Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a welcome change of pace to a franchise whose choice of video game adaptations often wanted enemies on the business end of a lightsaber or a blaster, since this time we just leave our opponents in the dust as we zoom into the finish line. Set in the Outer Rim just after the fall of the Empire, Galactic Racer puts players in the cockpit as the mysterious Shade, a rookie racer who wants to enter the high-stakes (and incredibly dangerous) Galactic League. And in the grander scheme of things, Galactic Racer finally gave fans the next-gen racing game they’ve been hoping for since 2002’s Star Wars Racer Revenge.
Of course, despite taking place in sprawling environments, Galactic Racer can still feel like a traditional racing game with Star Wars dressing. And with its roguelike elements making each loss transform into a full-blown restart, that racing familiarity can definitely serve a purpose. If you’re having a hard time winning in Galactic Racer, tips from racing games might finally help turn the tide.
Get that Jumpstart just right
Point the rev needle on the middle bar to get a burst of speed at the start of the race
There’s just something exhilarating about the way Galactic Racers starts a match. You actually see the engines roar in pretty much the same way as most other Star Wars ships, so you know just what kind of firepower you’re dealing with. Then you get Pre-Race Checks to fully settle in, à la the button clickity-clacking that Han and Chewie do before launching the Millennium Falcon into deep space. Doing this right starts the race with a full Afterburner on top of buffs to your active skills.
But perhaps the most important of all is the Jumpstart, essentially having you feather the accelerator during the final countdown to the race. Getting that Jumpstart “just right” lets you launch off the starting line with a speed boost. How short or long the second bar is can depend on a variety of factors, but the timing here is crucial. What’s interesting is that it’s much harder to thread the needle on empty, as it’s sensitive to the press. A trick I’ve found that works is to keep the thread on max until just around the final second of the countdown before letting go. If you time this right, the needle should hit just close to the end of the sweet spot by the time the race starts.
Where there’s light, there’s a turn
Prepare to turn whenever you see the blinking direction lights
Tracks in Galactic Racers are usually very massive, with only the environment providing sparse guidance as to where to go and hopefully turn fast enough not to crash. The game does try to rectify this by introducing a cascading line of lights on walls, and like racing games, they do point to which direction racers should turn. Except when you think you’re supposed to turn, you’ve already planted yourself face first onto the wall.
See, what you should remember is that tracks in Galactic Racers are built with space and collisions in mind, which means tracks and – especially turns – are built to accommodate overtaking and aggressive racing. If you try to turn just by the edge of those guide lights, there’s no room for the vehicle to absorb the impact (unless you’re that good of a drifter or know your way with your Skim Speeder’s Knife Edge). So the trick here is to prepare for a turn as soon as you see any row of lights. By the time they’re visible, you should make that turn as soon as possible.
The Afterburner is the nitro, not the Ramjet
The Ramjet is the speed boost for when you clutch; the Afterburner ensures you get momentum
When you get into Galactic Racer, it’s easy to forget that these Star Wars vehicles are powered like miniature starships. That is, until you get to the part where you’re told there are three ways to “get fast.” But why? For a quick rundown, there are:
- A traditional accelerator you don’t let go to keep moving
- An Afterburner that keeps you moving faster as long as it lasts (then it needs a recharge)
- The Ramjet that gets you really really fast when it’s ready (but don’t overheat it because it can cause a crash)
Most people would tell you that the Ramjet is somewhat like the nitrous. It’s very volatile; it can get you that insane speed boost, and you can’t use too much of it at any given time. But that’s the wrong approach, because if Ramjet is the nitro, why bother with the Afterburner? Might as well press both the accelerator and the Afterburner regardless, right?
A better mindset is to treat the Afterburner as the nitrous. It recharges quickly, and it gives you that boost when you need it. Navigate the track well enough, and the Afterburner should be enough to get you ahead, and it’s much easier to feather the brake with it if you need to make tight turns.
Then, treat the Ramjet as a clutch. There’s always room to use the Ramjet to secure that difference in space, but that instills a reckless philosophy. All wide roads are perfect for that Ramjet boost, as long as you know when to stop – and it’s okay to stop prematurely. A lot of crashes are usually because players overextend the Ramjet.
