Sega unleashes new Sonic Racing teaser
With a very familiar "R".
Sega has unveiled a teaser trailer for something that very possibly might be the heavily rumoured, but still annoyingly unconfirmed, new Sonic Racing game.
I say "might be" as if the teaser trailer (which was revealed on the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter feed) leaves much room for doubt; it's 22 seconds of revving engines and glistening paintwork, all culminating in a shadowy logo with nought highlighted but a single red R - an R that just so happens to be identical to the one in the logo for 1997 Sega Saturn racer Sonic R. WHAT CAN IT MEAN.
A new Sonic Racing game has been suspected ever since a purported internal presentation by Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed developer Sumo Digital surfaced online in January. One slide noted that the studio was working on an "unannounced karting game" based on an "established global IP".
Soon after, a representative for official Sonic toymaker Zappies told a German fansite that the company was working on a new toy line for an unannounced Sonic racing game, due this year. As you might imagine, that didn't help quash the new Sonic Racing rumours.
In fact, about the only thing stopping fan suspicions from crystallising into cold, hard certainty was a dismissive tweet by Sega community manager Aaron Webber, who said, "Saw rumors floating today about another SART game. Just wanted to confirm it's not a thing".
Many, of course, speculated that this might be a spot of cheeky semantic misdirection - denying the existence of a new Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed game while still allowing for the possibility of a new Sonic Racing experience under a different name.
At this point, with the advent of Sega's teaser, it's probably reasonable to assume that some form of new Sonic Racing game is poised for a full reveal soon. But whether it's a true follow-up to Sumo's All-Stars Racing series - or something else entirely - remains to be seen.