Nuclear Blaze
Nuclear Blaze
Game
Game2020
Hotshot Racing
Developer Sumo Digital Ltd, Lucky Mountain Games
Hotshot Racing is a 2020 racing video game developed by Lucky Mountain Games and Sumo Digital, and published by Curve Digital. An arcade-style racer, it draws visual and gameplay inspiration from 1990s titles of that style, such as Virtua Racing (1992) and Ridge Racer (1993). Developed over more than 10 years, the game was released on 10 September 2020 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One. The… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
224 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
136 positive · 51 negative
95% range 66–79%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 136 | 51 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 10 | 2 | 13 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
979 of 1,346 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
72% recommend · 136 yes, 52 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 188 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (1,841 of 2,404 positive).
Players praise the game's nostalgic arcade feel, comparing it to classics like Virtua Racing and Ridge Racer. [1][2][3] Many reviewers criticize the aggressive rubber-band AI, which makes races feel unfair and unrewarding. [4][5][6] Some players note the game lacks depth and gets boring quickly, with a dead multiplayer community. [7][3][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [17]
A very well designed arcade racer that pays seriously satisfying homage to Virtua Racing and all those Sega arcade racing games of the 90's with it's presentation and gameplay. Unfortunately, the requirement for a consistent internet connection is nearly a complete dealbreaker for this cool game, as it refuses to launch any time you are not connected or if Steam is in offline mode. if anyone at Sumo, Lucky Mountain …
- [7]
Honestly not a bad game, chill and pretty easy to get into. But there is not much to it and you get bored pretty fast after a few race. Not to mention the multiplayer is dead. Literally noone to play with. As of writing this review therea re 5 people playing it according to steamdb.
- [2]
Hotshot Racing isn’t trying to be the next big racer. Instead, it leans into the past, delivering a low-poly arcade racing experience straight out of the ’90s. It’s bright, fast, and surprisingly fun—as long as you know what you’re signing up for. Gameplay This game is all about speed and drifts. The drifting is smooth, boosting feels great, and there’s a nice flow once you get into the rhythm. It’s the kind of game …
- [4]
4 Big Problems: Problem 1. The obnoxious ridiculous extreme rubber-banding of the opponent cars makes it not even fun to play. Problem 2. The car handling feels slightly broken, like the game deliberately steals control away from you so that you can't accidentally turn (yourself) too much or too little, which is bad game design. (Other racing games have some amount of "filtering" of player input, but they don't …
- [1]
Daytona + Virtua Racing + some fireworks = Hotshot Racing
Summarised from 34 of the 226 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 9, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Hotshot Racing sits at 73% positive across 187 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Hotshot Racing received mixed reviews. 64% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic. Many reviewers praised the game's visual style and its evocation of its 1990s arcade game influences. Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said Hotshot Racing "successfully invokes the spirit of the 90s arcade", but described the tracks and overall game as forgettable due a perceived lack of detail and innovation from its inspirations. Writing for PC Mag, Jeffrey Wilson praised the racing and found the game to capture the "look and feel of classic retro racers", but criticized the track design and the adaptive difficulty of the computer-controlled racers. Keith Stuart of The Guardian described it as…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 224 · most liked firstProton 9.0-4 released. * Now playable: * APB Reloaded * Conqueror's Blade * Cube Hero Odyssey * Disgaea 4 Complete+ * Hard Chip Demo * ScarQuest * Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2 (AMD GPUs only) * Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown * Total War: SHOGUN 2 * Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 (requires disabled Steam Overlay) * Welcome to Dustown * Fixed Hell Let Loose crashing when joining a server after a recent game update. *…
neutral · AI labelView post →A very well designed arcade racer that pays seriously satisfying homage to Virtua Racing and all those Sega arcade racing games of the 90's with it's presentation and gameplay. Unfortunately, the requirement for a consistent internet connection is nearly a complete dealbreaker for this cool game, as it refuses to launch any time you are not connected or if Steam is in offline mode. if anyone at Sumo, Lucky Mountain or Curve sees this, please add an update to make this game playable offline.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Daytona + Virtua Racing + some fireworks = Hotshot Racing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I may have 11 hours in the game, but I cannot recommend it. The rubber banding is so strong that you could get out of your car, walk 99% of the race, and make sure to sprint just before the finish, and you'd still win. That also means there's 0% chance of ever having a lead over the second place, even on normal difficulty it's gonna keep up no matter how fast you drive. I beat all championships on Normal difficulty without even boosting, because the rubber band works pretty aggressively both…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Complete] Small keys giveaway (5 games). Hello :) As the title said, a small Steam keys givaway. The keys are coming from Humble or Fanatical. **One game per person, first one to comment the game title gets it !** ~~Drawful 2 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/442070/Drawful_2/~~ ~~Hotshot Racing - https://store.steampowered.com/app/609920/Hotshot_Racing/~~ ~~Dear Esther: Landmark Edition - https://store.steampowered.com/app/520720/Dear_Esther_Landmark_Edition/~~ Orbital Racer -…
neutral · AI labelView post →Iunno something something Sforza and everyone is posting about their indie/AA game of choice that you should care about instead, and I'm sitting in the corner like "We haven't gotten a real proper arcade racing game on home platforms since Hotshot Racing."