The brake and the Drift are separate for a reason
Drift to ease into a corner, brake during emergencies
You will spend a large portion of your first Galactic Racer runs with the Landspeeder, which means you’re going to be very intimately familiar with its Drift mechanic. Similar to usual racing games, you use the Drift to forcibly have the Landspeeder glide across a tricky corner – especially when turning without assistance can risk planting you face-first onto a mountain wall. And while Galactic Racer does inspire a need for speed, you can’t brute force your way across any track with just acceleration alone. You’ve got to use the brake.
At first glance, it seems unintuitive since slowing down even for a little bit can put players severely behind, but that’s the blessing in disguise. Like the accelerator, the brake can be feathered – which means you can stop in increments. It doesn’t have the same precision as the Drift, but it can help you in a pinch if you want to force yourself to a stop just before you hit something or if you don’t think a Drift could make a corner.
The same philosophy applies to the other two vehicle classes, especially when you realize you haven’t timed the approach to a corner properly (for the Kinetic Burst/Speeder Bike) or if you’re not confident a sideways bank can clutch that turn (for the Knife Edge/Skim Speeder).
Stay behind to get the lay of the land
Check where your enemies are traveling and copy that route
There’s no shame in getting a few Wrecked’s during your first few races, especially when you don’t know there’s a specific turn here or a dead end there. This makes going to new planets rather nerve-wracking as well, since there’s no way to tell at the onset what sorts of tracks are there. And while it’s just infuriating hearing some of your rivals trash-talk you whenever the game blares the crash cam on your recent fumble (seems par for the course in high-stakes matches), the best mental response here is, “Well, let’s see how you do it!”
This strategy worked in my favor every so often, especially if you keep in mind that most traditional races in Galactic Racer are lap-based. Anything with three or so laps in completely new territory could be divided into two stages. First, spend a lap or two learning which corners your fellow racers take, which ones cause crashes, and which hazards are in store for you. Then by the second or third lap, that’s when you plan the overtake.
Just a touch is usually enough for a crash
Brush past enemies to disorient their vehicle direction
If Racer Styles are any indication, getting extra aggressive is a viable strategy in winning Galactic Racer matches. Especially when crashing into large structures is a surefire way to lose that League Entry Token and reset you at the very start of the Tour. And interestingly enough, there’s really no need for you to get extra aggressive just to get your opponents out of the running.
Oftentimes it’s aiming too hard to ram into opponents that can get you in trouble. Instead, just try lightly brushing past them. With the way the game’s maps work, chances are these “convergence points” where vehicles often meet are close enough to tight turns or obstacles, and disorienting an opponent’s vehicle just a bit may be enough to send them crashing. This is oftentimes why you’d be surprised an opponent suddenly crashed behind you when you didn’t do anything – chances are you did; you’re just not too aggressive to notice.
Better to get scratches than a full-blown crash
Hug the wall to get out of crashes from sudden corners
When we crash our vehicles in Galactic Racer, it’s not like we intentionally want to hit a wall. It’s just that Galactic Racer vehicles give the impression that they’re so fragile that just a minor graze would cause a crash. But this isn’t really the case. Sometimes you’d notice all vehicles have some form of tolerance for hitting walls or grazing the side of obstacles (where the Resilience stat comes in).
Granted, they damage your systems and occasionally damage a component here and there (and a pain in the wallet to repair), but this tidbit is especially helpful if you find turns rather hard to deal with. If there’s a turn you don’t think you can pull off unscathed, you can pull the brakes and drift just until the side of your vehicle grazes the wall. It makes things exceptionally slow and leaves you to a lot of overtaking, but a better finish at a later placement instead of crashing and getting wrecked entirely.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer launched on October 6, 2026 on the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S
Star Wars: Galactic Racer Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get more Credits in my Star Wars: Galactic Racer run?
The best way to score more Credits is to finish Races with higher placements. Finishing with a lower rank usually nets around 400-500 Credits, while finishing much higher can immediately get you upwards of 1,000+ Credits in one go.
What kind of upgrade should I get first in Star Wars: Galactic Racer?
The first kind of upgrade you should get for your Galactic Racer runs would really depend on what you see as a higher priority. If you’re having trouble with turns, get more Cornering. If you’re looking for more speed, get more Afterburner.
How do I improve my turns in Star Wars: Galactic Racer?
When you see what might be a wall at a distance in any Galaxy Racer map, chances are it’s a corner in disguise. Feather the brake; the vehicle can get a full stop early on and make a safe turn.
Published: Oct 10, 2026 01:20 pm