’re starting off with nothing, and made it feel more authentic. You will continue to need League Entry Tokens in order to stay in the league and race. Crashing too many times in a single race or not finishing at least in the top three during a run will result in a lost token. Losing all your tokens and your tour all over, but with some progress carry over. Credits, Tuning Points, Kit Points, Racer Styles, and Favors all carry over, so it’s not a complete loss.

You will be able to pilot landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders, and podracers.

The campaign is structured through three acts, three Galactic Tours, each will take you through a series of races types and have you going between the five planets: Jakku, Lantaana, Ando Prime, Sentinel I, and Darven Acos. What I liked is that each event offered a choice of different activities, and depending on what I chose, the story would branch and my rewards and upgrades could be completely different. For each chapter you can choose between two options and those can range from Races, Eliminators, Field Tests, and Mystery Encounters.

Races and Eliminators are your typical events where you will race against AI players. Field Tests is where you can unlock new prototype gear by doing specific challenges. These can range from new or upgrades parts, and if successfully completed will be able to be equipped for future races. Mystery Encounters will have you meet different characters in the world and have almost a side quest with them.

The Paddocks is the hub area where you can hang out between races, upgrade gear, and talk to NPCs.

The real meat of the demo I felt was how they emphasized build decisions. Depending on the events you choose, doing Field Tests, or Mystery Encounters, or just doing the races to earn a bunch of upgrades, there was a ton of different ways I could focus on making my landspeeder better. Upgrades, Parts, Abilities, and Racer Styles all play a part and as you progress you will start forming the best machine for how you race. For me I was focused on upgrading my Cornering Stats, Ramjet (powerful boost that risks overheating), and Drift Stats. I was going for fast and maneuverable.

While I didn’t get to play all the planets, I did get to do three of them. Jakku, the desert planet with that classic pod racing look. Lantaana, a lush tropical forest area with an active volcan, and Ando Prime, the vast frozen tundra. First of all, they all look gorgeous. Extremely well detailed and so varied in the looks from one planet to the next, but what I liked were the environmental impacts of each.

Jakku, had a lot more sand dunes and tight areas to fly between which led to more crashing opportunities. Lantaana, was beautiful and driving through the volcano you had to worry about overheating which led to planning my boost and Ramjet properly. Ando Prime, however, was the toughest. The freezing temperatures will lock your speeder down and make it so you can barely move. I had to drive through heat arches or take cover through caves to get away from the weather. Another way is to use your protective shield, but that takes longer to regenerate so I had to plan that one wisely.

Ando Prime was a difficult one to adapt to with the freezing mechanic, but it added an extra level of difficulty to the race.

Before my demo came to an end, they recommended me to jump out of the campaign and go into the Arcade mode to try out the classic Pod Racing. Here you can join in the iconic scenarios from the movies and pilot your favorite Pod. I of course picked Sebulba because I wanted to destroy some things and spit fire out on each side. However, I was getting absolutely pounded in this mode because the Pod Racers are so much faster and handle very different than the landspeeders I was using. While it was frustrating sucking so badly, it did make me realize how much went into making all the vehicles feel different and authentic. They all handle very differently and the sense of speed is really great.

Not only did I leave my demo time extremely impressed and wanting to play so much more of Star Wars: Galactic Racer, I found myself shocked just how much was here. I was really underestimating what this game was, I guess I was expecting a simple racing game in the Star Wars universe, but they really went all out here. I love what they are doing with the campaign progression, the handling of the vehicles, and the extra content outside of the campaign as well.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is set to release on October 6th, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
*All media provided by the publisher.