Team Sonic Racing key

I run a Saturday night controller-sharing session most weekends, so the first thing I checked was the local multiplayer spec. Good news upfront: four-player split-screen is in, covering Grand Prix, Exhibition, and Team Adventure modes, and up to 12 players can race simultaneously online. That alone puts Team Sonic Racing ahead of a lot of kart racers on PC, where split-screen is often treated as an afterthought. The real hook here is the team mechanic, and it is more interesting in practice than it sounds on paper. Races run as groups of three against other groups of three. You can pass Wisp power-ups to struggling teammates, slingshot off their slipstream for a free speed boost, and fill a shared Team Ultimate meter that - when all three members trigger it together - grants a burst of speed and temporary invulnerability. When two or three human players share a team locally or online, the whole thing clicks into something genuinely collaborative rather than just competitive. It rewards players who communicate, which makes it one of the better options for a mixed-skill group where one person is clearly faster than the rest. The weaker players still contribute by feeding items and drafting. There are 15 playable characters split across three types - Speed, Technique, and Power - and each type handles differently on track, nudging you toward some light roster strategy when you are assembling a team. Vehicle customization lets you tweak performance stats and aesthetics, with zone-themed paint jobs to unlock over time. The soundtrack is, as expected from a Sonic title, loud and full of energy. The controls themselves are tight once you find your rhythm: drift to build boost, hold longer for a stronger charge, straightforward enough for a newcomer but with enough depth to reward cleaner lines. The problems are real though. The solo experience is genuinely frustrating because AI teammates are inconsistent - they will blow the Team Ultimate at the worst possible moment rather than coordinating with you - and the track pool of 21 courses (plus mirrored versions) runs dry faster than you would like. The story in Team Adventure mode is thin and mostly forgettable, and the online player count has thinned out considerably since 2019, which means finding a full public lobby can try your patience. Fans of the older Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed will also notice that the broader SEGA roster got cut entirely in favour of Sonic-universe characters only, which is a polarising call. If you are buying this for a group of friends who will actually fill three of those four split-screen slots, the team mechanic earns its place and the game delivers a genuinely fun, accessible session. If you are mostly a solo player expecting a meaty single-player kart campaign, the AI dependency and shallow story will wear thin. Hardware note for PC players: a gamepad is the right call here, this is not a wheel-and-pedal game by any stretch.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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