Hot Wheels: Burnin' Rubber is a racing game licensed from the line of toy cars. It features 25 cars that can be taken for races on 16 different tracks.
The game's main Grand Prix mode is organized into four increasingly difficult cups that have to be taken on in order, each consisting of two sets of four races. Finishing in first or second place in a race is necessary to advance - finishing further behind costs a life.
Races are displayed in a Mode-7-style sprite scaling and rotation engine, with cars displayed as rendered bitmaps. Many of the courses take the miniature car concept literally and take place in large everyday locations like a bathroom, a piano or a billiard table. Winning races earns money that can be spent to tune cars by purchasing new engines, mufflers, computers and other components, increasing top speed, acceleration or traction. Only five cars are available for selection from the start, the others have to be unlocked through winning in Grand Prix mode or beating time records. Progress in Grand Prix mode is stored to battery-backed RAM.
Further game modes include single races and time trials on courses unlocked in Grand Prix mode. There is also a two-player mode via link cable, requiring both players to have their own cartridge.