Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Hands-On Impressions: It’s Chaos Every Turn

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is shaping up to be the racer it wants to be, but that comes with its own pros and cons.

Over Labor Day Weekend, Sega was fairly generous in allowing fans to help stress test the Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds multiplayer servers with a free open network test that lasted quite a few days. I sat down and spent a considerable amount of time with the game as a long-standing Sonic fan, and I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a Sonic racing game since Sonic Riders. Here are my Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds impressions.

Related: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ Open Network Test Gives Players a Whole Weekend to Run Its Course. For more games that work across platforms, see our Best Crossplay Games 2026 guide.

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Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Hits its Mark

Sonic Team has been open about how Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds aims to celebrate all of the Sonic racing games. As someone who’s played a vast majority of them, I’m happy that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds does this incredibly well. I’m honestly extremely excited that the EX Gear feel like one would expect a modern-day Sonic Riders game to feel in the best-case scenario.

What Fans Will Love About Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

• The Rival Racer feature keeps the formula of Grand Prix races interesting and unpredictable with unique character interactions that remind fans of favorite bonds between characters while also establishing entirely new ones.
• Even with the limited options in the open network test, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ vehicle customization was highly praised among players, which means the vastly expanded options in the full game will lead to truly limitless options to make rides that are completely unique to each player.
• Gadgets offer a way to make unique builds for every racer and vehicle that change how they play to match a player’s strengths or make up for their weaknesses.
• Unique gameplay systems that will remind players of classic Sonic racing games while being a completely new experience with sprinkles of old school Sega arcade racing game mechanics.

The Catch to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is Sadly Its Multiplayer

Now, Sega and the build of CrossWorlds itself were open and honest that this version was not the one that was launching on September 25. It was a test to make sure the online servers could handle as many players it could grab. That said, with how I experienced online multiplayer, it’s hard to tell exactly where it sits at the moment.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Release: Sept 25, 2025

Genre: Kart Racing

Developer/Publisher: Sonic Team / SEGA

Platforms: PC (Steam); Epic Games Store; PlayStation 4/5; Xbox One / Series X|S; Nintendo Switch

Where Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ Multiplayer Needs to Improve

• Races didn’t feel as balanced as they did in single player through the use of items and gadgets.
• Items could be spammed and hoarded in some races to make victory less about skill and more about luck, and these are encouraged by literal Item Hoarding Kit gadgets.
• Server issues can cause multiple strange glitches to happen like player duplication on PC lobbies or walls being magnetic during online matches.
• How the multiplayer matches are displayed for each person differs to the server at times, leading to rare occasions where someone is ahead of the person who got 1st according to the results screen, making it feel stolen or undeserved.

Conclusion: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Has a Few Bumps in the Road

The online multiplayer is currently the aspect of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds that has me scratching my head the most. Luckily, the open network test was exactly what it said on the tin, and players should expect improvements by the time the game fully launches. Outside of the multiplayer balancing issues, though, the game is very, very fun to play. Sonic fans will be in for a great time with its nods to the entire franchise, and the single-player modes will help ease any growing pains with the multiplayer the game might have at launch.

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