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Hot Wheels Unleashed announced, has already made me spend money on toys

I bet I could beat my four-year-old at this

An image of a Hot Wheels Unleashed CG trailer, showing a gnarly car in the foreground and an out-of-focus twisty track in the background.

Recently I've been spending at least an hour every day playing Hot Wheels with my four-year-old kid. It's one of the games I like playing with him most, so much so that last week I spent £50 and bought more track, a new car launcher, and a booster that speeds them up.

So Hot Wheels Unleashed, a new just-announced Hot Wheel racing game, has my attention.

Watch on YouTube

None of that is actual game footage, but it's basically Trackmania, right? Cars go fast, tracks twist and loop-de-loop, and you can construct your own tracks.

Where it maybe differs most is that those tracks are zooming through real world locations at the sale of the toys, so your backdrops will be tables and living room floors. In this regard, it's more reminiscent of the old Micro Machines games. Most of which were developed by Codemasters, and so are presumably now owned by EA.

It's being developed by Milestone Games, the makers of other racing series such as MotoGP and Ride. That gives me some hope Hot Wheels Unleashed will be better than other games with the license, which have focused on mobile platforms, or simply been poorly reviewed.

Update! Make that £60 spent on Hot Wheels in the past week. The press release for the game noted that "Hot Wheels Singles assortment" has been recognized as the best selling toy of 2020, worldwide. So I, uh, went to Amazon and bought it. I need more new cars, because a lot of those we have are from eBay, slightly broken, and my kid won't let me have the good ones when we play. I keep losing our races and I've taught him to do a really obnoxious and gloating dance if he wins.

Now I will have my revenge. Hot Wheels Unleashed is due out on September 30th.

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Graham Smith avatar
Graham Smith: Rock Paper Shotgun's editorial leader, corporate dad, and breezy evening news writer.
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Hot Wheels Unleashed

PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch

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