PS4

Hot Wheels Unleashed

RacingArcade

Overview

Hot Wheels Unleashed is a 2021 racing game developed and published by Milestone based on Mattel's Hot Wheels toyline. The game was released on September 30, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Versions for Amazon Luna and Stadia were made available in July and September 2022, respectively. A sequel, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged, was released in October 2023.

Hot Wheels Unleashed is a racing game played from a third-person perspective. In the game, the player assumes control of vehicles from the Hot Wheels franchise, and races against other opponents in miniature tracks set in various everyday locations and environments, such as a garage, kitchen, and bedroom. The vehicles featured in the game can be extensively customized. Sixty-six different cars were available at launch. The game also features a career mode, a time trial, and a track editor.

The game was developed by Italian developer Milestone, the company behind the MotoGP games and the Ride series, and marks the first console game based around the property since 2013. Milestone pitched the idea to Mattel in 2018 although they did not expect them to take up the offer. Milestone desired to create such a game after realizing that although they specialized in sim racers that was a "niche of the niche" and the racing genre itself was quite crowded, with lead game designer Federico Cardini telling Polygon "could we make a game to the level of, I don't know, Gran Turismo? Technically speaking, yes. Should we go head to head with Gran Turismo?

The game was officially announced in February 2021. The game was released on September 30 the same year for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S. Milestone also had plans to support the game extensively with downloadable content upon launch. A version for Amazon Luna was made available on July 21, 2022. A Game of the Year edition containing all of the downloadable content was released for all available platforms alongside Stadia on September 29 the same year. A special edition was released on September 30, 2021.

Hot Wheels Unleashed was nominated for Best Sports/Racing Game at The Game Awards 2021, as well as Racing Game of the Year at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.