Star Wars: Galactic Racer Unlocks October 6 With Podracers at $59.99

Podracing has been a Star Wars itch since 1999, and tomorrow it finally gets a proper scratch. Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the first game from Fuse Games and published by Secret Mode, launches on Tuesday, October 6 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The Steam page pins the unlock at 9 AM UTC, which works out to 2 AM Pacific, 5 AM Eastern, 10 AM in the UK and 11 AM in central Europe, so European players get it over a late breakfast while the US West Coast will want to leave the download running overnight.

The price is $59.99, £49.99 or €59.99 for the Standard Edition and $79.99, £64.99 or €79.99 for the Deluxe. Reviews went live on October 2, four days before launch, and the early picture is healthy: Metascores of 88 on PS5, 86 on Xbox Series X and 84 on PC at the time we checked. For a new studio's first game in a genre that has not had a big Star Wars entry in decades, that is a strong start.

Video: STAR WARS: Galactic Racer official channel on YouTube

What kind of racer this is

Secret Mode describes Galactic Racer as a runs-based, high-stakes reinvention of racing, and that phrasing matters. The setting is the Outer Rim after the Empire's fall, where the New Republic is too busy rebuilding to police the Galactic League, an unsanctioned circuit where syndicates sponsor pilots and fortunes change hands in seconds. You play Shade, a lone racer chasing revenge and glory, with the Ardennian mechanic Hibi in your corner, the corrupt reigning champion Kestar Bool in your way, and Sebulba, the Dug legend from The Phantom Menace, as the veteran whose respect you have to earn.

The campaign is structured as runs rather than a straight calendar of events. You pick the races, tracks and challenges that shape your path, alliances shift with your choices, and crashing out ends a run while certain perks carry over to the next attempt. Vehicles come in four classes with distinct physics: landspeeders, speeder bikes, the new skim speeders, and podracers, each customizable with liveries and stat parts. The pitch line on the store page is blunt about the tone, no Force and no prophecy, just skill, strategy and the will to rise. Confirmed locations so far include the Mos Espa Circuit on Tatooine, the Jakku Paddock and the Derven Acos arena. Outside the campaign there are Arcade and Scenario modes, plus online races for up to 12 players with cross-platform play listed on Steam.

Editions, pre-order bonus and PC requirements

Every pre-order, digital or physical, comes with an exclusive repulsorcraft livery and a player banner for multiplayer. The Deluxe Edition adds three Kor Sarun vehicles, the Ciza T speeder bike, the Darc X landspeeder and the Rak S skim speeder, plus a Naboo N-1 inspired livery, three Arcade events built for those vehicles, a Deluxe banner and a digital art book. The physical Collector's Edition sits at $159.99, £139.99 or €159.99 and bundles a model of the Darc X landspeeder, a cloth banner, two pilot patches, a printed art book, a steel case and a slip cover.

On PC, the Steam minimum spec asks for Windows 10, a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600, 12 GB of RAM, an RTX 2060, Arc A580 or RX 5600 XT, and 50 GB on an SSD. Fourteen languages are listed with full interface and audio support, including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and both Chinese scripts. Fuse Games is a Guildford studio founded in 2023 by veterans of the Burnout and Need for Speed lineage, which explains why the trailers lean so hard on takedowns and shunting.

Our take

After Star Wars Zero Company brought turn based tactics back to the Clone Wars in August, Galactic Racer is the second Star Wars game this year to arrive with the two things a new racing IP needs most: a clear identity and reviews that back it up. The runs structure is the gamble. If you want a traditional championship ladder you may find the roguelite framing gets in the way, and we would read a couple of full reviews before paying for the Deluxe tier. If you just want to feel a podracer again, this is the one to install tonight. And if your Star Wars habit also runs through mobile, our Galaxy of Heroes codes page is kept current with whatever freebies are live this week.