Announced at Summer Game Fest, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush marks the fifth game based on the diecast toy car line in this console generation. However, it’s only the third entry developed by Milestone, which returns to the franchise for the first time since 2023’s revered Unleashed 2: Turbocharged.
Its new subtitle is an important distinction, symbolising a bold new direction for the series.
“This is not at all Hot Wheels Unleashed 3,” Milestone’s Development and Creative Director, Michele Caletti, affirmed during a preview event. “This game is very different, while retaining Milestone’s signature over the Hot Wheels IP.”
Hot Wheels goes open world
What makes Infinite Rush different from the last two games is that it takes the series open world, ditching its predecessor’s linear tracks in favour of four explorable islands.
While Milestone’s MXGP and Monster Energy Supercross games let you free roam in small contained areas, Infinite Rush represents the studio’s first fully open-world game.
Each island has a distinct theme, from a nature resort to an industrial environment filled with canyons, harbours and machinery that spills hazardous chemicals.
Don’t expect these maps to be massive in scale, however. When designing them, Milestone’s goal was to “not let players get lost in a huge single map.”
“We split [the map] into four to give a focused experience with a lot of variety,” Caletti explained. “We wanted to present four very specific, condensed environments [that are] very stylish and different.”
During our hands-on preview, we were let loose in Wheelswood, the colourful city environment shown in the announcement trailer. While a slew of cars and events were already unlocked, Milestone emphasises that the final game will have a “slower and natural progression” in the first few hours.
Each environment will also unlock gradually, with the ability to switch between each location. According to Milestone, the goal is to “become the master of each island.”
Rather than choosing events on a 2D map like before, you must drive around and find them in the open world before you can enter them. This is combined with a plethora of points of interest, collectables and stunts to discover.
Despite its small size, the introductory city map is diverse and packed with landmarks, from a park, a beach and a football field to a giant Hollywood sign parody you can jump over if you can build up enough speed.
Heavy traffic fills the streets, helping the environment feel alive (take note, Forza Horizon 6), and can be easily rammed out of the way without sacrificing speed.
The amount of variety packed into the short hands-on preview session is promising. Beyond standard races and checkpoint challenges, destruction events proved to be cathartic, challenging you to destroy as much property as possible within the time limit.
Side events further add to the variety. Speed Stunts, for example, see you try to cross the finish line while retaining the fastest average speed.
While exploring the map, it’s simple to pick up and create your own fun, whether you want to cruise, complete events or perform over-the-top stunts. Its random nature captures the child-like feeling of playing with toy Hot Wheels cars.
It’s a small world
Meanwhile, Hot Wheels’ signature orange tracks with their banked turns, huge jumps and dizzying loops, are integrated into the island, and can be entered seamlessly. As you hurtle upside down on a loop high in the sky with the entire city visible below, there’s a grander sense of scale than in previous games.
Speaking of scale, this is another immediately obvious change in Infinite Rush.
“In Unleashed 1 and 2, we were putting the small Hot Wheels cars into a human-sized world,” Caletti explained. These environments ranged from a back garden to a kitchen, evoking Codemasters’ classic Micro Machines games.
For Infinite Rush, Milestone is taking a different approach. “This time, we created the worlds in the style of a diorama in the scale of the Hot Wheels cars,” he continued. “This puts you as the player in a world that is completely different in perspective.
“We didn’t want to create a realistic city. We wanted to create a small, tiny city for a small, tiny car. This was a huge challenge, but it’s the new spirit and visual identity of the world.”
This should also help distinguish Infinite Rush from the full-size cars and environments in Forza Horizon’s Hot Wheels expansions.
Ferrari makes its Hot Wheels game debut
Hot Wheels Infinite Rush launches with over 150 cars, including returning fan-favourite originals such as the Bone Shaker and GT-Scorcher. Previously restricted to a DLC expansion in Unleashed 2, several cars from the animated AcceleRacers films join the roster, too.
Meanwhile, Ferrari makes its Hot Wheels game debut, with two playable Prancing Horses confirmed in the Standard Edition so far: the SF90 hybrid hypercar and the classic 365 GTB4 Competizione. An extra eight Ferraris will feature in a DLC expansion, including the F40 Competizione, LaFerrari and Enzo.