negative · AI labelView post →It *is* good (has lots of what made classics like Ridge Racer/Rage Racer/Daytona USA good), but the rubberbanding AI is insane and really spoils the game - racing well is pointless as they'll magically catch up however fast you're going and rear end you all the time. Earning/using boost is fun, but entirely pointless as they catch up instantly afterwards, even on the easiest difficulty. I get it makes for close races, but it just makes the game unrewarding. It just comes down to save all your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Requires an internet connection to play, always online ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ needs to be banned
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was unfortunately very disappointing. The game looks and feels great to play. There is a nice variety of car handling styles, and unlocking all the colors and customization options gives you reason to experiment with all the vehicles. But the game becomes uninteresting once you realize how “fake” the ai is. To put it simply, this is some of the worst rubber banding I’ve ever seen in a racing game. You will constantly be surrounded by cars no matter how skillfully you seem to escape…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game could've been really fun if it weren't for some really infuriating aspects. First, the hard difficulty is ok, but the expert one is completely broken, it's just stupid. No matter how perfectly you make your way through tracks and use boost, the AI will just fly past you anyway. You're never rewarded for driving nicely with some distance being created between you and the AI. Which connects directly to another flaw: The car stats. Each car has 3 stats, speed, acceleration, and drift.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hotshot Racing Looking for a great arcade racing game at a low price? Grab it now for 85% off (3.09€) on Fanatical (Steam). 🔗 www.fanatical.com/en/game/hots...
neutral · AI labelView post →Honestly not a bad game, chill and pretty easy to get into. But there is not much to it and you get bored pretty fast after a few race. Not to mention the multiplayer is dead. Literally noone to play with. As of writing this review therea re 5 people playing it according to steamdb.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is my first racing game on my account, and after beating every Grand Prix on expert, as well as beating expert with every character at least once I realized that certain cars are definitely better than others. In this review, I will discussing how to get good at the game as well as the best cars on each character if you plan on going for the "Beat Expert with <insert character here>". For reference, I've played on both keyboard and controller, and I personally beat Expert on keyboard with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very interesting arcade racer that is sadly ruined by terrible AI and insane rubberbanding. It's a big shame because the game hits the spot in literally everything else (good selection of cars, vibrant visuals, nice tunes and a good amount of customization and tracks), but the actual racing experience feels miserable due to the rubberbanding and AI behavior. The AI is very aggressive which is expected in a game like this, but it's way overtuned and most of the time they'll go and cut…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hotshot Racing isn’t trying to be the next big racer. Instead, it leans into the past, delivering a low-poly arcade racing experience straight out of the ’90s. It’s bright, fast, and surprisingly fun—as long as you know what you’re signing up for. Gameplay This game is all about speed and drifts. The drifting is smooth, boosting feels great, and there’s a nice flow once you get into the rhythm. It’s the kind of game where your thumbs just take over and you zone into the track, dodging corners…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honest review: Its a fun little racing game. Characters are a little annoying, but I think that's by design. The races on normal are challenging, for this old man. I tried on hard mode after completing the once thru, and found out why its called hard mode. If you haven't guessed it yet, its in the name. I think my kids will enjoy this game too. Cars don't really have upgrades, they just change up the way they look. There are plenty of cars to select from with their own personal stats, making…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Asphalt 8 and Most Wanted veteran here, I would give this game a "Somewhat Recommended" and my feelings are *Mixed* - let me elaborate... If this is gonna be your first racing game ever - don't. It's not a good game to learn the ropes of racing. If you want a "why", read below. Otherwise, in general the game is good and fun and has lots of potential... but the AI. The bots will straight up cheat and go past the soft limits their chosen cars would have if you were playing them. And we're…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Competent, good-looking arcade racer let down by weak PVP community and EXTREMELY strong rubber-banding. VS. AI at any difficulty, nothing matters but the final half of the final lap - and once you notice that the races feel pretty hollow.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good arcade racer but would be better with workshop support
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A colorful, polygon-styled arcade racer that brings back big Virtua Racing and Ridge Racer nostalgia. Drafting behind opponents to build boost while sliding through drift-heavy corners feels great for the first few hours. However, the aggressive rubber-band AI can feel blatantly unfair, and a lack of deep content makes the high-speed thrills fade pretty fast.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't play it offline and the rubber-banding is disgusting. The characters are either boring or ugly. Everything else about the game is charming and enjoyable though which makes the damning mistakes all the greater a shame. Don't pay full price and only get it if you're going to waste an hour or two with friends.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fantastic game ruined by its rubber banding AI.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades Sometimes you play a game and nothing seems wrong with it, except for one specific thing that singlehandedly brings down the quality of the whole experience. So if you are wondering why I have written a review despite my very low playtime in this game, this is why. On the surface, Hotshot Racing looks like a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this looks like the arcade Ridge Racer but (almost) plays like modern Ridge Racer. I think I found my new jam on Switch lmao (the game is Hotshot Racing)
positive · AI labelView post →Oh shit, that game looks sweet. A few years ago a diferent racing game that was trying to be a Virtua Racer era throwback came out, Hotshot Racing. I didn't like it because the gameplay was a bit bland but this looks way more exciting to play. It defenitly goes to on my Steam wishlist.
