Hot Lap Racing review: a return to simpler driving games

There’s no such thing as a quick gaming session anymore. Not really. Live service games, with their labyrinthine UIs and constantly loading servers, have made it basically mandatory to factor 15 minutes of faff time into any play session, and racing games are especially prone to soul-crushing menu dilly dallying. That’s what makes Hot Lap Racing refreshing: it’s old-school, uncomplicated, simple driving.

Zero Games Studio is a tiny indie in the grand scheme of things, the David in a fight against industry Goliaths like Gran Turismo and Forza who collect manufacturer license agreements like football stickers. You don’t normally see a low-budget project like this carrying licensed cars, tracks and drivers of its own, but somehow this one does. Ligier Prototypes, Noble track toys, vintage Opel DTM machinery and a classic Renault 5 that greets the eyes like a favourite uncle.

It’s all arranged into the kind of no-nonsense racing game you used to see all the time until about 10 years ago. Career, hot lap or quick race modes, unlock more vehicles as you go, bish, bosh, and frequently, bash.

This being an indie, of course, and budgets being as they are, it’s not about to topple any giants. Assetto Corsa Evo can rest easy as heir apparent to the sim racing throne, and neither Forza Horizon 5 nor The Crew Motorfest will be losing much sleep over their player numbers. Hot Lap Racing isn’t going after any of them directly. Instead it’s rebuilding a space just below them.

Concessions to the small team size and budgets? All over the place. The UI’s very basic, the visuals are functional rather than captivating, and among a long list of tiny eyebrow-furrowing grievances, from the exterior camera your vehicle appears to be hovering very slightly above the track itself. There’s no vibration when you use a controller, and clearly Kevin Magnussen himself was the lead AI programmer on this game, because opponent behaviour oscillates between thrilling and race destroying ruthlessness. It’s got issues.

The feeling of the vehicle in your hands, and the way the camera shifts its perspective while you turn, are all reminiscent of retro racers from the 16-bit era. The likes of Outrun and Ayrton Senna’s Super Monaco GP, where corners that at first look like they require braking turn out to be taken flat-out, and where any contact with opponents seems to put you worse off than them.

It’s as realistic as Lance Stroll’s 2025 title hopes, but it does convince you of its speed, at least. It can be invigorating to hold your nerve and edge a rival driver around the outside of Magny-Cours’ sweeping Estoril corner, or to turn Paul Ricard’s hypnotic chicanes into a risky flat-out twitch of the gamepad thumbstick. That’s where the joy is.

As you might have picked up by now, this is a very French game. Manufacturers and circuits from outside the developer’s homeland do feature, including delicious deep cuts like Albacete and Oschersleben, and vehicular delights like a BTCC-trim Vauxhall Cavalier. But it’s clear where this game’s roots are, and that makes for some very enjoyable assemblies of track and machinery that lend a distinct identity.

That’s important, too. It’s probably why this sub-premium racing game disappeared from the landscape in the first place. It was too easy to forget about the likes of Split/Second Velocity, or Blur, or Pure, or Fuel. They did everything competently except give you a reason to keep thinking about them after you played them. By contrast, Hot Lap Racing is rough around the edges in the extreme, but it does get you thinking about car and track combinations that aren’t possible elsewhere.