This Unreal Engine 5 Star Wars racer has surprisingly old-school art direction

Despite being a fan of the original Star Wars Episode I: Racer and its various incarnations, and of course Wipeout, I’ve been slow on the uptake of Star Wars Galactic Racer. That was until the launch date announcement – 6th October – and the new key art (I believe it’s by Fuse concept artist James Lewis-Vines), which has captured my attention.

Like the recent Rogue Trooper movie poster, there’s a classic 1970s/1980s looseness to this art that feels confident enough to leave areas a bit raw with visible brushstrokes, and the artistic decisions are clear, like the moments where colour shifts or edges soften. The whole thing ends up feeling closer to Star Wars than a lot of the slicker, big-budget posters that have come out lately, and I can imagine how this plays just from the art.

You can feel the influence of Drew Struzan here, too, with big shapes, bold silhouettes, and a composition that guides you rather than drowning you in detail. That central helmet shape is a good example, at first it’s just a heavy block of shadow and light, almost abstract, and then your eye drops and suddenly all movement and those racers charging across the illustration.

The racers tear through the frame, but the speed isn’t coming from clean, clinical effects; it’s messy, dragged, like a brush loaded with paint has been pulled across the surface. The vehicles help sell that too. They’ve got that Ralph McQuarrie weight to them. Not sleek or pristine, but boxy, a bit awkward and worn, built up from panels that don’t quite sit flush. Surfaces look rusted, repainted, scraped back, then painted again.