Developers behind the popular augmented reality game Mario Kart: Home Circuit are working to create a similar experience called Hot Wheels: Rift Rally for fans to celebrate their favorite toys with. The Hot Wheels brand has been going strong since 1968 which has created multiple generations of fans of the unique car toy brand, and it may benefit from the Mario Kart: Home Circuit tech in Hot Wheels: Rift Rally.
Although it hasn't seen the same popularity as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart: Home Circuit has garnered an impressive fan base of people racing their karts around their houses, which is an idea that Hot Wheels is apparently looking to replicate. It didn't take long after the founding of Hot Wheels for the company to create ramps and loops for fans to snap together to create their own racecourses for the small metallic objects to race across in their living rooms, and it seems to be a concept that the company continues to expand upon. With the help of AR technology, Hot Wheels enthusiasts will soon be racing their cars across the home with even fewer limitations than before.
Hot Wheels has confirmed that the AR technology being worked on by former Mario Kart: Home Circuit developers uses similar gateways to the former so that a player's actions are effectively tracked. Hot Wheels: Rift Rally comes with a Hot Wheels Chameleon RC car that players can customize to resemble one of over 140 potential vehicle options through the app which they use to control the toy. When it releases, there will be two versions of Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, the standard edition will cost $129.99 and comes with the basic Chameleon bundle, while the collector's edition is $149.99, and comes with a different RC car and a limited-edition Hot Wheels car in a display case.
There are two Hot Wheels: Rift Rally game modes called campaign and stunt which effectively compare to the Grand Prix and custom modes of Mario Kart: Home Circuit. The campaign will provide unique maps for players to explore using the included Rift gates, while stunt mode fittingly ditches the gate technology to encourage players to act out various vehicular maneuvers like burnouts, drifts, and even wheelies in order to attain high scores. Because of the car options available in Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, Hot Wheels fans will likely be able to do all of this while resembling their favorite toy cars rather than the Chameleon RC car.
Like how the advent of toys-to-life technology with Skylanders inspired other companies to follow suit, Hot Wheels is seemingly looking to mimic the standard set by Mario Kart: Home Circuit when it was released in 2020. The stunt game mode may provide Hot Wheels: Rift Rally fans even more replayability options than Mario Kart: Home Circuit did as the latter only had different forms of racing to choose between.
Hot Wheels: Rift Rally releases for iOS, PS4, and PS5 on March 14.
Source: IGN
