In my handful of hours with Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush, I felt like I was rifling through a stuffed toy box in the middle of my childhood bedroom for plastic cars and loose pieces of track that could be assembled into whatever epic contraption my imagination could conjure up. There are so many cars to choose from across its four distinct classes that it can sometimes feel overwhelming as you jump from event to event, but the simplistic nature of its racing makes this open world adventure perfect for all ages. And sometimes, it’s too simple for its own good.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, with Infinite Rush taking clear inspiration from giants in the genre like Forza Horizon to deliver a varied range of events and biomes that made it hard to pull myself away. As someone who finds an infinite amount of charm in game worlds crafted from literal toys and similarly presented playthings, there is something so entertaining about exploring this game’s four distinct islands, seeing precisely what they have to offer. Let’s dive into how it looks, plays, and how I hope it lives up to this much potential.

Pedal To The Plastic

My preview build didn’t start from the beginning of the game, but instead dropped me into the middle of the open world where the campaign had already been progressed through to a certain point. As a consequence, it took me a while to figure out precisely what each icon on the illustrated map meant and what I should tackle first. Many of them are quick activities, like using the photo mode to take pictures of specific landmarks while driving a required class of car, while you might stumble across Daredevils who can be challenged to an instant race to unlock whatever car you triumph against.

Orange icons are more focused on progressing through the campaign and don’t just offer a single race or time attack trial, but multiple events to conquer that will eventually pit you up against mini-bosses or major encounters known as Rush Masters. It reminds me of going up against more challenging racers in something like Crash Team Racing or Toy Story Racer. It wasn’t especially daunting in terms of difficulty, though, which was either due to this preview build having most of the vehicles unlocked or an intentional decision to make the game more approachable to casual players.

But hey, at least the moment-to-moment racing feels pretty good. It’s a breeze to blaze down straight roads at incredible speeds or quickly pull into a sick drift to conquer stubborn corners or a nefariously placed checkpoint. I also found that the vehicle physics act like they’re made of plastic, since driving into an NPC at full speed will cause them to fly up into the air, and it’s pretty easy to put too much power into a turn and accidentally go flying into the closest bush. These physics could still use some fine-tuning, and it would be nice for certain vehicle classes to have more weight, but similar to the more linear Hot Wheels titles, the racing is simply great fun.

You have four unique vehicle types to choose from — Versatile, Speeder, Drifter, and Titan — which boast unique mechanical and visual quirks. A Titan is a stockier car that can punch through obstacles and other racers, while a Speeder is all about going as fast as humanly possible without accidentally tearing off the track. Drifter does what it says on the tin, while Versatile offers a comprehensive mix of each class rolled into one. With 150 or more cars to choose from, you're definitely spoiled for choice here.

Events and activities will usually ask you to switch to a specific class of car, which is thankfully done in just a few seconds in the pause menu, while there are also activities that let you use whatever car you fancy. The level of variety is impressive, and I especially love how in the menu all the vehicles are unlocked like you’re tearing the cardboard from an old school Hot Wheels package.

I fiddled around with the track builder briefly, and it's approachable and easy to use. It quickly reminded me of Modnation Racers back on PS3 with how you can effortlessly piece courses together and try them out for yourself.

I didn’t toy with the livery editor or customisation tools that much during my preview, but it seems there will be an opportunity to further customise specific cars or unlock upgrades if you have a favourite quartet of cars you fancy sticking with for the entire campaign. Much focus is placed on catching ‘em all and building up a library of plastic cars like collectors would in reality. A cute facsimile that, hopefully, the gameplay has enough variety to support the full experience.

From Wheelswood To Tentacle Bay

During the preview, I was free to jump between four different unique open world biomes, so you won’t be exploring a fully cohesive environment throughout Infinite Rush. You’ll instead head to ramps on the map that send you soaring into the sky (and a loading screen) before you land in a different environment. It’s far from seamless, and it would be nice to have fast travel feel more immediate rather than spending a few minutes crossing the map, but maybe the intention is for you to be naturally completing new activities along the way.

The locations themselves are a blast though, and packed with personality despite the quite generic settings they envision. Wheelswood is a sprawling metropolis inspired by the iconic Hot Wheels playsets with a King Kong-esque gorilla causing chaos in the skies above, while

Tentacle Bay is yet another city but with far more natural forests, beaches, and water to play around in. Gearville is a rugged landscape dominated by sand and decay as larger than life orange tracks curl throughout the environment.

Massive loops, giant plastic creatures, and several other additions help each location feel like Hot Wheels in all the ways that matter, and there’s nothing more fun than narrowly avoiding the jaws of a dinosaur as you burn hard rubber on the asphalt. I spent a lot of time putting together playsets as a kid with siblings, and this is the first time a game has been able to capture that feeling so succinctly.

Drifty Island is the final major location, which is clearly inspired by Tokyo and classic Japanese imagery with its multi-layered pagodas and giant dragon in the centre of the map.

There is enough variety here to carry an entire campaign, and I’m keen to experience it from the very beginning to see exactly how the progression plays out. I want to unlock cars, find a firm favourite, and take over the plastic world of automobiles as nobody has before. Judging from what I’ve played though, Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush nails the racing fundamentals along with having the potential to bring this series to an open world in spectacular style.

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Hot Wheels Infinite Rush

Racing Arcade Systems Released September 10, 2026 ESRB Everyone / In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) Milestone S.r.l. Publisher(s) Milestone S.r.l. Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer Franchise Hot Wheels
Where to play Close

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Genre(s) Racing, Arcade Powered by Expand Collapse