Team Sonic Racing

What it is

Team Sonic Racing builds its kart-racing formula around genuine team cooperation, organizing races into teams of three where players share collected items, slingshot forward behind a teammate's boost trail, and build shared team ultimate abilities together rather than racing purely as individuals. Developed by Sumo Digital and published by SEGA, it's the direct follow-up to the acclaimed Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, released on 21 May 2019 at NZD 79.95.

Its review corpus, 1,536 in English, sits at a genuine Mostly Positive 70.1% (1,077 to 459), and reading through it in depth reveals a corpus almost unanimous on one specific point of comparison — whatever else divides these reviewers, nearly all of them measure this game directly against its own predecessor and land on the same conclusion.

A genuinely inventive team mechanic that earns real, specific praise

Reviewers consistently credit the core team-cooperation system as a real innovation within the kart- racing genre. "Wasn't sure what to think of the team mechanics at first but I must say... it's damn good. What an innovative addition to the kart racing formula. Team work and item sharing with the ability to help recover team mates who are attacked and slingshot boosts those who fall behind makes for a much more engaging experience than regular racing," writes one detailed reviewer. Another, delivering an overall mixed verdict, still credits the same system specifically: "the team gimmick is genuinely fun to play with and learn, the different kart types are an interesting mechanic, and the tracks are all well designed."

A dominant, nearly universal comparison to its predecessor

The single most consistent pattern in this entire corpus is measuring Team Sonic Racing against Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and finding it wanting. "Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed is one of my favourite racing games ever. Team Sonic Racing is a clear downgrade from the previous installment in the series," writes one of the most-upvoted reviews in the corpus, citing "one kind of vehicle. No plane or boat to make the racing feel more dynamic, just basic kart," and static tracks that "don't change like they did in transformed." A separate reviewer states the same comparison even more directly: "it's hard to believe these are the same people who made Allstar Transformed," listing "awful rubber band AI," a "small and limited roster," and unbalanced character classes as specific, concrete regressions. A third reviewer, delivering an overall positive verdict, still concedes the same point: "it's still the second best kart racer on steam" — a backhanded compliment that captures how consistently this corpus ranks the two games relative to each other rather than judging this one purely on its own terms. A fourth reviewer frames the disappointment through the lens of the developer's own subsequent work: "it's hard to believe these are the same people who made Allstar Transformed... fortunately, it appears the devs agree, as the latest, CrossWorlds, appears to be heavily inspired by Transformed," suggesting even the developer's later output implicitly concedes this entry's specific shortcomings relative to the earlier game.

A specific PC bug that undermines the entire team concept

Beyond the predecessor comparison, this corpus documents a serious, specific technical failure unique to the online experience. "You literally cannot party up to race with friends against other online people. You can create a private lobby and invite friends into it to race against the AI. That's it... It's TEAM Sonic Racing, and in the PC version you can't TEAM up, so definitely a rip off," writes one detailed, highly-upvoted reviewer. That's an unusually pointed, specific complaint — a bug that doesn't just limit online functionality generally but directly contradicts the game's own name and central selling point, and it's stated plainly enough, with enough independent corroboration in the wider corpus about connection issues, to treat as a real, checkable technical failure rather than an isolated account.

A declining online population and weak solo AI teammates

Separately, several reviewers report the multiplayer population declined quickly after launch. "Online died quickly," writes one reviewer, while another notes "there's connection issues up the wazoo so you can't even play with your friends" even outside the specific party-up bug. A separate, more measured reviewer raises a related complaint affecting solo play specifically: "when you play solo your teammates borderline Useless," undermining the core team mechanic in exactly the mode most players are likely to spend the majority of their time in, given the documented online population and party-up problems.

What the achievement data confirms

Team Sonic Racing's achievement curve shows a healthy start — 81.5% for the first achievement — before declining steadily through story-chapter completions, and falling to under 5% for full-completion-tier achievements. Notably, online-specific achievements sit especially low: "Finish Online Race" sits at just 24%, corroborating the corpus's repeated complaints about a declining, hard-to-access online population and the specific party-up bug documented above.

Verdict

Team Sonic Racing's team-cooperation mechanics are a genuine, inventive contribution to the kart- racing genre, and reviewers consistently credit them as fun even when critical of everything else. But this corpus is remarkably unanimous that the game represents a real step down from its own acclaimed predecessor, and a specific, well-documented PC bug preventing players from teaming up with friends online undermines the very concept the game is built and named around. Play Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed first if you haven't, and approach this one at a discount with modest expectations for its online team experience specifically.