Retrospectively, video game historian Ken Horowitz has stated that "Rad Mobile" has struggled to be recognized as an influential racing game, though he reinforces that the game deserves at least some recognition as Sega's first 32-bit racing game and as the first appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog. Martin Dodd of "Retro Gamer" compared the game's graphics to "Power Drift" and called the game "very good for the time with it being 32-bit". Writing for "AllGame", Anthony Baize gave a positive retrospective review, calling the graphics "better than any racing game that preceded it".