negative · AI labelView post →4 Big Problems: Problem 1. The obnoxious ridiculous extreme rubber-banding of the opponent cars makes it not even fun to play. Problem 2. The car handling feels slightly broken, like the game deliberately steals control away from you so that you can't accidentally turn (yourself) too much or too little, which is bad game design. (Other racing games have some amount of "filtering" of player input, but they don't hijack your steering, this is the only racing game I've played where it feels…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is nothing fun about this game to be honest, constant rubber banding, cars don't carry any real weight. Drifting has no real inertia , not to mention the crazy amount of micro stuttering . Track design is bland and repetitive , its just void of any real charm or character. It's basically the equivalent of a psp mini game. Vsync enabled locks the game at 60 fps with tons of stuttering. Even with Vsync disabled and 600+fps the frame time is terrible. This is the very definition of meh.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's there, just not "full price" there. Nice, vibrant stages, characters commenting on the stages and their performance. The vehicles all handle differently (some are very fast but are stiff with turning, whereas others handle corners better but are slower). The AI rubberbanding is definitely a thing and even on normal difficulty you are going to be nail-biting each stage since the CPU plays catch up very well, though it's equally generous when you fall behind. I agree with the product…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The rubberbanding is just horrible, and it does not matter hwo well you race. The AI just zooms past you 400mph on the last straight when you are 100 meters ahead in the last turn.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hotshot Racing is the perfect carbon copy of a arcade racer from the 1990s. I think the rubber banding in this game is necessary to build up tension in the game. You need to learn how to drift to obtain speed boosts. Without the speed boosts you will lose every race. You need use your speed boosts strategically so cars won't ram into you and spin out of control which will lead you getting an automatic 7th or 8th position especially in the hardest difficulty. I like the rubber banding,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pretty fun little racing game, cool drifting and all that but god if you play this game on expert, the rubber banding will feel so unfair
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Warning for Steam Deck users: The game does not start without an internet connection. This is listed in the game details, but I sadly missed this before my purchase. Other than that, it runs well on the Deck, and I enjoyed my short time with the singleplayer. If the game is patched to run without requiring an online connection, I would happily repurchase.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's really nothing this games does that Horizon Chase Turbo doesn't do better. There are only 20 tracks here. 4 "types" (coast, desert, etc) with 5 tracks of each type. You can race all of them in a hour or so. The only unlocks are purely cosmetic: all game content, all the drivers, cars, and tracks, are open to you from the get go. There's just not really enough content here, especially when you can just Horizon Chase Turbo. What's here is pretty standard arcade racing. Lots of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not bad for casual play. And has good number of cars based on classics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is very well made. The driving is tight, the drifting feels good and powerful, there's a wide variety of cars and racing styles, and it's fun. Unfortunately, it does not support cloud saves, and as such I do not recommend it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →just a plain fun little racer visuals are really cool and the soundtrack is funky but i wish there was more to the gameplay would totally make for a banger arcade game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well, I bought this game imagining that would be a simple game to play for 1 or 2 hours. But it have a very good mechanic and a lot of hard achievements that prolongs the game play. The Expert level is hard and you will not be boring playing against them. And you will need to adapt your manage style dependent on the car that you choose.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →STOP the false advertising. This does NOT work on Steam Deck (crashes out to desktop on start).
