Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Acknowledges Closed Network Test Player Feedback

OBT on all platforms next? or at least PC?

Whilst it’s gunna be tricky for them to address all the main issues from the Beta (which are likely hard baked into the gameplay experience) - it’s good to know they hear the audience enough to hopefully be able to adjust a few things.

TBH though, I think the main point of the Beta was for SEGA to stress test how well their servers coped during online races and matchmaking with this title, so I’m not expecting much outside of item rebalancing.

community item rebalancing is usually skewed to some bias way of playing. Sometimes just let the Devs vision stick so the character of the game can shine

if it was up to the community, the blue shell in Mario kart would of been nerfed

Does anyone know if there’s a robust single player career mode in this?

I know it’s almost heresy - but even though Mario Kart is my favourite racing series (just ahead of Forza Horizon) Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing Transformed is probably my all time favourite single racing game. The balance, the mechanics, the tracks. That game is perfection.

There were criticisms I agreed with. Sega will want to get the game out the door on their timeline. I’ve often felt their problem is not leaving enough on the cutting room floor, leaving in too many standbys and underdeveloped mechanics because they know they can rely on the brand to carry sales.

As for the Switch version, I think we all know that performance problems are part and parcel with releases from both Nintendo and third parties. Anything that isn’t a story driven genre is going to generate the typical complaints, for sure

@NinChocolate Ironically when Team Sonic Racing came out, Switch was considered the second best option since it ran at 900p (same as Xbox One) but was locked to 30fps and stayed there, whereas PS4 was 1080p and couldn't hit 60fps, Xbox One was 900p and couldn't hit 60fps with a similar feature set to Switch, and Xbox One X was the exact same as Xbox One just at a higher resolution with the same performance and visuals.

Only PS4 Pro managed to get close to 60fps.

So there's some irony for you.

Granted this new title is running on Unreal Engine 5 and er...that doesn't run well on ANY hardware

@ChakraStomps
Did you play the beta because it’s obvious what the problems are. This being made by a arcade racing dev shows unfortunately, one would originally get hyped over this considering the history of Sega’s arcade racing games but this isn’t a arcade racer this is a arcade kart racer so it’s designed to be chaotic and claustrophobic in terms of track design and how you can never put much distance between yourself and the rest of the pack, If the final game is unchanged people will get bored with it quickly because of this compared to Mario Kart 8 where its finer balance has likely played a significant role in its evergreen status.

@SalvorHardin well you kinda prove my point though... nothing else can exist except Mario Kart. Say someone wants to take a break from Mario Kart and play something else, but then this the same?

I loved the constant use of items. I want randomness in the games.

Wasn't part of the playtest but recall reading more bad than hood about it. I've recently burned out playing Disney Speedstorm, they went all in on free to start,it's basically a demo now, and a new Mario Kart surely has to be coming, it's 5 years behind schedule, so don't really have any need for this.m

But for people who won't get a Switch 2, I'm assuming MK is next gen only, and since most people probably aren't playing DS, I think this can still do well.

The Internet Stress Test didn't have too many server failures in my time playing the game.
I liked how chaotic the items were but it's was nuts because of how close the racers were with other players. And that some items that deal damage would also delete items from yout inventory. But I really liked my time in the demo. Very interested in the final product.

@norwichred Nice to see another SAASRT fan. I used to play the game quite a lot when I was younger, and found it was just as fun as Mario Kart 8. I thought it was a travesty when SEGA ditched the transforming mechanic and went in a more generic direction with Sonic Team Racing. I'm SO glad that they brought it back and am so excited to be able to play it when it becomes available for Switch/Switch 2. I really hope we get a story mode, perhaps similar to the Sonic Riders games.

Really hoping they dial back the chaos while retaining the core features and charm of the gameplay loop.

This feels way more like an arcade cabinet racing game than a typical kart racer and I'm not sure that's a good thing. People joke about getting "Mario Karted" but seriously, going from 1st to last repeatedly over the course of an entire race is just exhausting. A healthier mix of tight, skill based driving, with items thrown in to cause wrinkles in a race like Mario Kart or even Team Sonic Racing would be much better.