HotWheels.Com Turbo Driver Controller

I wanted to write a thorough review of this product as it’s being touted one of the hot toys for this Christmas and I see some sellers are already tripling the price. The game is clearly over-hyped, though it’s not terrible. My initial impressions of the game were pretty good. For the retail price, I think this is a great little racer for those who don’t have a gaming console. It also has advantages over other PC racing games in that it comes with it’s own controller, which could easily cost you an extra $10 or more on top of the cost of the game.

I wanted to point out right away that multiple children cannot have their own profiles in this game. The first child is asked to enter their name and design their license plate (which you don’t actually see on the car, shame) and from there on out, it’s their game. You can’t enter other names and children can’t have their own progress. This would have been simple for Hot Wheels to implement and I was really disappointed that they didn’t.

Also, I was seriously irked that the instructions and notes to parents constantly referred to my “son”. What if my daughter likes racing games?! I know, minor gripe, but come on! This is 2008! Girls like cars, too!

Now onto the “real” review!

Installation was quick and simple. Took less than 5 minutes and encountered no problems.

The controller itself was comfortable to hold for extended periods of time, though it’s shape is a little odd and could have been smaller to accommodate little hands. Other than that, the controls are very tight and responsive. There are only two buttons, gas and break, and the joystick. So it’s very easy for anyone to pick up and play right out of the box.

Graphics are pretty good for what you’re paying for this game. It’s not Wii or PS3 graphics, to be sure, but you get what you pay for. There are clean and nice to look at and each track is very varied and designed well for the setting they are in. The physics of the actual cars are pretty impressive for a kids game as well. Events such as running into other cars or going over ramps cause the car to react very realistically, flipping onto the side, teetering in the air, etc. Again, more than I expected from this kids toy.

Sound isn’t horrible, but it’s not amazing either. The cars don’t sound very realistic, but it’s not so off that you’ll be bothered much by it. Your child may not even notice. The music is pleasant but not memorable in any way, but it’s a racing game. Who cares!

Now to the actual gameplay. It’s a suitable title for kids as there is nothing inappropriate or violent to be seen here. No vehicles blowing up, flying off cliffs to certain doom, running over people, etc. There are 9 tracks, all taking place in different settings around the world, from jungles to snow scenes to the traditional racetrack. They are very no nonsense. Very little frill or fluff here. You stick to the main path and you can’t fall off or do anything other than.. well, race. The tracks sometimes seem very narrow and it does feel a little too guided at times, but I’m sure the aim was to make this easy for young kids to play, not to impress their parents.

One very important note is that your child can’t win all the races unless they have all the cars. I like to think I’m pretty good at these types of games, and I could steadily pull second in all races, but it is literally impossible to get first place if you do not own the appropriate cars. This is where the $20 game (which is a good value) quickly turns into a $60 game. Each car has it’s own special ability that allows it to take special shortcuts that no other car can take.

Now, I take this with a grain of salt. My son LOVES cars. You are probably going to pay at least $2 each when buying regular cars, unless you buy them in a value pack. The Turbo Driver cars are pretty much regular cars except that they have a little indent in the bottom which allows it to fit onto the controller. Other than that, these are regular Hot Wheels cars that can be played with just like any other. The way it’s designed, you don’t have to worry about the special parts breaking that would make it unplayable with the game, but it probably shouldn’t be taken in the sandbox or bathtub.

One obvious downside to this is that they can, and likely will, get lost. It seems Hot Wheels thought of this ahead of time, because once you win a specific race with it’s special car, you unlock a permanent ability which can be equipped to ANY car. These abilities seem to be the same as the special car’s innate ability, so in theory it would allow any car to win any race if they have the right ability equipped.

Being that there are only 9 tracks, your child may get bored quickly, but there are plenty of bonuses that can be earned through regular play. There are several different horn sounds, special effects and even tricks you can perform, all of which are purchased with points you get for winning a race. You win more points the higher your finishing rank is. These are purely eye candy and serve no functional purpose when racing, but for the child that likes to unlock the full potential of his games, this should keep him busy for a while. Also, you can earn medals for each race, which entails collecting all 3 Hot Wheels token which are present on every track. Usually collecting these means sacrificing the race because you are likely to lose a lot of time to maneuver around obstacles to collect them all, but it’s kind of fun to collect all the medals. You can do this even if you only have the car that comes with the game. Like the previous mentioned bonuses, however, the medals don’t serve any other purpose.

All that said, I was pleased with the initial game for the price. I wouldn’t go out and buy all the cars, which really limits what you can do with the game. Though for my 3-year-old who loves cars and doesn’t have the coordination to play the console games yet, it was a good value.

When reviewing the total cost of the game with all cars, even considering that you get real Hot Wheels cars that you can play with away from the game, you are easily paying over $60 here. For the same price, you can get Mario Kart Wii which is a LOT more fun, has TONS more content and replay value, and is something the whole family will enjoy. The only downside to that is, if you don’t have a Wii, your $60 quickly becomes over $300. So it still holds true that this is a decent game for those who don’t have gaming consoles or for kids who aren’t yet coordinated enough to play console racing games, which are much more difficult for a child of this age to win.

For a simple pick up and play racing game that my young son can enjoy, it is worth the initial cost of the game.

My 6 year old son bought this game. He has really enjoyed playing it. Here is what he thinks of the game in his own words.

This game is awesome. There are eight different cars. They all have there own short-cuts for each race.

The Shark Cruiser can go thru an under water short cut in the Island race. The Invader can go thru snow in the Artic race. The Arachamna Rod can drive on spider webs in the Jungle race. The Jet Threat 4.0 can fly thru its short cuts on the Sky race. The RD04 can surf over lava in the Volcano race. The Drift King can jump over a building for its short-cut in the Urban Street race. The Dune Buggy can go on sand track cars can’t go on in the Desert race. The Nascar has no short-cuts.

Go and buy it. You will really like it.