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →rubberbanding in 2020-2024 is CRAZY, i thought we moved passed that as a society. the drift is unbelieveibly finicky too glad i got it on sale for $2...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →crap game because the other cars constantly ram you and you always come off second best. It also suffers from that racer classic problem that the CPU racers catch you no matter how well you drive but are quite easy to catch.... until you do. then its back to being rammed
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A simple but cool indie arcade racing. Played it entirely on Steam Deck. (+) Runs great on SD (+) Simple but engaging controls (although the drift feels very slippery) (+) Graphics remind me of old ps1 racing games but very polished (+) Some interesting modes and achievements (-) Rubber banding AI - not the worst but I don't really enjoy it (-) Can't really pinpoint a specific reason but I got a bit tired of it after the campaign (-) Feels like the only stat that matter is speed (Keiko's f90…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game changed my life!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hotshot Racing nails the spirit of classic arcade racers and feels like a genuine blast from the past. It offers fast action, simple and inviting controls, and an upbeat style that makes it easy for anyone to jump in and enjoy. Most importantly, it is simply a joy to play from start to finish.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This review only applies to the grand prix mode as I haven't tried the multiplayer yet. The game controls great, it's easy to pick up and figure out exactly what to do. It took me a minute to adjust though since I was instinctively trying to snake my drifts for some reason. My biggest praise though is the atmosphere. I haven't played an arcade racer like this in YEARS, but picking up a controller and starting that first race took me back in time. It feels nearly identical to the arcade…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best racing games for me, more maps, more guns and it would be perfect.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →super dead. way too basic for single player. you'd need people to play with for this to be worth installing. $20 a key is too much to buy for a group of people to play online and there's no bundle of multiple keys at a discount.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Weird Physics, Terrible Handling, Low Frame rate, Should have requested a refund while I could.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very addictive game. a pure adrenaline rush in a arcade style with timeless visuals.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What could have been a fun arcade racer is let down by absolutely atrocious AI. The rubberbanding is annoying but what really let's it down is just how aggressive they are, they are constantly and I mean CONSTANTLY ramming into you or giving you bump checks often to the AIs own detriment which makes the driving experience incredibly frustrating. During one race I had two cars ram into me at the same time so hard I flew off the map and clipped through the world, it's crazy. It's a real shame…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →stutter alot during gameplay and requires internet connection
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely worth your time and money! Cars might seem unwieldy at first, but as soon as you realise that to drift you shouldn't let go of the accelerator, you can start having fun :D The AI isn't too egregiously aggressive and the tracks are fun. My only complaint is that Time Trials don't start you at max speed, and this makes you waste a LOT of time when trying for a best. I think it's a huge oversight. Achievements are really fun as well. And even those that aren't all that fun…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This just isn't it. Try New Star GP instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun racing game, with cartoony graphics (not a bad thing) and the cars control very nicely, drifting especially. Online is pretty much dead, sadly since the game is very fun, my main problem would be the "rubber-banding" where if you want to win you kinda have to use boosts at the end of the race, since AI or players will catch-up to you pretty fast since of slipstreaming. 8/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quite a few! Daytona Ridge Racer Need for speed For modern day Hotshot Racing Victory heat rally Parking garage rally circuit Personally I WANT to do full proper reviews of each game but I lack time so I'll be covering my favorites and reaching out to devs as I do for any indie review.
neutral · AI labelView post →My first Steam Gameplay thanks to newly added in-app game recorder. This is Hotshot Racing, a very fun racing gameplay representing a homage to the convincing low poly Sega game Virtua Racing, which led to Virtua Fighter series: youtu.be/IHcVWL87e-A
positive · AI labelView post →Even on the lowest difficulty you're only 'allowed' to be in first place for 1-3 seconds before the NPC's get massive increases their base (non-boost) speed and pass you. In order to finish in first the best strategy seems to be staying in 3th - 5th place while hoarding your boosts for the entire race, then unloading the boosts near the finish line to win. Nice aesthetics, but the excessive rubber banding sucks all the fun out of it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's fun. It's not buggy. It has a good amount of depth without being overwhelming and the handling is surprisingly different between cars. The courses are well thought out and feel just long enough to stay interesting, while not being impossible to learn in an afternoon. I recommend this game to anyone looking for a casual arcade racer that brings you back to those cabinet racing games at your local surf bar.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun retro inspired racing game with good controls, and different modes to play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crazy AI. Even FlatOut and Wreckfest bots are less aggressive. Winning on the highest difficulty is still easy, but getting rammed all the time is annoying. Everything else is fine
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the Jamaican guy...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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