Hot Wheels Infinite Rush goes from the real world to old-school playsets

Milestone has a slightly different vision for its next Hot Wheels racer.

Adults of a certain age will remember seeing commercials for Hot Wheels cars and seeing them advertised with elaborate playsets. There was a whole miniature metropolis built just for these tiny cars and many kids at the time dreamt of racing their cars in those cities. Milestone is ready to make those dreams come true, because its next Hot Wheels game, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, brings Hot Wheels cars into an open toy world. I recently had a chance to go behind the wheel during this year's Summer Game Fest: Play Days.

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush takes a noticeable detour from Milestone's previous Hot Wheels Unleashed games. While the latter games were set in real-world household locations, Infinite Rush takes players to four different open-world islands set in different environments. Players will get to take part in various free-roam activities, take part in races that go across different parts of the island, and pick up new Hot Wheels cars over time.

Indeed, picking up new vehicles for the garage is a big part of the Infinite Rush experience. One activity that I came across during my brief session involved a Daredevil racer that was joyriding across the island. Chasing down the Daredevil and catching up to it will trigger an impromptu checkpoint race. Beating the Daredevil will unlock a new car out of the game's four different vehicle types: Versatile, Titan, Drifter, and Speeder. As was the case with Milestone's previous Hot Wheels games, players will get to fully customize their cars with different colors, wheels, and stickers to make every unlocked car feel unique.

Single-player activities are all over the place in Infinite Rush. Each island offers spots for Quick Race, Waypoint, Time Attack, Elimination, Smashing Wheels, and Drift Master challenges. Players can also just drive at their own leisure, which can sometimes mean just driving along the iconic orange track that's just sitting in the middle of the island. There is a story that Milestone hasn't gone into much detail about, but it will involve going mano-a-mano with each island's Rush Master and proving who's truly the ruler of each island.

Multiplayer options will also be available, which Milestone will also go into more detail about later down the road. Infinite Rush looks to up the ante from the Unleashed games, offering four-player split-screen co-op and online multiplayer with cross-platform play... mostly. Sorry, Switch 2 owners, but no cross-play for you.

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush feels like familiar ground, but also like something noticeably different. It took me a moment to pour one out for the creative real-world tracks from Unleashed, but I've come to appreciate what Milestone has done with an open-world Hot Wheels fantasy. It'll be interesting to see what else the team comes up with as the game's release inches closer. Look for Hot Wheels Infinite Rush to come to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on September 24.

This preview is based on an early PC build played on-site at Summer Game Fest: Play Days. The final product is subject to change.

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