Planet Hot Wheels
| Planet Hot Wheels | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) |
Mattel Hot Wheels |
| Publisher(s) | Mattel |
| Series | Hot Wheels |
| Platform(s) |
Windows Mac OS |
| Release date(s) | 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Massively Multiplayer Online Racing |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer (with some single-player) |
Planet Hot Wheels was a massively multiplayer online racing game created by Hot Wheels' developers and Mattel, Hot Wheels' parent company. However, in 2004, after displaying a message on the site for nearly a year that Planet Hot Wheels would be back soon, Hot Wheels permanently removed the game from the website with no warning issued to its players. Many Hot Wheels fans played the game and speculations have been made on why the game was removed, but Mattel has not made any official statements.
Many players enjoyed the virtual racing game because of the Highway 35 story features and because of its use of real world Hot Wheels' models and the ability to upgrade their cars with decals, paint jobs, weapons, and other assorted components. To get these parts players could buy specially marked Hot Wheels cars and enter a code to get an item. Users could also race and play mini-games to earn credits, the currency of Planet Hot Wheels, and purchase items with them.
Expansions
Mattel released six energy cars that each came with a CD and a race for each CD collected. When all were collected a player would be awarded with a special track build and they could race on that track.
The developers intended to release a track editor for the game. This would allow players to build their own race track and race with people on their friends list. However this feature only appeared in a single player form on the site, the more complex of a track the user created the more credits they could earn.
In the game's files, there is an application called "carena". This includes original Planet Hot Wheels tracks, and removing the feature to choose one's car. If one plays by themselves, the car will start steering and driving backwards. If one picks at least two players, this "bug" is fixed.
Also in the main game, there are two "bonus tracks" called "loopcheck" and "newcheck".