Hotshot Racing Reviews
High on speed and low on polygons, Hotshot Racing is a fun, old-school ode to the golden era of early '90s 3D racers.
An enjoyable and detailed racer successfully invokes the spirit of the 90s arcade, even if it doesn't quite have a spark of its own.
Hotshot Racing is a refreshing blast of retro-arcade racing action.
If the look of Hotshot Racing appeals to you and you can appreciate the aesthetic delights of something that looks deliberately low-fi and polygonal, the action it offers on the track does an excellent job of backing up the game's style with substance. It may have its quirks and it may turn you into a paranoid conspiracy theorist ready to tell tales of rubber-banding to anyone who'll listen to you, but hey: that just adds to the authenticity of the era it's based on. This is a fine racing title that truly nails its driving mechanics and delivers an exhilarating experience that will captivate newcomers and veterans alike.
As an ode to classic racers, Hotshot Racing is a fast, fun game. It's just let down by limited content and some frustrating AI.
Hotshot Racing is a nostalgia-tickling delight that doesn't have quite enough depth to keep pulling you back for any real length of time.
I have to admit, I found Hotshot Racing to be quite enamoring. I don't have much nostalgia for the early days of 3D racing games, but I do appreciate a good arcade racer, and that's exactly what this is. Its cheery sound design and visuals are endlessly charming and the driving feels exactly as it should. If you feel the need to go back to the simpler days of racing games, this certainly fits the bill. This likely won't be the last time I take it for a lap around the track.
Both a very nice tribute to Virtua Racing and a good arcade racing game per-se, Hotshot Racing is a nice single-player experience and a surprising multiplayer package.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Hotshot Racing brings back memories from Virtua Racing and Ridge Racer. It´s a fast arcade, with a very interesting graphic approach and classic music, but it falls short on game modes, cars and circuits.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Feel the polygonal burn as super-speed graphics bring old-fashioned car chases a fresh thrill
Hotshot Racing is a rare and precious work, that harkens to the spirit of 90s racing games without being bound by it. A great title for players of all ages and backgrounds, its modern and fresh driving system provides endless joy, challenge and enjoyment. And it has both local and online multiplayer!
Review in Italian | Read full review
Hotshot Racing is an incredible nostalgia trip that I cannot recommend enough. Game Pass owners should note that the game is included in Microsoft’s service, so there is no excuse not to give it a try. This is the most fun I have had with a racing game in quite some time.
An authentic recreation of the best of the Sega arcade racing classics from yesteryear, but sadly lacking in depth due to the simplistic circuits and repetitive gameplay mechanic. Split-screen or online multiplayer is the way to get the best from the game.
Hotshot Racing is an unapologetic return to arcade action, and it's brilliant fun. This game's charming retro aesthetic, sweeping powerslides, and glorious handling are a constant joy, and a perfect antithesis to the myriad simulators on PS4. Some might find the courses don't provide much of a challenge, and we'd gladly have taken a little more content, but you'll be hard pushed to find a better example of straight-up arcade racing this generation.
Hotshot Racing is an enjoyable racing game that will almost certainly be enjoyed by its target audience. There isn't much content, though, and it's an extremely basic, simple game that will be extremely familiar to anyone who played racers during the 90s.
Hotshot Racing's retro-inspired high-adrenaline arcade racing is simply a joy to experience. The courses themselves are varied, colorful, charming, and full of personality, albeit slightly on the simplistic side in terms of the track designs. Yes, the AI rubber-banding is a relic of the past, but does help deliver tense racing moments. Cranking up the difficulty is similar to moving from 50cc to 150cc in Mario Kart; everything feels faster. The local and online multiplayer should give the game legs, especially considering how fun I found the additional game modes. Now excuse me, I need to live my life drifting through the jungle, avoiding dinosaurs, and trying not to explode.
Hotshot Racing is an enjoyable return to the simplistic arcade racer and a damned good one. It's just you, your car, and a mad dash from start to finish, jamming to some tunes while trying not to get smashed by your opponents. If you're a fan of arcade racers, give Hotshot Racing a try.
If, like me, you’ve been waiting what feels like forever for a new Ridge Racer game to be announced, I really do recommend that you give Hotshot Racing a go.
Virtua Racing, Scud Racing, Daytona, Outrun: these games are synonymous with quality and class with that certain something only Sega could muster in the '90s, and yet here we stand in a COVID cloaked version of 2020 with a game as striking and endearing as you like, with visuals you can't help but gawp at and multiplayer playability that has through the roof levels of enjoyment. Hotshot racing does a solid job of replicating the arcade vibe, but fails to impart its own identity to really excel.
Frustrations aside, though — and I’ll emphasise that your tolerance for such frustrations will likely be largely dependent on if you grew up with PS1 and PS2-era racing games in particular — Hotshot Racing is a fine addition to today’s lineup of modern arcade racers. It’s not so long ago that the arcade racer was considered to be a completely dead genre — but between a variety of very different takes on it that we’ve seen over the last few years, including this, Slipstream, Cruis’n Blast, Horizon Chase Turbo and Inertial Drift, it’s clear that it’s not just alive and well, but thriving.