Race It Home
What if you could race a Hot Wheels car without opening the pack?
An AR racing concept for Hot Wheels collectors and players, designed around a product drop.
- Problem
- Collectors keep cars sealed. Players want to race them.
- What we made
- An AR race inside Blinkit that lets people play with the car before buying it, while the pack stays sealed.
- My role
- Interaction design and the browser prototype build, in a two-person team over two weeks.
- Responsibilities
- Product design · Interaction design · Development
- Timeline
- 2 weeks
- Course
- Interaction Design for Immersive Systems
- Industry
- Immersive commerce
- Teammates
- Vibha Shree M S
*Unofficial concept. Not affiliated with Blinkit or Mattel.
Open it or keep it sealed?
The project started with a disagreement.
Vibha showed me her Hot Wheels collection, still sealed in its packs. I’d grown up opening mine and racing them. She cared just as much about the cars, but enjoyed them differently.
Two ways to value the same car
Same car, two ways to enjoy it.
Play
Me
I’m not a Hot Wheels collector. To me, the value is in opening the car, moving it and playing with it.
Preserve
Vibha
Vibha is a collector. For her, rarity, condition and keeping the card intact are part of what makes the car valuable.
Primary research
Was this just us?
We wanted to know whether other collectors felt the same way.
We asked collectors across India what they do with a car that is still on its card.
- Method
- Google Forms survey
- Participants
- 37 Hot Wheels collectors and enthusiasts
- Community
- r/HotWheelsIndia
What collectors do with a car still on its card Single choice · n = 37
The player
open the car and play with it
The preserver
prefer keeping it sealed
The collector who buys two
buy two, one to open and one to preserve
Another 5% said it depends on rarity. Percentages are rounded.
Insight
Some people want to race the car. Others want to keep it sealed. We needed to support both.
Who we’re designing for
Adults who already collect, and already shop on quick commerce.
are 18 to 34. 30 of 37.
own between 51 and 200 cars. Real collections, not a first toy.
already buy Hot Wheels on quick-commerce apps.
How might we
let people experience a Hot Wheels car while keeping the pack sealed?
Design principles
Three things the experience needed
See it
Understand the car beyond a flat product photo.
Keep it intact
Don’t force the collector to open what they value.
Sense of play
Give collectors a playful, immersive way to experience the car.
People already try products in AR.
AR let us bring the car into someone’s space without opening the pack.
38.6M
Virtual try-ons at Lenskart in India during FY25
Millions of people were already trying products virtually.
Lenskart RHP · FY25 ↗
1 in 3
Indian shoppers prefer virtual trials
Half of these users report significantly higher online spending.
Google / Deloitte · Apr 2026 ↗
250M+
Monthly Snapchat users in India, 2025
Nearly 80% of Indian Snapchatters use Lenses daily.
Snap Newsroom · Jul 2025 ↗What we knew
People were already comfortable trying products virtually.
What we still needed to learn
Would moving a Hot Wheels car around a real room actually be fun?
First, we put the car in a room.
The first AR prototype placed a car in a real room. Players could move it forward, backward and side to side.
It worked. But nothing really happened.
What was lacking?
No destination
No challenge
No progression
What next
AR made the car feel present. Now we had to give it somewhere to go.
We gave the car somewhere to go.
A track gave the car a start and a finish.
Then we mapped every control to how you actually play on a real Hot Wheels track.
Three control decisions
Every control works the way a real Hot Wheels track does.
Pick a control to compare the first build with the final one.
Launch · decision 1 of 3
A lever you pull.
Lights, camera, race
A camera angle for each moment
We used a chase view for racing and jumps, and a side view for the loop.
What made the race work
Pull the lever to start, steer towards pickups, and follow the car through jumps and loops.
This is where the play started to feel real.
Then we came back to the question we started with.
We had a race for players. Collectors still needed a way to look closely at the car without opening the pack.
For the collector
View it
Place the car in your room, rotate it and look closer. Use the 3D viewer when AR isn’t available.
For the player
Play it
Race across your room, collect groceries and drive through the loop.
The resolution
Collectors can explore the car. Players can race it. Both can keep the pack sealed.
Where would people find the race?
Our survey gave us the first clue.
already buy Hot Wheels through quick-commerce platforms.
From our survey, n = 37. We didn’t need to invent a new destination for the experience.
So why Blinkit?
Hot Wheels already had a shelf here.
Blinkit sells Hot Wheels through an official Mattel partnership, and has listed more of them than any other quick-commerce app.
Hot Wheels products listed on Blinkit, more than any other quick-commerce platform in India.
Blinkit’s own app
Interaction is already part of shopping here.
blinkit
Two interactive moments already live inside Blinkit. That made the app a believable home for the campaign.
A banner that says Play Now, not Buy Now.
Designed to live inside Blinkit. Tested as a linked web prototype.
A product page already does more than show a photograph.
Our first version tried to do too much.
We added car selection, rewards, a leaderboard and invites. Together, those screens made the campaign feel like a separate app.
Version 1 had five separate destinations
Campaign overview, car selection, rewards, leaderboard, invites
Feedback on the first version
“This feels like a Hot Wheels app, not something inside Blinkit.”
We cut the extra screens.
We moved the score, leaderboard and invite into the race results, with a direct link to shop.
Cut · two screens
The race now starts from Blinkit’s home banner. The other three moved onto the result screen.
Now · one result screen
- 1Invite a friendNow the share button
- 2RewardsNow one line
- 3LeaderboardNow the top racers and your rank
The lesson
Fewer screens made the race easier to get into and the shop easier to reach.
Discovery shouldn’t depend on luck.
How people found Zepto’s last Hot Wheels drop
Found it by chance
found Zepto’s drop in the app by chance.
Came from a notification
heard about it through an app notification.
