We Love It's Guide to…
Race as Sonic and guest characters, drifting and using items across shifting tracks while tuning vehicles for solo or multiplayer.
Released 25 Sep 2025
Race Through Shifting Worlds
Drift to Charge Boosts
Fly and Surf Tracks
Race across land, sea, air, space, and time in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Warp through Travel Rings into new dimensions where something new awaits around every twist and turn.
Developed by Sonic Team · Published by SEGA
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is an arcade racing game where players choose from Sonic characters and guests, then compete on courses that span different environments. Races combine high-speed driving with item attacks and boosts.
Each race shifts course on its second lap: a Travel Ring sends racers to another track, then they return to the original for the final lap, where parts of the route have changed. Drifting charges boosts, and racers can perform tricks in the air or handle special water and flight sections.
Players can customize vehicles with parts, paint, and decals, and equip gadgets that affect racing abilities. Offline options include Grand Prix, Race Park, and Time Trials; online modes include races for up to 12 players. Racing also earns unlocks, while Grand Prix rivals and online rankings offer additional goals.
In the supplied reviews, players often praise the fast, responsive arcade racing and the satisfaction of drifting to build boosts. Many also enjoy the varied courses and mid-race world changes, as well as the chaotic item races, multiplayer, vehicle customization, and soundtrack. Some reviewers find the action and items overly chaotic, so these aspects are not appreciated by everyone.
Race across land, sea, air, and space in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Warp through Travel Rings into new dimensions where something new awaits around every twist and turn. Speed to victory solo or as a team in a variety of offline and online modes and compete against players from around the world. Build the ultimate vehicle to match your racing style, unlock gadgets to gain the upper hand, and unleash power-up items!
Race across 24* courses and warp to one of 15 CrossWorld courses with Travel Rings, which transport you to a new course with special rules and challenges on the 2nd lap. Return to the first course for the final lap, where aspects of the track have changed. There’s always a surprise on the other side of the Travel Rings, and no two races are the same!
Pick from over 45 unique original vehicles and over 70** gadgets that let you shape how you race and define your playstyle. Gadgets let you customize all parts of your race, including movement boost efficiency, item chance, recovery time, and more. Build the loadout that defines you.
There are 5 character/vehicle classes to choose from: Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Power, and Boost. Within each class, you can further tune performance by combining front, rear, and tire parts, adjusting each stat to match your racing style. Top it all off with custom paint jobs, decals, and more to create your ultimate racing machine.
Choose from 23 iconic Sonic characters! From members of Team Sonic to the Babylon Rogues, Team Chaotix, and even the Deadly Six, it’s the largest roster in a Sonic racing game to date.
Characters have unique interactions with each other through the new Rival system, which randomly picks a character each race to be your Rival who will be faster, smarter, and more challenging. Defeat them for bonus rewards and even more special dialogue.
Hone your skills solo, co-op with friends, or online with up to 12 players in modes designed for competition, practice, and mastery.
• Compete in the classic Grand Prix: compete across 4 courses to earn the most points.
• Mix it up with Race Park: Race in teams of 2-4 players in matches with unique rule sets: collect the most rings, boost off your allies, knock out your opponent, play with only heavy hitting items, or make up your own custom rulesets!
• Master individual courses with Time Trials: Race alone on a single course as you try to get the fastest time possible. Your time can be uploaded to a global leaderboard to show off your mastery.
• Ascend the online leaderboards in World Match: Play online with players worldwide in 12 player lobbies and aim for the top: Legend Rank.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will be supported by ongoing free updates that add new characters, vehicles, music, sounds, and gadgets. Characters from across the SEGA universe including Joker, Ichiban, Hatsune Miku, AiAi, and NiGHTS join the race, with more characters to arrive soon.
For those looking to expand their experience, unlock premium content through the Season Pass, which features guest crossovers from iconic franchises including SpongeBob SquarePants and Minecraft. Character Packs from the Season Pass will feature 2-4 playable racers***, new courses, decals and sounds to customize your vehicle, additional music, gadgets, and more.
The free character updates and paid premium content will be supported by Festivals, limited time events where you’ll team up players worldwide to represent one of 3 teams and compete for the most points. Races will feature unique rulesets during these events, with the winning team earning bonus rewards.
For the best-of-the-best, test your skills in Legend Competitions. These timed events feature a unique competitive ruleset and open only to other top players (Legend 9 rank and above in World Match). Aim for the top to receive special rewards and shoot for the coveted “Emerald Racer” rank.
*More courses may be added post-launch
**Additional gadgets may be added post-launch
***Please see Season Pass & individual Content Packs for more information on playable characters
| Platforms | Windows |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 44 |
| Age ratings |
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| Players | 1–12 |
| Play modes |
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| Other modes |
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| Multiplayer | Supports offline and online multiplayer. Online play supports up to 12 players, including world matchmaking, private lobbies, cross-platform multiplayer, and team-based events. Local multiplayer and shared/split screen PvP are listed, and reviews describe 4-player local play and split-screen. The game also supports co-op/team play in Race Park and other modes. |
| Multiplayer & mods | Reviews describe the game as mod-friendly and say modding is active and easy. No provided text confirms specific multiplayer mod support or compatibility rules. One review advises not to cheat or exploit. |
| Controller support | PlayStation, Xbox |
| Controller required | No |
| Demo | View demo on Steam |
| DLC / extras | 7 listed on Steam |
| DRM / EULA |
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| Content notices |
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| Metacritic | 84/100 View on Metacritic |
| Website | Official website |
