Star Wars: Galactic Racer

1. Summary

Players are clearly positive about Star Wars: Galactic Racer, and most of the praise is about how it feels to drive. The sense of speed comes up again and again, from speeders to podracers running past 1,000 km/h. So does the roguelite campaign, where losing a tour sends you back to the start with permanent upgrades, which makes every race count. Many reviewers compare it to Burnout or to Episode I Racer, and they credit the look, the engine sound and smooth performance on most PCs and handhelds. Some people who left a thumbs-down still say the racing itself is excellent.

Launch-week players also hit a list of missing basics: no control rebinding (named in 18% of negative reviews), no private lobbies, friend parties capped at three, no solo quick race on a track of your choice, and no split screen. Price comes up in about as many negative reviews as rebinding, usually tied to a short campaign, few planets and podracing that sits off to the side. A smaller group fought crashes, rubber-banding AI and setbacks they blame on luck. Where reviewers disagree, it is mostly over whether the package around the racing is worth full price.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

A sense of speed players rave aboutHigh

Speed is one of the most common compliments, from Burnout veterans and sim racers as well as people who say they never play racing games. Reviewers describe tunnels taken at hundreds of kilometres per hour, ramjets pushed to the redline and podracers so fast they crash because they blinked. One player sums up the learning curve: "You learn the track going 300 km/h You learn the track again going 800 km/h trying to not explode each turn". Players call the handling tight and responsive, and several suggest the first-person view for extra intensity. A few, mostly in their first hour or two, found the vehicles heavy or the racing "boring and slow". Some say holding boost through whole races makes their hands hurt, which feeds into the rebinding complaints below.

Roguelite tours give every race stakesHigh

No other design choice gets as much discussion as the roguelite campaign, and reviews that praise it far outnumber those that complain about it. You pick a vehicle and racing style, earn parts and abilities between races, and lose the tour if you crash out too often, keeping meta-currency for permanent upgrades. Players like that mistakes matter: "Making it a roguelike was genius. Unlike most racing games, it actually feels like there are consequences for getting things wrong." Build variety (ramjet, redliner, surge, shields, takedown styles) is a frequent talking point, though some players say ramjet and redliner builds overpower everything else.

A smaller group dislikes the structure, including players who expected a traditional career and found out after buying. One negative review: "whoever decided that this should be a roguelite, can pack it". Their complaints include losing a whole tour to one bad race, no way to quit a race and reload, and no option to start a fresh campaign without deleting save files.

A true heir to Burnout and Episode I RacerHigh

Reviewers compare it to Burnout (often Burnout 3 and Revenge), Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Racer Revenge, Wipeout, F-Zero and MotorStorm. Some point out that the studio includes former Burnout developers and say the takedowns and crash physics show it: "Never did I think the best spiritual successor to Burnout I've ever played would be a Star Wars game." Players who grew up with the N64 Racer describe it as the game they waited 25 years for. Others say they do not normally play racing games, or are not Star Wars fans, and got hooked anyway. Episode I purists push back, as covered under podracing below.

Star Wars look and soundHigh

Reviewers often praise the visuals and sound, especially the engine audio, the Huttese chatter and the pre-race start-up sequence where you flip switches to fire up your engines. Planets like Jakku and Crait get compliments, and players say it looks and sounds like Star Wars. The complaints here are small and specific. One widely upvoted positive review asks the developers to "let us change the sound or the Ramjet alarm", some found a few tracks brown and bland, and a few players say the game's audio is mixed very quiet.

Runs well on most PCs and handheldsMedium

Reviewers who expected Unreal Engine 5 problems were often surprised: "I never thought I'd see the day when an Unreal Engine 5 game would run perfectly right out of the box!" Players report high frame rates on mid-range hardware, good results on Steam Machine and Linux, and playable settings on Steam Deck. Steam Deck owners are divided, though, with a few saying the game needs heavy tweaking to hold 30 fps and looks blurry. Crash reports are covered further down.

Roguelite multiplayer tours and online podracingMedium

The online mode carries the roguelite loop into multiplayer: a tour of races where you build your vehicle, bet on results and mark rivals before a final race. Some players call it the best part of the game, and Episode I fans looking for pure podracing single out the online podracing mode. Crossplay gets occasional praise. Complaints about missing options and matchmaking are covered below.

No microtransactionsLow

A handful of reviewers point out that the game has no microtransactions, loot boxes or battle pass, and treat that as a reason to support it. Others counter that the menus push the Deluxe edition (see the frustrations below).

