Hot Wheels’ Latest Cars Can Be Raced On- And Offline

Hot Wheels celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and now the company is introducing a new “mixed play” series.

Dubbed Hot Wheels id, the new cars are billed as “premium die-cast vehicles” that are equipped with wireless technology which stores their individual performance data.

That information can be uploaded to an app via a Race Portal which also tracks the car’s speed and lap counts via infrared sensors. The portal costs $39.95 and comes with two exclusive cars.  It can also be connected to existing Hot Wheels tracks.

Fans can also purchase a Hot Wheels id Smart Track Kit for $179.95. The company says the track features the “most powerful booster Hot Wheels has ever made.” The track also comes with the aforementioned Race Portal as well as two exclusive vehicles.

While the toys sound fairly conventional, there’s also a Hot Wheels id app. It houses a virtual garage of your vehicles which can be raced digitally on iOS devices. The app will also keep track of statistics such as races, jumps and crashes. Owners will be able to compete in “hundreds of challenges” and apparently level up their cars.

According to Mattel chief design officer Chris Down, “This is the first time our fans will be able to keep track of top-speeds, races-won, and challenges-completed with Hot Wheels id die-cast in the physical world. Then, they can collect, manage and race the same cars in the digital world.” Down went on to say this is a “revolutionary mixed play experience” that kids of all ages should enjoy.

Hot Wheels id cars will be available at Apple.com and select Apple stores. Each car costs $6.95 and there are a variety of popular models to choose from including the Aston Martin One-77, Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, Dodge Viper GTS-R and Mercedes-AMG GT.