Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds | PS5 Review

September 30, 2025 Kevin Honigford

GOTTA GO FAST!! Fly (literally) across the track in Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, either solo in a cup tournament, or with teammates in team challenges in the Race Park. While Team Sonic Racing was fun, Sonic & All Stars Racing: Transformed was a cart racer for the ages, although it still fell short of eclipsing its rival, Mario Kart. Can the Blue Blur and his friends finally cross the finish line ahead of the plumber brothers this go around?

Worlds Across

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds gets its name from an interesting mechanic involving changing the track you’re racing on during the second lap of the race. At this point, the leader of the race will be shown two different worlds from past Sonic games in the form of visions inside of golden rings. Whichever ring they drive into turns that ring into a teleport for everyone racing to that world’s track, and the race continues. There are 24 main tracks to launch on, and 15 “CrossWorld” tracks that you can choose from in that second lap. This keeps things exciting and fresh, as you quite literally won’t know what’s around the corner until you get there.

Strengths Combined

Sega and Sonic Team pulled from the praises of their last two entries in the cart racer genre to create an epic masterpiece in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

Beside the standard cart racer cup championship modes is the Race Park. Following the platform built by Team Sonic Racing, most of the races in the Race Park are team-oriented, and have various goals depending on the race. Examples include “Rings” races, where the team with the most rings at the end gets a points boost, “Attack” races where the team that used the most attack items throughout the race will get a points boost, and “Bump” races where the team that bumps into each other the most gets a points boost. The latter is a feature employed in most teams races, however, as when you bump into a teammate you are given a speed boost for a brief moment. Teammates are shown by a bright streak of energy connecting the two or three of you when you are in their proximity, making this task much easier than it sounds.

The other mechanic that Sega and Sonic Team brought along for this ride is the cart transformations from Sonic & All Stars Racing: Transformed, which is the most underappreciated game in the history of racers in my humble opinion. Watching as your cart is transformed into an air or water craft in a split second is exciting and challenging, as you have to adjust your driving style on the go. While I haven’t had the opportunity to play Mario Kart World, this is one of the biggest differences between the two franchises in the past. Where Mario Kart has always employed a glider technique, Sonic Racing’s airborne cart version is actual flight. There are items and boost targets that you can fly through, and not running into your teammates and competition mid-flight is challenging.

The Gang’s Here… and Then Some

The entire gamut of characters from the Sonic universe are at your disposal right off the bat in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. From Sonic and Tails to Wave and Jet, you can race as and against any Sonic character that has been presented in the Sonic games through history, even Sage from the most recent Sonic Frontiers. Characters from outside the fray will also be available, such as Persona 5’s Joker and Like A Dragon’s Ichiban Kasuga. Collab characters are also slotted to make an appearance, such as Pac-Man, Mega Man, and Steve from Minecraft. Each character has their own stats and stylized vehicle, however you aren’t required to use that vehicle. Each vehicle also has its own stats, and you can pick from any of them with any racer. This, partnered with the gadgets that you unlock as you reach racing milestones, present an extremely customizable experience. While characters and vehicles have their own base stats, such as speed, acceleration, and handling, etc., the gadgets that you unlock provide modifiers along the lines of boost increases, item modifications, and drift modifiers, such as spinning while drifting to damage other competitors.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorldsFinal Verdict

Sega and Sonic Team have been on a tear in recent years, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is just the latest trophy on their wall. Among my peers, almost everyone was feeling burned out on cart racers, and I felt the same. However, once we hit the acceleration pedal in our racers in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, our love for the genre was instantly revived. The controls feel good with all vehicle types, the tracks are all extremely fun, and the customization aspect is phenomenally well done. The way that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds makes use of its name and literally crosses worlds in the middle of a race keeps every race fresh and exciting. Seeing and feeling flight make its return to cart racing was a huge win in my book, and for the first time in a really long time, a cart racer was really hard for me to put down when it was time for real life duties. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds gets the checkered flag in my book.

To hear me talk more about Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, be sure to listen to our October 1st, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:19:43 timestamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds provided by fortyseven communications for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam & Epic Games Store.