Where players are split

Price against the amount of contentHigh

Price is raised in about as many negative reviews as missing rebinding, and it turns up in plenty of positive ones too. Advice to wait for a sale appears in 55 reviews, often at the end of an otherwise glowing one, and suggested prices land around $30 to $40. A widely upvoted positive review puts it this way: "It's a £30 game masquerading as a £50 one." Australian and Canadian players quote regional prices of $90 AUD and $77 CAD, and the Deluxe edition, which reviewers put at $80, draws extra criticism. Others say the hours justify the cost: "was wondering how they were going to charge $60 for this and then i played 9 hours in a sitting." Price complaints come from players at every playtime, including people who refunded inside two hours.

Story, writing and charactersHigh

The campaign has a full story with voiced characters, and opinions split sharply. Fans call it "a surprisingly good story - and not just for a racing game", like what the game does with Sebulba, love to hate the villain Kestar Bool, and have turned the rival Biddy Blas into the game's running meme. Critics find the writing childish and the dialogue excessive, and a few find the mechanic Hibi annoying, though others call her delightful. One player who still recommends the game wrote: "The writing in this game is so bad that my friend who works with AI all day was convinced it was written by AI." The player character Shade and the limited character customization (no alien species) draw scattered complaints.

Podracing as side contentMedium

Some buyers expected a podracing game, and a few say the trailers featured podracers heavily. Reviewers describe a campaign built around landspeeders, speeder bikes and skim speeders, with podracing in Sebulba's memory races, later campaign events, the arcade mode and an online podracing mode, and no way to own or customize a podracer. Players divide on how much it matters. Some came around: "I was disapointed when I found out podracing is just side missions, but the game is so fun that I don't even care anymore." Others felt misled: "If I had known that you never get to own a podracer and race/customize it like the other speeders, I would have refunded it on the spot." Players who note that there are only six podracers ask for more, and some want a podracing league added later.

Rubber-banding, luck and the Act 3 difficulty jumpMedium

Some players say the AI catches up unfairly: "I've had 2-6 second leads over the AI, only for them to double in speed right before the finish line and take first place." Random part faults, such as an engine that catches fire above a set speed for the rest of a tour, draw similar anger ("the fault system feels pretty awful"). Players well into the campaign also raise the jump in difficulty in Act 3. Others disagree outright, saying the campaign "does not rubber band the AI which I appreciate", that the pressure keeps races tense, or that complaints are a skill issue. Higher difficulties (Ace and Champion) get praise from players who wanted a real challenge.

What frustrates players

Missing multiplayer and solo optionsHigh

These are among the most frequent requests, in positive and negative reviews alike. Players want private or custom lobbies, bigger friend parties ("12 and 8 player multiplayer but party size is limited to 3?"), split screen, a ranked mode and a solo quick race: "There NEEDS to be a quick race option where you can just choose a vehicle, a track, and go." Several of the most upvoted reviews of launch week are built around these gaps, including a positive one that says "wish there was the ability for private lobbies with friends though". Players learning the tracks miss a practice mode and a way to restart a race from the pause menu. A few reviewers say the developers have promised to raise the party size to six.

Too few planets and tracks, short campaignMedium

Players who finish the campaign, often in 8 to 10 hours, ask for more: "Great game, but very short. I completed after 8 hours." Some reviewers object to how tracks are reused: "The map pool is VERY small and gets artificially inflated by just copy pasting existing maps and reversing their track." A few say tours visit planets in the same order every run, and others want an endgame beyond replaying acts ("Why is there no 'Act 4' where we just race"). Wishlists name classic planets such as Tatooine, Naboo and Coruscant, and many of these reviews read as requests for post-launch content.

No control rebinding or wheel supportMedium

There is no key or button remapping, and 18% of negative reviews (133) say so, often from players in their first two hours. Keyboard players object to the fixed layout, controller players to drift and abilities on awkward buttons, and some cannot play at all: "I have a disability that makes me require a custom key layout." Another player's verdict: "Fun but the lack of rebindable keys/controls is insane and I can't recommend it until they fix that." Racing wheel, joystick and HOTAS owners add that there is no support for their hardware. Defenders point to Steam Input as a workaround ("You can remap any button on your controller using that"). The complaint became less frequent over time: it appeared in 8.5% of reviews written on October 6 and 7 and in 3.6% of reviews written from October 12 on.

