‘Why Hasn’t Someone Thought About That Before?’ – How Star Wars: Galactic Racer Solves One of Driving Games’ Biggest Problems

This IGN opinion piece by Phil Iwaniuk explores how Star Wars: Galactic Racer resolves one of the biggest issues plaguing driving games. In the past, racing games like Gran Turismo, Need For Speed, and Dirt Rally have all relied on the same solo gameplay structure, where players start from the bottom and gradually climb their way up to faster races in better cars. These games have focused on improving visuals, physics models, and tire simulation, but have failed to innovate the core gameplay.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer, however, bucks this trend by implementing a unique run-based career mode. Instead of following a predetermined to-do list of championships, players select from a variety of sequences of events, each with its own risks and rewards. If a player loses too many times along the way, they are eliminated from the championship, forcing them back to the start with no excuses.

This approach is refreshing as it adds consequence to the risks players take, which is something that has been lost in many racing games.

The author highlights that the consequence of failure in racing games has been eroded away, with developers focusing more on the visual aspects of racing rather than on crashing and wrecking. The post-covid sim racing boom has led many developers to favor the PvP-focused iRacing model, while the more player-directed and failure-proof Forza Horizon model has become popular as well.

Galactic Racer's unique approach not only brings consequence to the risk players take but also turns the race into a playground for experimenting with different builds. Along each run, players earn credits, parts, abilities, and upgrades, some of which come with a random twist. For example, during a run, a player might see an upgrade card that makes their ramjet booster 20% more powerful during overheating.

If the player knows that the next planet they're racing on has a scorched desert climate, they would design their build around overheating quickly to gain the boost. However, getting it wrong would result in blowing up and incurring damage, which must be repaired to avoid impairing stats and abilities. The run structure also incorporates status effects based on the climate and conditions of each planet, adding an extra layer of challenge and strategy to the gameplay.