Planet Hot Wheels was made one of two Hot Wheels games to promote the 2003 Highway 35 World Race series, the other being Hot Wheels: World Race. Unlike the World Race game, Planet Hot Wheels replicates the style of racing seen in the cartoon miniseries and movie, which is a point-to-point sprint in various different locations, usually annexed by portals at the beginning and end of each race, quite unlike the 6-man circuit racing of World Race. The game uses a heavily modified version of the gameplay engine used in the previous Stunt Track Driver games, which can be easily seen in its sound and visual effects. This engine was later used for the Turbo Driver game, which showcases a similar premise to the World Race series. By default, the game has features of a 'kart racer' game like Turbo R