Hotshot Racing Review | Nostalgic arcade drifting driving experience.

Racing games don't get much more arcade than Hotshot Racing. This game pulls from some of the greats such as Virtua Racer, Ridge Racer, and Daytona USA. But it's not only the polygon count that replicates the older games and brings out my nostalgia. Still, Hotshot Racing is different enough to survive on its own and I'm having fun! There are a few things you need to know before getting your drive on.

I'll cover racing modes, rubberbanding, and cosmetic customization. Hotshot Racing has several different modes but the main one is the Grand Prix. In this mode, you race a predetermined set of four tracks at three different difficulties. You gain points for each race with the goal being to finish the Grand Prix with the most points.

The reward is a short cutscene about your driver and how they feel about the win. That means there are sixteen tracks which isn't too bad but most of the variety comes in other flavors. The races are fun but a Grand Prix only takes about ten minutes to complete and after two hours I had already run through all four twice.

However, it was on the lower two difficulties. It didn't prepare me for the expert difficulty. What a jump from hard to expert! It's slightly annoying I wasn't prepared as expert difficultly requires you to have almost perfect laps along with precise usage of your boost.

The speed also increases with the difficulties, shifting your drifting points, and changing how you play. Also, how aggressive the drivers are doesn't help. These drivers are out for more blood than F1 2020, trying to murder me in every race. They attempt the PIT maneuver on you or ram you from behind trying to wreck you.

You know the move to knock out the back end of a car to spin it? How unfair! It's much worse at lower difficulties and it can turn into bumper cars. What's strange is how much Hotshot Racing focuses on the drivers going as far as to include four different cars for each.

There's even quite a bit of voice acting! More cars than tracks is a vastly different attitude than most racing games take. Besides looking different the cars are strong in one of the three stats. You've got the first car which is balanced than the other three are either better in speed, acceleration, or drifting.

There is even a variety between drivers. For example, one driver's balanced car has an extra speed but one less drift where another driver's balanced car will have the same stats for each. I'm not certain if the stats are for only the driver or against all drivers.

Especially since I think Marcus's speed car doesn't feel fast. It might be all in my head but I swear it has a lower top speed than the other cars. Either way, it's nice to have the variety. And you'll probably be playing with them all to see their Grand Prix stories.

If you wanted a real challenge you would finish a Grand Prix with each car on expert difficulty. One of the things I appreciate about Hotshot Racing is how they solved rubberbanding. The pack of cars certainly sticks together but it feels a lot more natural.

You can't get too far ahead or too far behind. The slipstream in Hotshot Racing is powerful enough to pull you closer to the cars in front. Also, it gives you boost so you'll gain more than the car ahead. Stay in front long enough and the cars behind will catch up and stay ahead of you.

None of that catching the car in first on last lap bull crap that happens in other games. So pulling ahead is almost impossible as the cars catch you with more boost and a slipstream. It works surprisingly well and since you gain the same benefits it doesn't feel like the game is cheating.

But on lower difficulties, it keeps everyone much closer than they should be. It's a bit too overpowered and on lower difficulties I didn't need to use boost until right before the last straight to the finish. Anyway, after Grand Prix, you'll probably hop into the Single race mode which contains Arcade, "Cops and Robbers", and "Drive or Explode".

I would consider playing most of these with a second player if possible for more enjoyment. Arcade is exactly the same as Grand Prix except you're playing one race a time. "Cops and Robbers" isn't something I've played in a racing game since Need for Speed.

Which one was that? I think the original for Playstation one had a mode right? In Hotshot Racing you randomly play as either a cop or robber. As an officer, you need to run the robbers off the road by destroying their car. However, once you destroy them they now become deputized and are cops themselves.

As a robber, you need to race your heart out and try not to take too much damage from the police. Passing checkpoints gains you money and you're pretty much guaranteed a win if you hang back and survive the longest. So while it is fun the AI is too perfect to keep it interesting.

In "Drive or Explode" you need to hit checkpoints fast and race cleanly while keeping above a certain speed. If you drop below the set speed you'll take damage and if you explode the race is over. There are a couple other game modes, time trials, and online but I don't have much to say about them.

Time trials are exactly what you expect and you can race against ghosts. As to online I couldn't find any matches so I have no idea what to expect. However, I'm a pessimist when it comes to online modes for small games. You usually can't count on it to have a population.

There are hours of gameplay hidden inside which might never be found. You should take note the cars and drivers have cosmetic customization. Using the money you earn from all races you can purchase new outfits and car parts. But some of the parts are locked behind quests.

For example, needing to drift twenty times in a race. It's unexpected and I would love to know who it's for. Customization is cool but it's so subtle and you're always looking at the back of the car. Changing out the side flooring to look a little different doesn't do anything for me.

It's incredibly difficult to see during a race. Perhaps it would be more important when racing online. Before we wrap this up there is one small issue with Hotshot Racing and it's the manual transmission. Shifting gears is weird and doesn't always happen as you expect.

Most racing games give you full control but in Hotshot Racing I can't figure it out. The car will often just not shift. I've tried tapping the button, holding the button, and double pressing the button. Nothing works consistently. It could be my machine but it's absolutely not my brand new Xbox controller.