Name: HotLap Racing Review (Nintendo Switch)
Item: Hot Lap Racing
Rating: 7
Author: Lukillo

HotLap Racing is an Indie sim/cade racing game developed by French game studio "Zero Games Studios" and is a great addition to the Switch library, as Grid Autosport was the only true Motorsport game aside from specific disciplined games like WRC and Moto GP up until HotLap's release. The game boasts a car list of 52 vehicles, which doesn't sound like much to the average GT enjoyer, but car enthusiasts will be delighted to find a very unique selection of DTM, WEC, BTCC, F4/3, F1 from the 60's, 80's, and 90's, among various other niche disciplines. Alongside the car list, there are a total of 17 tracks on release, that contain a total layout of 70+ variations. Whilst the majority of the tracks are French (7/17), the game includes notable tracks from other countries such as Zolder, Navarra, Salzburgring, and others. The game contains a very solid career mode and acts as a breath of fresh air akin to the more bare-bones career modes racing game enthusiasts are used to seeing. There is an implementation of a Driver Safety Rating, that directly influences the progression of your career by giving a letter grade from E to S. The higher the rating, the more reputation you earn, leading to special events that unlock new vehicles as you level up. As you go through the career mode, you unlock parts for the final racing discipline, Formula X-treme. Alongside the career mode, the HotLap mode gives you free range to choose a car and a track, and simply throw down the fastest times you can that will be displayed on a global leaderboard. There are two other modes, "Quick race" and "Championship mode" that are pretty self explanatory. The inclusion of references such as the Daytona USA livery on the Stock Cars as well as an achievement titled "Samir you're breaking the car" give clear insight to how passionate the devs for this game are. Of course the game is not without it's faults, which include the performance on Switch being sub-par, often dipping below 30Fps on certain tracks whilst running beautifully on others. The AI seem to take a chapter out of Forza Motorsport Online, leaving no remorse by ramming you into a wall or pit-manuevering you out of the race. The dynamic difficulty of the career mode will also see the AI in the lower classes being lapped within 4 laps, and then randomly being extremely competitive as if it was the 2021 Yas-Marina F1 Championship. There is also a lack of user options, with no choice of Imperial units, no steering sensitivity options, and 3 presets for controller bindings as opposed to fully customizable ones. Despite this, HotLap Racing is a solid entry into the Switch racing game genre, and will definitely give enthusiasts a scratch to that itch for a new Motorsport game aside from Grid: Autosport. Having laid a solid groundwork, patches and content updates in the future will ensure this game becoming the premier racing sim/cade for the Nintendo Switch.

Hot Lap Racing

HotLap Racing Review (Nintendo Switch)

Player Score

Lukillo