Following its first announcement trailer just a few months ago, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds managed to top the excitement by showcasing an ever-growing roster of fan-favorite characters to race with. It's little surprise that racing games have been a massive part of the Sonic franchise for decades, given the hedgehog's need for speed, with CrossWorlds taking the concept to even greater heights. Racing with iconic characters from the series across land, air, sea, space, and even time, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has plenty of unique mechanics to set it apart from previous entries in the franchise.

During the recent Summer Game Fest 2025 showcase, we got an even better look at all the content coming to CrossWorlds​​​​, expanding its roster while offering even more glimpses at iconic locations turned into tracks. With the Sonic racing cast not being limited by any kind of terrain, CrossWorlds' advanced tracks have even more potential for adding creative new obstacles to race through. Even if Mario Kart World is taking up the spotlight following its debut as a Switch 2 release title, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has just as much potential to become the best racing game of 2025.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Release Date & Platforms

The Wait Is Nearly Over For CrossWorld's Release

It's hard not to be excited about the CrossWorlds after its latest trailer, but thankfully, there isn't much time left to wait, as Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds releases in just a few months on September 25, 2025. Although CrossWorlds will have some racing competition with the release of Garfield Kart 2 just a few weeks prior, it has plenty of room to breathe after a stacked month of summer releases. Unfortunately, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds comes at a similarly steep price point to its recent competitors, retailing for $70 USD at launch and $90 for CrossWorlds' digital deluxe edition.

CrossWorlds has been officially confirmed to include cross-play compatibility.

There's no shortage of system options for the racing game either, as Sonic: Racing CrossWorlds will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Switch, Switch 2, and PC when it releases this September. Making the surprising variety of system options even better is the fact that CrossWorlds has been officially confirmed to include cross-platform compatibility. Unlike the Switch 2 exclusive Mario Kart World, there are very few limitations when it comes to playing with other racers across the world in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds​​​​, regardless of their preferred system.

All Confirmed Sonic Racing CrossWorlds Characters

An Expansive Roster With More Than A Few Surprising Guests

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has all the iconic characters you'd expect from the series alongside a few surprising SEGA icons also making their debut, as Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds lives up to its name in more ways than one. On top of the dimension-hopping gameplay of CrossWorlds, the latest trailer confirmed that Hatsune Miku, Like a Dragon's Ichiban Kasuga, Persona 5's Joker, and several Minecraft characters will be appearing. From familiar faces to unexpected inclusions, CrossWorld seems to have the biggest roster to date outside the mobile entries, with the following 32 racers already officially confirmed or spotted across various announcement trailers.

• Sonic
• Knuckles
• Tails
• Amy
• Shadow
• Eggman
• Metal Sonic
• Sage
• Zazz
• Zavok
• Egg Pawn
• Omega
• Big the Cat
• Cream
• Silver
• Blaze
• Espio
• Vector
• Charmy Jet
• Wave
• Storm
• Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid)
• Joker (Persona)
• Steve (Minecraft)
• Alex (Minecraft)
• Creeper (Minecraft)
• Ichiban Kasuga (Like a Dragon)
• Sonic the Werehog
• Tails Nine
• Rusty Rose
• Knuckles the Dread

Each playable character in CrossWorlds has their own customized kart to match their style, which transforms into several different variations to match the terrain of each track. Despite the massive roster, Rouge the Bat has been surprisingly absent from all the official CrossWorlds footage so far, except for appearing on background screens during certain tracks. Thankfully, there are still plenty of exciting roster announcements to look forward to in the coming months, with the seemingly last remaining slot for the primary racers being more than likely to include the fan-favorite spy.

Several of the crossover characters, like Hatsune Miku, Joker, and Ichiban Kasuga, will be included as part of several free updates after release, alongside 10 more mystery racers to look forward to. Not every one of CrossWorlds' character updates will be free, however, as Steve, Alex, and Creeper are locked behind the season for CrossWorlds, which includes an additional 12 racers added over time. Lastly, you can unlock Sonic the Werehog as a limited-time pre-order bonus, or the trio of Tails Nine, Rusty Rose, and Knuckles the Dread from Sonic Prime as a bonus for Digital Deluxe edition owners.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Digital Deluxe Edition provides 3-day early access, the Sonic Prime character pack, and six DLC packs with guest characters, vehicles, tracks, emotes, and more.

In total, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will include a staggering 55 characters to play after its sequential updates have been released​​​, although there doesn't seem to be information about when every character will eventually make their way to the game. Thankfully, there's no shortage of Sonic characters that deserve their own character inclusion, not to mention the massive roster of free SEGA characters that would be even more thrilling to see in CrossWorlds' collaborative races.

Sonic Racing CrossWorlds Gameplay Details

Exciting New Gimmicks To Mix Up The Racing Formula

A mind-bending roster wouldn't be nearly as impactful without innovative gameplay to back it up, which Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds thankfully seems to offer in spades, thanks to its dynamic track design and interactive environments. The primary mechanic on display in CrossWorlds is the appearance of dimension-hopping tracks during a race, transporting you to various locations across space, time, and even franchises. This dimension-jumping mechanic will take place during the second lap of each race, allowing you to select from a pre-determined track or a mystery one, each filled with plenty of deadly obstacles and environmental hazards to navigate through.

CrossWorlds offers plenty of options to customize each vehicle with parts, colors, decals, textures, special effects, and a horn for a fully personalized ride

The tracks aren't the only aspect getting overhauled in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds either, as each of your racers has five vehicle types to choose from: Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Power, and Boost. Additional cart presets with unique stats can also be unlocked alongside DLC characters, with the current inclusions being the Minecraft Minecart, Miku's Diva Macchina, Ichiban's Dragon Brave kart, and Joker's Arsene Wing, respectively. On top of these preset carts, CrossWorlds offers plenty of options to customize each vehicle with parts, colors, decals, textures, special effects, and a horn for a fully personalized ride.

Each of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' vehicles has six slots for you to fill up with any of the 70 gadgets included in the game, letting you mix and match builds to find the perfect race-winning combo for each track. These gadgets can range from increasing the items you can pick up during a race, charging your abilities quicker, or special attacks to knock out nearby opponents, to name just a few, although some stronger upgrades can take up several slots at once.

CrossWorlds also includes a rival system for Grand Prix, allowing you to choose between characters of varying skill to face off against as a significant threat to your placement, alongside lines of dialogue and other unique interactions based on your selection.

For game modes, CrossWorlds has standard races that include a global matchmaking feature and even a competitive mode, rising in the online ranks to earn additional gadgets as you progress. There's plenty of fun to be had in offline play as well, with CrossWorlds offering a Grand Prix game mode featuring seven advancing racing competitions to test your skills against AI opponents of varying skill levels. Hopefully, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds can improve on its predecessor's shortcomings, but if the current gameplay details are anything to go by, it looks like Sonic's latest racing adventure already has a significant head start.

Sources: SEGA, PlayStation Blog