Star Wars Galactic Racer Breaks 23-year record for iconic franchise

Over the last three years, the Star Wars franchise has enjoyed a topsy-turvy tenure. The films and TV series peaked with Andor, which reeled fans back in from the divisive climax to Rey's trilogy, while The Mandalorian film did the opposite by ending the Grogu saga on a whim.

The games have been equally as tumultuous. Jedi Survivor saw the return of Cal Kestis and a glorification of a true Star Wars RPG, while Hunters and Outlaws flopped hard.

Yet 2026 has been a huge turning point for a franchise that has struggled with its gaming adaptations for over two decades, as the new podracing sim Galactic Racer has become a resounding success.

So much so that the new title has just set a franchise record, 23 years in the making.

Star Wars Galactic Racer sets top franchise ratings in 23 years

As reviews broke out for Star Wars: Galactic Racer yesterday, the Burnout-inspired racing title has become a solid GOTY contender, mixing the fabled feel of the galaxy far, far away with that same competitive itch that made Mario Kart so popular.

Earning huge scores across the board, the title smashed every Star Wars game released in the last 23 with a Metacritic score of 88.

Only the original Knights of the Old Republic double-header, a duo of Jedi Knight titles, and Rogue Leader ranked higher on the site, although all of those games are over 20 years old, with KOTOR II being the most recent higher scorer, released in 2004.

Its score surpassed both the Star Wars: Jedi titles, the entire Battlefront collection, and all of the LEGO adaptations.

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This record was recently surpassed by Star Wars: Zero Company, which earned an 86 on the review site back in August, but Galactic Racer has proven to be even better - as we said, 2026 is a huge turning point for the Star Wars franchise, and these back-to-back smash hits only prove that there's so much more to enjoy from this sci-fi world than slashing sabers.

What is all the fuss about?

So, what about Galactic Racer makes it so good?

Well, in our review, in which we scored it as an 'exceptional 9/10', we revealed that the roguelite mechanics add an entirely new dimension to the racing genre, and the traditional arcade-styled format was executed to perfection.

"Star Wars Galactic Racer is an electrifying take on one of the best spin-offs in the franchise," we wrote.

"The speed is immense and Fuse Games has done an excellent job of making races feel dangerous. Speeders are nimble, but very fragile, and each planet you race on would throw an additional hazard at you to make things even more challenging.

"After rolling credits, I can safely say there was only one planet that I wasn’t a fan of, but the rest were both fun to play on and looked gorgeous. Racing across Tatooine as the two suns set was a sight to behold."

The only cons on our record are that "The Burnout-cam felt more intrusive than spectacular," and there are no customisation features for podracers.

With more interesting spin-offs coming in the Star Wars universe, the standard has reached a high that the series hasn't been able to replicate in over two decades, and that bar is only going to be pushed further the more that the Force strengthens within Lucasfilm's array of developer padawans.