Crashes and other technical faultsMedium

Some players could not play reliably. Reports include crashes to desktop mid-race ("It has crashed 4 times in the last 2 hours of gameplay"), games that never get past the shader compile or a black screen on first launch, and conflicts some players fixed by disabling DLSS, frame generation or Intel AI features. A small number lost progress after a crash: "Booted it up the next day and my save was completely deleted." Reports about patches go both ways: some say an early patch fixed their crashing, others say an update around October 12 made crashes worse or broke ramjet controls. Smaller issues include controller input dropping out, the game jumping to another monitor during cutscenes, washed-out HDR and quiet audio.

Cutscenes, hub walking and upsell pop-upsMedium

Between races the campaign puts you in a hub where you walk to characters and sit through dialogue, and some players want less of it: "Gameplay and story is fun, but my god does this game get in the way of you playing it." Reviewers also say the opening cannot be skipped and notifications pile up, and the Deluxe edition promotion in the main menu annoys players who already paid full price.

Kill cam, autopilot and hard-to-read tracksLow

Players say some default settings cause in-race crashes. The takedown camera cuts away mid-race and hands control back just before a wall, and autopilot and respawns steer players into obstacles. Reviewers who bring it up advise: "turn off takedown camera or you'll crash". At high speed, players also struggle to see where the track goes, with no minimap or driving line: "its way too unclear on where your supposed to go."

Online matchmaking drops you mid-tourLow

Players say quick play often drops them into a tour already in progress, sometimes as a spectator: "My only gripe is being put into the middle of Multiplayer tours that have already started". Lobbies filled with bots, rough netcode during collisions and launch-week reports of cheaters with no anti-cheat come up less often.

DRM, account linking and the EULALow

A small group, many in their first hours with the game, ran into Denuvo activation limits ("I've been locked out of playing for 24 hours by some Denuvo system"), including Linux users who hit the activation limit, plus required Epic Online Services account linking for crossplay, telemetry prompts and an arbitration clause in the EULA. Some refunded over it.

3. The player conversation

The tone is enthusiastic and often playful. Many reviews are short memes ("Now this is podracing", "Scrib doon" for the rival Biddy Blas, and complaints that a prompt lets you approach the loth-cats but never pet them). A lot of the longer ones come from fans of Burnout or the old Episode I Racer who are glad to have a new game in that vein. Negative reviews are rarely hostile to the core racing. Dozens say outright that they enjoy how it drives and are voting down over missing features, price or crashes, and a handful, including one of the most upvoted, say they would have chosen a neutral rating if Steam offered one.

Launch-day reviews from players with an hour or two came first and focused on controls, missing modes, pricing, the surprise of a roguelite structure and DRM or launch crashes. Players with longer sessions write about the short campaign, missing endgame, track variety, podracing's place, rubber-banding, the Act 3 difficulty jump and balance between builds. Episode I Racer fans are split between those won over by the speeders and those who wanted a podracing game first.

Reviews written on launch day were 79% positive, and reviews written from October 8 onward were about 88% positive. By week, the share of positive reviews went from 85.4% for the week of October 5 to 88.7% for the week of October 12. Rebinding and missing-mode complaints made up a smaller share of later reviews. Crash reports held steady, with some players blaming an update around October 12.

4. What the developers could do

1. Add full control remapping for keyboard and controller, and support for wheels and flight sticks. It is named in 18% of negative reviews, often from players with under two hours played, and some players with disabilities say they cannot play without it.
2. Add private and custom lobbies, larger parties and a solo quick race with free choice of track, vehicle and opponents. These requests appear in positive and negative reviews alike and anchor several of the most upvoted reviews from launch week.
3. Fix crashes to desktop, shader-compile hangs and save wipes. Crash reports held steady after launch week, some players blame a later update, and a small number lost their save files.
4. Expand content with new planets and tracks, a post-campaign mode and a real podracing track with ownable, customizable podracers. Campaign finishers say they run out of things to do in 8 to 10 hours, and podracing fans feel the game's headline vehicle is held back.
5. Rebalance catch-up AI, random part faults and the Act 3 difficulty jump. Players deep into the campaign raise these, and say luck takes away races they had won on skill.
6. Turn the takedown camera off by default and stop autopilot and respawns steering into walls, and add track readability aids such as a minimap. Reviewers who mention the kill cam advise turning it off, because it hands control back just before a wall.
7. Let players join tours from the start, fill fewer seats with bots and add anti-cheat. Players dropped into a tour already in progress say it leaves them behind for the rest of the tour.
8. Make the intro and hub dialogue skippable and drop the Deluxe upsell from the main menu. Players who paid full price say the walking, talking and ads get in the way of racing.