Star Wars: Galactic Racer unlocks on Tuesday, October 6 at 09:00 UTC: 2am Pacific, 4am Central, 5am Eastern, 10am in the UK. It is one worldwide unlock on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and no edition gets early access. Our launch countdown shows the time for your city.

The reviews have been out since Friday, and they held up over the weekend. As of Sunday afternoon OpenCritic has it at 87 with 97% of critics recommending it, and Metacritic reads 88 on PS5, 86 on Xbox and 84 on PC. Our reviews roundup has what the critics praised and what they did not.

Preload, platform by platform

  • PS5: a preload starting today was reported by the PlayStation Game Size account and picked up by SWTOR Strategies. We could not confirm it first-hand: the PlayStation Store page, read this afternoon without signing in, still shows a Pre-Order button and the 09:00 UTC release time, with no pre-download wording. If you preordered, check your PS5's download queue tonight. The same account puts the install at about 36GB; that figure is not from Sony or the publisher.
  • Steam: no preload notice on the store page. It reads "unlock in approximately 1 day and 12 hours," which lands on 09:00 UTC Tuesday.
  • Xbox: no pre-install wording on the Xbox Store page.

Fuse Games and Secret Mode have said nothing about preloading. Their last announcement was the September 29 "Under the Hood" episode on podracers, and no launch trailer or day-one patch notes have appeared.

PC players: what has not changed

  • Steam Deck: still unrated. Valve's compatibility report for the game is empty and the badge reads "Unknown." Fuse has not said anything about the Deck.
  • Specs: the Steam page still lists a minimum only: Windows 10, Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600, 12GB of RAM, RTX 2060, RX 5600 XT or Arc A580, and 50GB on an SSD. Two days out, there is still no recommended spec.
  • DRM: the Steam page lists Denuvo Anti-Tamper with a five-machine activation limit. That has been on the page for months, so it is not a late change, but it matters if you switch PCs often.
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Tuesday is busy

  • Galaxy of Heroes: The Ronin's marquee packs are set for Tuesday at 1pm Central through October 20, according to the game's own store data. Capital Games posted "now available" art in its September 30 update but has not given a date itself.
  • The Old Republic: the Feast of Prosperity event starts Tuesday at 7am Central, and the Pirate Incursion ends at the same moment.
  • PS Plus: October's monthly games (F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896 and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2) go live Tuesday. None of them is a Star Wars game.
  • Game Pass: Gears of War: E-Day launches day one on Game Pass on Tuesday, so expect Xbox servers and download queues to be busy.

What to do tonight

If you preordered on PS5, check your downloads before bed; if the preload is there, you can play at 4am Central, and if it is not, a 36GB download on Tuesday morning is the worst case. On PC and Xbox, clear about 50GB of SSD space now so the download can start the moment it unlocks.

Steam Deck owners should wait for Valve's rating or for players to post how it runs. Steam refunds games played under two hours, but a few hours of reports costs you nothing.

If you have not bought it yet, the reviews make the case better than any preorder bonus. The preorder guide covers the editions; Standard at $59.99 is the one we would buy. Our own impressions follow after launch, and the full pre-launch file is current as of today.