Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a racing game where you pilot speeders and podracers through the Star Wars galaxy. It’s set in the Galactic League, an unsanctioned racing circuit born in the Outer Rim after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Playing as Shade, you take on Kestar Bool, the champion who has the League under his thumb.
In races, you build up boost and ram rivals until they explode as you fight for first place. The campaign uses a tour format where losing sends you back to the start, but the performance you’ve built into your vehicle carries over, so each attempt takes you further. Below, we break down the story, gameplay and modes. First, watch the official gameplay trailer to see how fast the racing is.
What Kind of Game Is It? Release Date, Platforms and Japanese Support
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Release date | October 6, 2026 |
| Platforms | PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Price (Steam) | ¥6,900 (Deluxe Upgrade: ¥2,300) |
| Modes | Campaign, Arcade, Multiplayer, Scenarios |
| Online | Online multiplayer with crossplay support |
| Japanese | Japanese on-screen text and subtitles, English audio |
| Developer | Fuse Games |
The game’s store description sums it up as “No Force. No prophecy.” It’s a story about racers who fight their way to the top on skill and nerve alone, not the power of the Force. You don’t need to know Star Wars to play, but planets and characters from the films show up too, so the more you know, the more you’ll enjoy it.
Story: Why Does Shade Race? (No Spoilers)
The Empire has fallen, and pilots who honed their skills in the war are looking for a new place in the galaxy. Darius Pax founds the Galactic League to bring back the thrill of racing. But the League is close to being taken over by its champion, Kestar Bool, and his clan, the Bool family.
Pax turns to Shade, a cargo pilot from Gathleon. Gathleon is a planet the Bool family has ruled for centuries, and Shade and Kestar have history. Shade refuses at first, but with a push from Hibi, Shade’s partner and mechanic, ends up heading to the League paddock while dropping off a delivery.
In the first race, Shade’s vehicle collides with Kestar’s. Seeing that Kestar doesn’t remember Shade at all, Shade decides to join the League. The story begins with Shade fighting through the Qualifier to become an official racer.
The story runs from Act I, the Qualifier, through Act III. The official story trailer gives you a feel for the main characters and the mood of the League.
Main Characters
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Shade | The protagonist. A cargo pilot from Gathleon, with a look and voice you choose |
| Hibi | Shade’s ship mechanic. A gifted inventor who builds your vehicles |
| Darius Pax | Founder of the Galactic League and a former mechanic for the Hutts |
| Kestar Bool | The League’s reigning champion and heir to the Bool family, which rules Gathleon |
| Sebulba | A legendary podracer who also appeared in Episode I |
What’s the Racing Like?
Four Vehicle Types That Corner in Completely Different Ways
There are four vehicle types: landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders and podracers. Each type corners differently and has its own strengths, and you choose which one to race at the start of a tour.
| Vehicle type | Handling | How to unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Landspeeder | The easiest to handle. Drifts through corners | Available from the start |
| Speeder Bike | Sharp acceleration, but tends to run wide in corners | Complete 10 campaign events |
| Skim Speeder | Rolls onto a Knife Edge to corner sharply | Complete 20 campaign events |
| Podracer | By far the highest top speed. Corners with the Air Brake, at the cost of speed | Podracer events in the campaign |
The podracer is a special vehicle that becomes available later in the story. You can see it in action in the official video where Hibi walks through the vehicles.
Use Both Boosts and Ram Rivals to Take Them Down
There are two kinds of boost: Ramjet and Afterburner. The longer you hold the Ramjet, the faster you go, but if too much heat builds up, your vehicle explodes. Afterburner is the safe boost, and its tank slowly refills over the course of a race. Ram a rival until they explode and you score a Takedown, which fully refills your Afterburner tank.
Each Racer Style, chosen at the start of a tour, comes with its own Abilities, so you can protect yourself with Shield or get in your rivals’ way.
Our beginner’s guide covers controls and boosting tips in detail.
Race Across Planets From the Films
The campaign takes you to six planets. Jakku is from Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Crait from Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, so you get to race right through scenery from the films.
| Planet | What it’s like |
|---|---|
| Jakku | A desert littered with crashed starships. You even race through the wreck of a Star Destroyer |
| Lantaana | A volcanic jungle planet. Races run through lava caves |
| Ando Prime | A mining planet covered in snow and ice |
| Sentinel I | A planet with rivers of acid |
| Crait | A planet where racing across the white salt flats kicks up the red soil beneath |
| Derven Acos | A planetoid ringed by space debris, and home to the League’s stadium |
How Does the Campaign Work?
The campaign is a series of tours that take you from planet to planet. Each planet has a branching map, and you progress by choosing events such as races, Eliminators and timed Field Tests.
After a race, you choose Credits or Upgrades from the Rewards to make your vehicle stronger. In the paddock, you can buy Parts and Packs at Hibi’s Shop.
A tour starts with one League Token. Lose it by getting Wrecked or eliminated in an Eliminator, and you’re Knocked Out. When you’re Knocked Out, you restart that act’s tour from the first planet.
Even so, the vehicle stats you’ve raised with Tuning Points earned in races stay with you. Each loss leaves you a little stronger, until you can push on to later planets.
Change How Shade and Your Vehicle Look
Shade’s outfit, helmet and voice can be changed as often as you like whenever you start a tour. You can also change your vehicle’s model (kit) and livery. Changing the look doesn’t change the story.
What Other Modes Are There?
| Mode | What you do |
|---|---|
| Arcade | Play single events such as races and time trials |
| Multiplayer Tour | Compete online across five planets |
| Scenarios | Pick one of 13 racers and take on a five-race tour |
Arcade events include Race, Time Trial, Eliminator and Takedowns, and you can compete with friends for the best records.
In Multiplayer Tour, you pick one of several characters, each with different traits and Abilities. It all comes down to the Championship Race on Derven Acos. In Scenarios, you can play as Shade, Kestar and the other rivals.
Here’s the official launch trailer, released alongside the game.
Can You Enjoy It Without Knowing Star Wars?
Yes. The protagonist and the rivals are all new characters created for this game, so you can follow the story even if you haven’t seen the films. It does help to know a little about the era, podracing and the planets.
- The era: The game is set after the Empire falls in Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. The galaxy is still unsettled, and outlaws hold sway in the Outer Rim
- Podracing: In Episode I – The Phantom Menace, a young Anakin Skywalker risked his life to race in one. His rival in that race was Sebulba
- The planets: Jakku and Crait are planets where battles took place in the sequel films
How Good Was Anakin? The 9-Year-Old Who Won a Podrace
Play this game and you’ll see just how extraordinary Anakin was in Episode I. The speeders alone are fast enough that there’s an achievement for topping 650 km/h, and even in a speeder, it isn’t easy to finish a race with your boost on without hitting rocks or walls. A podracer’s Top Speed stat is about 1.5 times that of a speeder.
In that world, Anakin was only 9 years old. He raced a podracer he had built himself, in secret, while still a slave. It’s a sport Qui-Gon says takes “Jedi reflexes,” and Anakin was the only human in the film’s race.
Then, at the Boonta Eve Classic, he passed the veteran Sebulba to win the race and his freedom from slavery. The pilot who threaded a machine a notch faster than a speeder between desert rocks at hundreds of kilometers per hour was a 9-year-old boy.