The design decision
Give the campaign a visible place on the home screen, so discovery doesn’t depend on chance or a notification people might miss.
From our survey, n = 37.
A second way in
Race while the order is on its way.
The home banner reaches people while they browse. After they order, they wait about 10 minutes with nothing to do.
Making the campaign fit Blinkit
Three directions, from sketch to build. All three were still Hot Wheels screens. Studying how Blinkit runs its own campaigns changed that.
Drag across a screen to compare the sketch with the build.
Built
Sketch
Built
Sketch
Built
SketchMatching Blinkit
The campaign references shared three parts.
The Blinkit campaigns we studied paired themed lettering with a playful control and shopping categories. We used that structure for Hot Wheels.
- 1
Campaign lettering
The campaign name appears as artwork at the top.
- 2
One playful control
One action invites people to play: Change Lights, Play Now or Race Now.
- 3
Shopping right below
Product categories sit under the campaign, one tap away.
References: Diwali interaction ↗ · Scream for Ice-Cream, from the Blinkit app
The shift
It looks like Hot Wheels, and works like Blinkit.
The final campaign
The full flow, from the Blinkit home screen to the car in your space.
The campaign
What the campaign looks like
Players get three races a day, enough to try again and beat their score.
Play creates the interest.
Commerce stays one tap away.
We kept stock, sold-out and delivery states out of scope. This concept is about the experience before someone buys.
Edge cases
AR is optional. The race stays available.
No camera access or AR support? The same race opens automatically in 3D. Hover a case to see its screen.
Camera access declined
The 3D race opens automatically. No extra screen or tap.
AR isn’t supported
Go straight into 3D. Same car, track and scoring.
Tilt isn’t available
Hold left or right to steer. Swipe up to jump.
What people said about the prototype
Five to six collectors and car enthusiasts played the prototype. We gave no tasks. We watched and noted their reactions, plus one comment shared online.
Every tester’s first tap was Race now on the home screen.
Bro, that loop jump is insane. I’d honestly open Blinkit just to play this.
Car enthusiast, after the race
Okay, seeing it at real size is actually useful. Photos never show you how big the car is.
Collector, trying it in their space
This will be a game changer, literally. When can I place my orders OP? Keep up the good work man
Hot Wheels collector on Reddit
Making the race pay for its spot
A slot on Blinkit’s home screen has a monetary value. The race had to earn it back in orders, not just in plays.
“How are you helping me convert?”
A designer asked this after playing the prototype, and they were right. The race paid out ₹25 Blinkit Cash, to spend on anything. Nothing pushed people to buy the car they had just raced.
The gap
The race built interest in Hot Wheels. The reward spent it on everything else.
The fix
Tie every reward to the car.
Points now unlock a discount on Hot Wheels only, for 24 hours. The more you race, the cheaper the car gets, as long as you buy soon.
Percentages are illustrative. The real ladder would be set with the brand.
WHAT IF…?
Six edge cases. Tap one to see the screen.
The business case
Why the slot pays for itself
Capped
Three races a day limit how fast anyone climbs the ladder.
Targeted
The discount covers Hot Wheels only, the shelf the campaign is selling.
Paid on purchase
No order, no cost. The discount is spent only when someone buys.
Product previews already lift orders elsewhere
17%
Higher online conversion
Reported at Lenskart after introducing AR try-on.
Read the Lenskart AR study ↗65%
More likely to order after using AR
Rebecca Minkoff shoppers who used AR, compared with those who didn’t.
Read the Shopify case study ↗94%
Average conversion lift with 3D content
Reported by Shopify in 2022, across merchants who added 3D product content to their stores.
Read Shopify’s announcement ↗What I’d measure in a pilot
Three questions for a Blinkit pilot
01
Return
Do players come back for race two or three?
MeasureShare of first-race players who start a second and third race
02
Invite
Do shared races bring in another player?
MeasureInvite-to-play conversion
03
Shop
Do racers buy before their 24 hours run out?
MeasureRacers who order within 24 hours, and the discount step they used
We haven’t measured these outcomes yet. A live pilot would show whether the race changes what people buy.
What I learned from building it
What I’ll carry into the next project.
What I’ll carry forward
Four lessons for the next project
Ask people before designing for them.
One disagreement became a pattern once 37 collectors answered.
Use the platform’s familiar patterns.
It worked once we designed inside Blinkit, not on top of it.
Set the measures before claiming results.
Return, invite and shop are goals until a pilot proves them.
Review what AI helps you build.
Claude made us faster. Every call was still ours to check.
The right iteration isn’t always adding more. Sometimes it’s knowing what to remove.
14The buildHow we built it
How we built it
Every version in this story was a working build in the browser, not a mockup. That let anyone open it on their own phone, since we couldn’t test inside Blinkit.
The final build
Three days, two people
Build and develop
Built the prototype, racing controls and 3D integration, then checked them against the UI.
Analyze and design
Created 3D assets and checked the UI against Blinkit screens. We used those references to keep the components consistent.
Test, deploy and learn
Tested the same build on several platforms to compare deployment and performance.
The AI-assisted workflow
Our calls, built faster with AI
We made the design calls and checked every build against the Blinkit app. Claude helped us turn them into code faster.
Trying variations, then refining them
We decided the interaction, hierarchy, spacing and visual direction. Claude helped us try variations quickly, and every one was checked against the real app.
The takeaway
Claude helped us build faster. We checked and refined each interaction ourselves.
Race it on your phone.
Open the prototype in your browser. Supported phones can place the track in AR; other devices use camera mode or a 3D view.
Or try it right here.
The live build runs inside this phone. Scroll, tap, and start a race.
On a laptop
Play the full race in 3D and explore the campaign screens.
On your phone
Open the link or scan the code to race on your own floor in AR.
