Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was met with a surprisingly strong critical reception when the reviews were released, calling it a title that could stand toe-to-toe with the likes of other, more popular racers in the genre. This was the result of years of learning from SEGA and the development teams responsible for it, and the team is definitely riding on a wave of momentum.

At Tokyo Game Show 2025, we sat down with Ryuichi Taki, producer of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and Takashi Iizuka, Creative Officer for Sonic the Hedgehog, to ask questions about SEGA’s latest racing entry and how it has broken through after so many tries.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Interview

Racing Beyond Limits: The Travel Ring Mechanic

One of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ most talked-about innovations is the Travel Ring, a feature that teleports racers to a completely different course mid-race. This is quite a novel idea, and one that keeps races fresh by introducing something new each time, thereby lessening the need to memorize tracks.

“We didn’t want to make just a great racing game,” said Iizuka. “We wanted something different from every other game. When we started development, our first goal was to achieve something that hadn’t been made before. We wanted to build some kind of new experience, and that was the most important part that we had to tackle.”

“In usual racing games, if you choose the course, you could know what’s going to happen in the future, but with the travel ring, you never know what’s going to happen from the second lap, so it’s very unexpected and it provides unexpected entertainment.”

Crossplay Without Compromise

Cross-platform play was also a priority for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds from day one. Playing together with other people from your platform ecosystem is definitely fun, but playing against everyone in the game surely increases the fun factor. Taki emphasized the challenge of balancing performance across different hardware:

“We created a race system that accepts those kinds of differences. Even if you play on lower-spec hardware, you won’t feel lag or disadvantage,” he explained.

The team collaborated closely with SEGA’s arcade division to implement forecasting systems that predict car positions and optimize online performance.

“We wanted all players around the world to match with each other online,” Taki said. “That’s why crossplay was built into the foundation of development.”

Gadgets, Customization, and Personal Playstyles

The gadget system is also a highly anticipated feature of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, adding strategic depth that allows players to tailor their racing style to prioritize handling, power, or other playstyles.

“Each player can race in their own personal way,” Taki shared. “We wanted to make gameplay feel deeper and more unique, without overwhelming beginners”.

From offensive items to defensive counters, gadgets are designed to be fun rather than realistic, and the team definitely designed these with that mindset. “The air trick gadget spins characters really fast, which is definitely not real, but it’s fun to do, and that’s how we approached the game design,” he laughed.

Taki also explained how CrossWorlds supports a wide range of players:

“We included assistant functionalities for small children and beginners so they can compete with higher-level players… Even if you can’t turn corners efficiently, you can still play along.”

Dynamic Tracks and IP Collaborations

The game features 15 original courses and several IP-themed tracks, including Minecraft, Pac-Man, and SpongeBob SquarePants. This is undoubtedly a banner feature in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and one that is thematically in line with the “CrossWorlds” part of the game.

“We’d want the fans of that IP (Pac-Man) to have fun and enjoy how that world has become a racing course, and also we’d like the Sonic fans to enjoy the uniqueness of the course as well. We want the fans of both franchises to be entertained,” said Iizuka.

Additionally, with over 200 songs already in-game, players can customize lap music via the jukebox system, which immediately adds to the fun and entertainment factor that was pointed out, increasingly so for collaborations, and made a comparison to Jazz since it incorporates a lot of different elements that make it feel like a jukebox.

“In this game, within the soundtrack, there are many fast-tempo songs that are included. And there are many different elements in the game, and it changes very rapidly, so we can’t really narrow it down to one single genre.” Taki said.

Character Interactions and Monthly DLC

Character banter returns in Park Mode, and the game will receive monthly updates for the next 12 months.

“We’ve already announced Joker, Hatsune Miku, and Ichiban Kasuga,” Iizuka confirmed. “There are nine more characters coming, each with their own themed course.”

Taki teased upcoming online events, such as the Hatsune Miku Festa and Joker Festa, featuring themed items and community challenges.

“There’s also the online Festa events like the Hatsune Miku Festa at the beginning half of October, and if you play in this online event, you get various Miku-related items. We do have other plans coming up, so we want the users to be excited for this.”

Building a Global Sonic Community

Iizuka views the game as a gateway for new fans, and he expresses this in a final message to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds fans.

“I want to have a broader range of Sonic fans around the world,” Iizuka says. “For racing games, it’s easier to bring together friends and just have fun together. With Sonic Racing: Crosswords, you could play with different people from around the world.”

“I’d like the network of Sonic fans to broaden across the world.”

Taki echoed the sentiment: “You can find your own personalized race style, play solo or online, and just enjoy the game your way.”

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is now available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC.