Meticulously detailed virtual toy cars fuel racer Hot Wheels Unleashed

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Digging into more than 50-years worth of die-cast hot rods, muscle cars, ice cream trucks, and much more, developer Milestone is creating a racing game that doesn’t just let you control your favorite Hot Wheels, but also live the fantasy of playing with the toys in a world slightly unhinged from reality.

Hot Wheels Unleashed promises to tap into the 1:64-scale world of both Mattel’s popular line of more than 800 toy cars and those colorful orange tracks, delivering a chance to build endlessly looping, spider-haunted raceways and then race them with friends.

We chatted with Hot Wheels Unleashed executive producer Michele Caletti about how the studio is translating the popular toy into a digital experience, finding the sweet spot between over-the-top toy play and balanced racing, and how Unreal Engine helped the developers breathe life into their concepts.

To read the rest of this interview, which first ran on Sept. 30, 2021, visit UnrealEngine.