Star Wars Galactic Racer vs Hypersonic GP: who'll be the best futuristic racer of 2026?

Sony’s February State of Play was, as ever, rammed full of glossy trailers that refused to tell you very much about the game they were advertising. But among all the Inception trailer-style bwooooars and dramatic quick cuts to black, Star Wars: Galactic Racer showed off just enough gameplay to get us thinking it’s been too long since we martialled a futuristic pod over some exotic terrain.

Developed by Guilford-based Fuse Games who have some Need For Speed and Burnout veterans among their ranks and carrying the biggest license in entertainment media, it’s got a bit about it, this one. There are explosive takedowns reminiscent of the aforementioned Burnout games, a very expensive-looking photorealistic visual style, and an impressive variety of vehicles including hoverbikes, landspeeders, and contraptions that look like Anakin Skywalker would have raced against circa 1999.

Weirdly enough though, the new gameplay footage for that glossiest of blockbuster racers was met by an unexpected rival the very same day: Hypersonic GP.

It’s an indie racer from Kyoto’s Mi-Lan Studio, and it looks like all your old F Zero and WipEout games crashed into each other and decided to just style it out as one, rather than untangle themselves.

What’s most exciting about this one is how well it seems to get the sense of speed right, and the floatiness (if you’ll excuse the formal academic language) of its spaceships. Just like Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer, which last week’s other big game conjures, the joy of controlling F Zero and WipEout’s ships comes in that slight inertia and exaggerated weight transfer, and this game looks like it nails that.

And now to snap you out of your late Nineties reverie and back to 2026 games industry stuff: there’s no release date for either game. Star Wars: Galactic Racer is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S some time in 2026, and Hypersonic GP comes to PC at, er, some point.