When most people think of Star Wars, there are a few obvious images that have permeated culture at large and would be the first that come to mind. A red and green lightsaber clashing, Jedi using the Force like wizards of yore, legions of stormtroopers waging battle on the scrappy underdog Rebels; there’s no denying that part of what has kept it so relevant for all these years is that Lucas conceived of some striking and effortlessly cool iconography. From amazing ships like the X-Wing or Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1, to the ground-based Landspeeders like Luke Skywalker’s XP-38, the vehicles of the future are a massive part of how George Lucas originally visualized that galaxy far, far away. Most Star Wars video games opt for the action-packed spectacle of big battles or lightsaber combat, with very few over the years choosing to put players behind the wheel instead. But, with the new game, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the wish fulfillment inherent to the franchise isn’t just connecting with classic George Lucas vibes; it’s also making these rides utterly customizable. The Rules of Galactic Racer — Revealed Out of a host of new Star Wars video games arriving in the next few years, one of the freshest is Star Wars: Galactic Racer, an arcade racer developed by Fuse Games (a studio comprised of veterans from the beloved Burnout racing games), and a recent IGN preview has given us a closer look at what Galactic Racer has in store. One of the most shocking details from the preview is the fact that the game’s story (in which you play as a racer in the lawless Outer Rim named Shade trying to rise to the top and eliminate your rival) follows a bit of a roguelite structure – you get the opportunity to customize your vehicle cosmetically along with choosing special gameplay abilities, before being dropped into a tournament circuit of various racing styles. There’s a standard multi-lap race, a time-trial, and then “eliminator” races (a specialty of the Burnout games), where the last-place racer in every lap is eliminated from the game.Those special abilities are a crucial part of ensuring your survival across runs, as to compete in races, you need a league token, and if you lose yours, you’re required to start the entire run over again. Those upgrades can be something as simple as a deployable shield to save you from smashing headfirst into obstacles, or a booster function called Ramjet that can potentially blow up your vehicle if you push it too far. Each of those upgrades can be tweaked with modifiers also available to be found in-game.Galactic Racer has Burnout energy, Star Wars-style Those upgrades and abilities might be the only thing keeping you and your vehicle from becoming a fine paste smeared across the ground. | Secret ModeAlongside the vehicles and races themselves, there are a bunch of other little details that give flavor to the entire experience: each planet has sections that are walkable, allowing you to buy upgrades and interact with NPCs who drive the story along. The tracks also have their own idiosyncratic obstacles, such as Lantaana having magma pools that can overheat your speeder or Ando Prime forcing you to drive through heating tunnels designed to keep your vehicle from freezing to a slow crawl. There’s a lot of DNA from the Burnout series littered throughout the game (and for good reason), but what looks to be the most exciting part of Star Wars: Galactic Racer is all the work Fuse Games has put into replicating the danger and exhilaration that fans everywhere experienced the first time they ever saw a podrace.Star Wars: Galactic Racer releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 6th.