Sega's latest incarnation of Sonic Racing brings together the best of all worlds to create one of the most feature-complete and tight-feeling kart racers ever.

At the risk of ticking off hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog fans the world over, until now, I never really considered any of the blue blur's racing games a serious contender to Mario Kart. Sure, I enjoyed repeatedly zooming through circuits based on familiar locales like Wisp Circuit and Ocean View just fine, but rarely were the controls ever as tight as Nintendo's classic series, and I always felt that Sega's attempt at capturing some of this magic fell a tad short when it came to presenting a core mechanic or gimmick that felt truly its own.

2012's Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed certainly came the closest, with racing across land, sea, and air in ever-transforming vehicles offering up a fun sense of colourful racing variety.

Well, it's now 10 years later, and returning to this concept has well and truly paid off for Sega, as Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds easily represents the best and most inventive kart racing experience Sonic has ever been a part of. It's not totally perfect, of course, but this is largely the most feature-complete and variety-filled take on what can happen when you drop gaming's fastest hedgehog in a car.

By doubling down on advanced customisation, tracks and characters that pay tribute to almost all of Sonic's eras, and combining it with an always unpredictable second lap due to the inclusion of Travel Rings, this year, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has beaten Mario Kart at its own game - and then some.

First thing's first, while it's true that this is a Sonic Racing game planning to celebrate nearly all of Sega's worlds thanks to the current inclusion of Hatsune Miku, and Like a Dragon's Ichiban Kasuga and Persona 5's Joker soon to follow in the coming months, I appreciate that, at least initially, the focus here is purely on Sonic and his friends.

Usual suspects like Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow all appear in the starting roster, split into different racing categories, but CrossWorlds also isn't afraid to pay tribute to deeper cuts such as Espio, Zavok from Sonic Lost World, and even Jet from Sonic Riders. Simply put, even while (mostly) sticking to a single universe, there's a concerted effort here to celebrate a multitude of different Sonic eras.

It helps that none are just carbon copies of one another when racing out on the track, either. Characters are split into one of several categories, specialising in everything from Speed to acceleration, Handling, Power, and even Boost. Does this affect the way they handle while racing? You bet.

But CrossWorlds also gives you the tools to better tweak your preferred racer to your exact liking, thanks to extra areas in which to apply some customisation, most obviously by being able to purchase, swap in, and upgrade specific vehicle components, as well as specific perk-based Gadget combinations you can take with you into any one of the eight cups available at launch.

At the beginning, I was a little worried that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was almost too intimidating regarding its approach to customisation. After all, as competitive as events can be both online and offline, this is a colourful kart racer intended to appeal not just to adults but all family members with an affinity for the chilli-dog-eating hedgehog.

Luckily, all these different components working together are geared (literally) to helping you tweak racing to your preferred playstyle. And if you don't want to dip into the realm of vehicle customisation at all, there's plenty of pre-built machines located in each category to help you lean into or further offset the natural racing skills of your favourite character. Building your own set of Gadget boards, however, is a must!

Sonic's latest racer is no slouch when it comes to the amount of advanced customisation depth it provides, then, which is honestly more than can be said for Mario Kart World, which itself felt like a serious step back in this area compared to Mario Kart 8: Deluxe before it.

This isn't the only area in CrossWorlds where Sonic aims to eat Mario's lunch, though, as its central Travel Ring gimmick works wonders to provide Grand Prix races with a good level of variety and unpredictability while still letting the full beauty and invention of each circuit flourish. A kart racing game allowing you to enjoy laps of a circuit totally uninterrupted and as intended? Imagine that.

Essentially, for the second lap of every race in a four-circuit Grand Prix, whoever's in first place can choose between a random or specified Travel Ring location, at which point you'll drive through and be challenged to race in a setting far more bombastic and cinematic than any of the main track roster.

From stormy seas being savaged by a giant Kraken to a jungle being stampeded upon by a herd of dinosaurs, all 15 CrossWorlds tracks feel like a true event to race through, always testing my ability to keep my eye on the finish line - even when randomised with specific Frenzy effects such as the ability to drift boost to level four or a frankly ridiculous number of boost gates being present.

As if trying to claim the Gold Cup in each Grand Prix wasn't enough of an incentive to win, CrossWorlds goes yet another step further by embedding the totally new Rival system. It works by having you lock horns with a certain character at the start of each four-track tournament, who is prone to goading and taunting you whenever you trail behind them.

It's a simple mechanic that essentially boils down to Sega sprinkling in some character specific voice lines, but several times it worked to make me more determined to put in my best racing performance for fear of, say, Dr. Eggman manically rubbing the loss in my face.

Another way CrossWorlds celebrates all of Sonic's eras - even in racing - is by once again having your vehicle transform whenever it comes to racing across air and sea. It's not only an aesthetic change, either, as racing through the air or on the water suddenly changes the way each vehicle's boost works.

Racing over waves, for example, is all about gaining the most height as opposed to timing a drift perfectly. Sadly, boosting through the air is something I could never get the hang of, with any time I boosted seeing me veer into the edges of whatever wind tunnel I was trying to navigate. It doesn't feel quite as intuitive as racing on land or sea.

Finally, as well as the ability to race against friends in traditional tracks in either local split-screen or online (with full cross-play support), CrossWorlds hopes to keep you in the driver's seat in a totally separate mode called Race Park.

It's here where you and your friends are encouraged to race against rival teams on the track under specific rulesets that encourage working together - whether that be by tapping your friend's machine to increase speed or gather the most rings. It's here where CrossWorlds aims to pay respect to 2019's middling Team Sonic Racing. Some modes are definitely better than others. But hey! It's nice to have an excuse to suddenly work together.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is by far the best Sonic racing game Sega has ever put out, and easily the best colourful kart racer 2025 has had to offer.

By doubling down on some seriously in-depth customisation, finding a way to celebrate Sonic in nearly all his incarnations, and embedding new mechanical gimmicks like Travel Rings and the simple yet genius Rivals system into what is already an excellent arcade racer, CrossWorlds has leapt ahead of the competition to provide a racing foundation I can't wait to see get expanded upon. In almost every regard, this is about as fully formed a kart racing game can get!

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds review - 2025's best kart racer celebrates Sega's blue blur in all worlds - The Mirror