The recent slate of Hot Wheels video games from developer Milestone really captures that youthful wonder and excitement of unpacking fresh toy cars from the box and racing them down those twisting, orange playset tracks. With two Hot Wheels games under their belt, along with the underrated anime-racing game Screamer, the creators at Milestone are taking another swing at a new Hot Wheels arcade racer – but this time, they're taking the massive selection of toy cars into an open-world playset.

At Summer Game Fest 2026, we were able to get our first hands-on with Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush, which moves away from dedicated tracks set within living rooms and imaginary landscapes and into multiple open-world zones packed with missions and opportunities. It's a big adjustment for a Hot Wheels racing game, but it also has big ambitions to elevate the toy car-racing series.

The core concept of Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush leans into the idea of taking your selection of Hot Wheels cars off the nostalgic orange tracks and into the open-world playset, filled with oddities to uncover and new challenges to take on. Much like the recent Lego Batman upgrade to an open-world Batman Arkham-style game, Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush makes the jump to an open world that feels very similar to Burnout Paradise, which makes for a fun fit for the Hot Wheels world.

Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush makes the jump to an open world that feels very similar to Burnout Paradise.“

With Infinite Rush, you're given a large degree of freedom to drive around and take on challenges as you wish. With over 150 cars to choose from – which are set across different vehicle types like speeder, titan, and the versatile class – you can present a selection of favorite vehicles and freely swap between them in between missions when driving around. With your stable of toy cars set, you're prepared to explore the open-zone playset in your own way.

When really diving in, you're free to drive about and cause chaos on the streets and in the various tracks scattered about the zone. While you have core objectives, the real fun is making your path to take in all the side missions located on the map. These missions include traditional races against other drivers, time-trials where you need to reach a destination, vehicle delivery missions, and even destruction derby-style missions where you have to cause as much environmental damage as you can. But one of the more entertaining missions I found focused on finding nearby landmarks and snapping photos for the album.

In the two zones I got to drive through – the open-city metropolis Wheelworld, and the industrial desert town Gearworld – I got to really take in the diorama-style open worlds. They felt very much like exploring those wildly over-the-top and enticing playsets you would see in toy commercials that were never available for actual purchase. It's a fun setting to drive through, and I really liked how charming and chaotic these diorama worlds were. My favorite bit was driving through Gearworld and seeing a giant scorpion spewing venom onto the map, which made me think back to those energetic commercials with bizarre hazards the toy cars had to avoid.

But of course, there's still plenty of traditional racing action to take part in, and Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush really dials up the intensity in that context. Much like traditional arcade racers, Infinite Rush really goes for the fast and loose approach to racing, which keeps the focus on trying to maintain momentum, while giving you plenty of slack to adapt to these radically different environments. Each vehicle type also has different strategies and tradeoffs when getting behind the wheel. While the titan class is heavy and can easily push aside vehicles, it also has to manage its heat gauge when boosting, or else it'll stall out.

The core race events are not only about racing through the streets and back roads of the playsets, but also about merging onto those familiar bright orange tracks to really hone in on tight racing moments. Compared to the previous Hot Wheels games, Infinite Rush adds a new level of chaos to the action, heightening the sense that these toy race cars are coming to life and wreaking havoc.

Still, even with the push to a more open-world racing game, there are plenty of those familiar orange tracks to race on and even build up yourself. Though I wasn't able to get hands-on with it in my preview, the track editor from previous games also makes a return. Players who are keen on creating their own racing venues will not only have more tools to use, but also the added space of the open zones to build on.

From my 30 minutes of hands-on time, I really came to appreciate the sense of freedom of taking my chosen vehicles out into the field. The Burnout Paradise-style open-world racing is a great fit for the toy-car world of Hot Wheels, as the focus on exploration offers a surprisingly charming space to tear my way through. Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush is very much a living toy box of a world to unravel, and so far, developer Milestone has got a great concept for its big upgrade for Hot Wheels racing games.

Alessandro Fillari is a longtime games media professional. Talk video games with him on BlueSky at @afillari.bsky.social.