Team Sonic Racing

Team Sonic Racing adds a creative twist on the arcade racer with its exciting team-based mechanics that put strategy and precision at the forefront alongside blistering speeds across mesmerizing tracks.

The Blue Blur is back in this fast and fun kart-inspired arcade racer, with a few twists for good measure.

Sumo Digital ditches the wider world of Sega for its latest kart racer, but for all that's lost a new focus and inventiveness is found.

Team Sonic Racing, despite carrying a tidbit of fun, doesn't stand up to other kart racers today

The team-based mechanics help Team Sonic Racing stand out from other kart racers, but Mario Kart is in no danger of losing pole position in the genre

Sega's latest motorised caper is a fun, cartoonish outing that demands group strategy on the circuits

An extraordinarily competent racer

In most circles, Team Sonic Racing probably won't unseat Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (or Transformed's ever-enduring legacy if my house is any indication), and that's fine with me. Plenty of folks will enjoy the Sonic focus and many of the tracks would have been fantastic as Transformed DLC. I just wish it wasn't as limited in scope out of the gate.

We don't want to drag Team Sonic Racing down for ultimately quite trivial points. At the end of the day, Sumo Digital has served up a solid kart racer that succeeds in bringing something new to the table. It won't be to everyone's tastes, but the cooperative racing adds a nice layer of rapid fire strategy. It's implemented well, to the point where standard races feel distinctly secondary. It might be lacking the wow factor SEGA's other IPs brought to Sumo's other racers, and it's a shame performance is a little rocky, but this is a good option for PS4 players who want some arcadey thrills.

Taken on its own merits, Team Sonic Racing is a fun karting game that doesn't quite match Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in terms of either performance or sheer level of content, but still offers satisfying handling and should still keep Sonic fans entertained for a while. It's impossible not to compare it to its predecessor, though, and in all the areas where Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed excelled, Team Sonic Racing is merely competent. By no means a bad game, then, but when we look back years from now it won't be standing on any karting game podiums.