Other new models we spotted include the Audi RS5 Coupe, the Koenigsegg Gemera and the Aston Martin Vulcan, along with fictional Hot Wheels models such as the Celero GT hypercar.
If you played the previous Unleashed games, the tight handling and satisfyingly snappy drifting feel instantly familiar. This time, however, vehicles are split into four classes with unique characteristics: Versatile, Speeder, Drifter and Titan.
Naturally, Speeder cars boast faster acceleration, while Drifter cars emphasise sliding. The Versatile class, on the other hand, strikes a balance between speed and handling.
Titan cars, meanwhile, are heavyweight vehicles such as the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution off-roader. Each class features unique handling characteristics and can be fitted with unique perks that improve attributes such as boosting, with room to experiment.
Learning how to master each class and its perks is a key change in Infinite Rush, according to Milestone. Vehicles can also be bought in dealerships with in-game currency, but, mercifully, there are no real-world microtransactions.
There’s a sense that Infinite Rush is combining the best bits from other open-world arcade racers.
Recalling Burnout Paradise, Daredevil events see you chase a rival around the map before stealing their car for your collection if you win. There are also Test Drive Unlimited-style Delivery missions where you must deliver a vehicle to a destination while trying not to damage it.
You can also switch between vehicle classes in real-time, like in The Crew Motorfest. Elsewhere, the destructible environments echo Lego 2K Drive, with smashable road signs, trees and fences. That said, the destruction is less satisfying as objects don’t break apart like 2K Drive’s Lego bricks.
Expanded course editor will let you “create tracks in a new way”
While they weren’t shown in the demo, the returning livery editor and track creator is expanded in Infinite Rush.
In response to community requests, the livery editor now lets you customise the wheels. Milestone also claims that the track creator is “more powerful” than before, allowing you to “create tracks in a new way.”
“This open world’s approach allows us to create more varied custom tracks,” Caletti explained. “We’ve worked a lot on integrating the tracks you can create into the world in a way that you can snap the orange tracks to buildings and the terrain.”
Buildings and objects can also be removed, and, unlike in previous games, you can add AI opponents to custom tracks.
Infinite Rush’s multitude of editions raises concerns, however. At £44.99 / $49.99, the Standard Edition is relatively affordable. But with only four islands, the base game could feel light on content, paving the way for post-release expansions to flesh out the experience.
Milestone’s Hot Wheels Unleashed games were often criticised for their excessive season passes and DLC packs. Unfortunately, Infinite Rush looks like it will follow a similar path.
The more expensive Ultimate Edition contains a whopping six add-ons, plus a Vehicle Pass adding 44 extra cars. If you want everything Infinite Rush offers, this edition will set you back £89.99 / $99.99.
This edition also includes an exclusive island along with eight exclusive Ferrari cars, and there could be additional post-launch DLC on top of this if the previous Unleashed games are an indication. Ferrari appearing in a Hot Wheels game is enticing, but restricting its most iconic models to the most expensive edition seems egregious, and it’s not yet clear if it will be sold separately.
Nevertheless, Infinite Rush is shaping up to be another accomplished, high-octane arcade racer from Milestone as the developer continues to branch out from its motorcycle simulation comfort zone.
It probably won’t reinvent the genre, and it isn’t taking as many risks as Milestone’s anime-infused Screamer released a few months ago, but going open-world feels like a natural direction for the series, filling the void left by Lego 2K Drive’s delisting.
For younger players in particular, Infinite Rush could be a casual alternative to Forza Horizon 6, and take the series to new heights.
While the PC build we played was not final, the visuals look clean and vibrant at this stage, coupled with well-optimised performance. This is encouraging, especially since the game is only a few months away from launch.
Hot Wheels Infinite Rush release date
Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is slated to release on 24th September on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2, with early access starting on 21st September for Ultimate Edition owners.
Unfortunately, this timing means it will compete with high-profile games like Silent Hill: Townfall and Control: Resonant, which release on the same day, as publishers desperately try to avoid clashing with Grand Theft Auto VI in November.
Hardcore Hot Wheels fans will surely lap this up and enjoy exploring its diminutive world. But releasing in such a crowded window is risky and could make Infinite Rush struggle to stand out to general audiences.