Hot Wheels Infinite Rush Review: Forza Horizon But Make It Toys

First Released September 10, 2026 Systems Leave a Review Overview Score Published Sep 6, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Experience classic toy racing in Hot Wheels Infinite Rush. Explore open worlds and collect cars across fun challenges. A nostalgic driving experience is racing onto gaming systems everywhere this week with Hot Wheels Infinite Rush. Just one look at this game immediately brings back the feeling of being a kid as soon as you see those iconic orange tracks. But these worlds are full of life, with races to be had and secrets to find tucked away in every corner. The game is developed and published by the same team behind Hot Wheels Unleashed and Hot Wheels Unleashed 2, Milestone S.r.l., so they're already familiar with what it takes to bring these Mattel toys to life. Unlike those games, however, the experience that Hot Wheels Infinite Rush provides is much more akin to the Hot Wheels DLCs found in a couple of the Forza Horizon games. Open World Driving Fun Filled With Challenges And Fun If you've played any of the Forza Horizon titles, you will immediately feel the similarities here. Like those games, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush has an open-world play style where you can freely roam each of the islands and stumble into things to do. These include chasing down the rival Rush Squad Rushers that are found on each island, who are hard to beat but will reward you with new cars if you can defeat them. Other free-roaming challenges include things like Boost Stunts where you hit checkpoints as quickly as you can, Drift Stunts, Deliveries, Daredevil races against cars in traffic, finding collectibles, and more. Of course, if you want something to tell you where to go, there is a specific campaign experience as well. The map will point you to specific races you can travel to, where you can earn campaign points and unlock new vehicles and activities. Four Worlds That Feel Like Driving Through Playsets Come To Life The game features four islands, each with its own challenges and races, with themes based on real Hot Wheels playsets. At the beginning of the game, you find yourself in Wheelswood, a busy city filled with skyscrapers and lots of traffic. In fact, there was so much to do in this world that I didn't realize for longer than I care to admit that this was just the starting island. My favorite world is Tentacle Bay. This is a more nature-filled, relaxed setting that feels oddly calming as you race through its streets, destroying everything in your path. Next up is Gearville, a desert island that is full of factories and industrial excavation sites. And finally, you have Drifty Temples, an island inspired by East Asia, with blooming cherry trees, ancient temples, and neon-lit city streets. What would a Hot Wheels game be without a vast catalog of toy cars to collect and drive? At launch, the game has over 150 cars to unlock, with more planned in future DLCs. These cars are broken down into four types, each with its own strategy to master: Versatile, Speeder, Drifter, and Titan. You can upgrade each vehicle in the garage to make it more powerful and fun to drive, or simply customize it with new dash effects, boost sounds, and more. Even just looking at the collection of cars I was getting was a joy, with each car packaged like the toy Hot Wheels cars you can purchase in real life. That little detail seems small, but it just added so much to the Hot Wheels experience for me. And as you fill out each specific collection of cars, secret rewards wrapped up like a TCG booster pack make me even more motivated to find them all. Multiplayer With Friends Or Ranked Lobbies While I only played Hot Wheels Infinite Rush solo, there are numerous ways to enjoy racing around with other players. Offline, one to four players can experience the game together on one console with a split-screen view, or online there can be two to twelve racers. There's also a Time Attack mode where you can race solo to climb online leaderboards in ranked lobbies. There are several options for multiplayer racing: Quick Race Elimination Mode Smashing Wheels (hitting targets as fast as you can) Drift Master Waypoints I can easily see Hot Wheels Infinite Rush becoming a game where friends and family play together in local multiplayer with split screen action. Online multiplayer includes cross-play across platforms, with the only exclusion being the Nintendo Switch 2. The Track Builder Is Better Than Ever One of the most loved features of the Hot Wheels Unleashed games was the track builder, though a few mechanical issues could make it challenging. For Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, the track builder is back with all-new technology that makes track modules adapt to the ground and actually look like they fit the environment. Plus, you can now add virtual opponents to the track builder to add some challengers. Making your own tracks is so much fun here, building the tracks right in the worlds you've been racing in. Weave around the skyscrapers, angle the tracks to create massive loops, whatever you want. Final Thoughts, Including The Bad Part I honestly have enjoyed every second I've been able to spend on these four islands in Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, other than one glaring fault. Perhaps because I played on the Nintendo Switch 2, or because it was an early build before the game's release, the loading screens were unbearably long. At one point, just loading into one of the street races took long enough that I got up and got a soda, sat back down, and was still waiting. I wish I'd timed them, but they were anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes in some spots. And these loading screens aren't just a once-or-twice-per-playthrough situation. There are loading screens for entering and exiting every race, the garage, and more. This frustration significantly took away from the overall experience, and if I wasn't playing for this review, I admit I would have turned it off. Thankfully, I didn't find any other glitches or problems while playing. Hopefully, the loading screen times are fixed with launch, or at least aren't a problem on other platforms, because otherwise, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is an absolute joy to experience and something I could see becoming a favorite game Systems Released September 10, 2026 ESRB Everyone / In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) Milestone S.r.l. Publisher(s) Milestone S.r.l. Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer Franchise Hot Wheels Number of Players 1-4 players (local) / 1-12 players (online)