Hot Wheels Infinite Rush [REVIEW] – Taking Tiny Cars into the Big World

After finding success with their Hot Wheels Unleashed series (which was a lot of fun), Milestone have now taken the beloved plastic toy cars out of the living room and into a glorious open world setting. Yep, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush marks quite a shift for the franchise, trading in those nostalgic bedroom floor tracks for a sprawling world that’s packed full of challenges a la Forza Horizon. It’s a bold move that makes for a thoroughly enjoyable experience, delivering an incredibly addictive arcade racer that still manages to capture the joys of Hot Wheels.

Check out some screenshots down below:

In Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, players are dropped into the first of four massive islands – a vibrant place called Wheelswood – and tasked with climbing the racing ranks. Doing so helps unlock additional islands, which include a sprawling city, a Japanese-inspired zone, and a dusty canyon, with players having to complete enough events to challenge the local ‘Rush Master’ to a boss duel in order to progress. Once you defeat them, you’ll nab their ride, and move on to the next playground… simple.

When you’re behind the wheel, the racing of Hot Wheels Infinite Rush feels fantastic. The handling is rewarding, with it sacrificing realism for a heavy focus on chaining together massive drifts, hammering the boost pads at the right time, and side dashing to barge through traffic, and believe me, it’s a LOT of fun. Sure, it takes a little bit of practice to get the hang of throwing your car around corners (especially if you’re used to the more traditional open world racers out there), but once it clicks, it feels incredibly slick.

There’s also a bunch of helpful accessibility options to make driving easier, meaning younger gamers or anyone struggling with the controls can still get involved without getting frustrated. We all know kids who like playing with Hot Wheels, right? Well, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is designed for those too, with the accessibility options allowing you to really cater the experience to match their gameplay skills. It’s a nice touch that goes a long way in making the game more accessible to a wider audience of players.

“Hot Wheels Infinite Rush stands out as an incredibly fun and accessible take on the open world racing genre that’s oozing with that Hot Wheels toy car charm.”

You have four distinct car classes to play around with in Hot Wheels Infinite Rush: Speeders are your agile rockets, Drifters handle tight corners beautifully, Titans are massive brawlers perfect for shunting people off the road, and Versatiles sit nicely in the middle. The best bit? You can instantly swap between one of each type with a quick button press while exploring, which is REALLY handy when the terrain suddenly changes or a specific challenge pops up. It’s one of those simple features that just helps make the experience all the more accessible, streamlining a fiddly task to ensure you’re never taken out of the action.

Of course, this would all count for nothing if the game world wasn’t fun to explore, but luckily, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is stuffed with things to do. If you just want to race, there are standard circuits, elimination rounds, and time attacks, which will certainly scratch your general racing itch. However, it’s with its more unconventional tasks that Hot Wheels Infinite Rush really shines, whether that’s when scouring your surroundings hunting down hidden blue cogs, completing destruction tasks, snapping photos at specific landmarks, or completing Daredevil encounters where you’ll challenge roaming racers to an impromptu race (and get to keep their car if you win). There’s a real satisfying loop to just about everything you do in the game, and with SO much to discover, there’s always something cool to get stuck into.

And if you’re a keen car collector? There are over 150 vehicles to unlock in Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, some based around real cars and others more… unconventional. You can even upgrade their stats or spend earned coins in the shop on new decals, with customisation at the forefront. This is especially evident in the returning Track Builder that allows you to design your own plastic masterpieces. This is something I’ve loved tinkering with in the past, and believe me, I expect to spend hours with it now (and especially now that my youngest son has taken an interest in the game).

Check out some screenshots down below:

If I was going to moan about anything, it’d be that the load times aren’t as seamless as I’d have liked. It felt like there was a bit of noticable time spent loading into the environment or into tracks, and whilst you’re never waiting for TOO long, it was long enough that I felt like I was dropping in and out of the speedy fun on a regular basis. A small nitpick, sure, but one that I feel shouldn’t have been such an issue – especially when other games have managed to get their load times to an absolute minimum.

From a visual standpoint, the game absolutely nails the toybox aesthetic. The cars look incredibly authentic, whilst the environments are brilliantly loud, colourful, and vibrant. The only downside to the environments is that the shift to an open world does mean the game loses that brilliant micro-scale charm from the previous titles. They can feel a tad generic without giant everyday household objects towering over your car, but the sheer freedom on offer makes up for a lot of it (as well as the constant nods to all things Hot Wheels across the world).

Developer: Milestone
Publisher: Milestone
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Website: https://milestone.it/games/hot-wheels-infinite-rush/