At the recent D23 "Kingdom Hearts Deep Dive" panel, series creator Tetsuya Nomura revealed news that has fans buzzing: Kingdom Hearts IV will include a world that was cut from Kingdom Hearts III due to technical challenges. Various clues suggest this world is likely from Pixar's Cars.
During the panel, when asked about the inspiration for creating Disney worlds, Nomura stated that creating new content based on a "specific concept" is particularly interesting because there are no precedents, giving the team ample freedom to incorporate "various gimmicks." He then shifted gears, mentioning a "very exciting idea" in Kingdom Hearts III that couldn't be realized due to "certain difficulties," and that this idea has now been implemented in Kingdom Hearts IV.
Although the on-site translator's wording was somewhat vague, attendees confirmed that Nomura explicitly referred to it as a "world." This statement quickly sparked widespread discussion in the player community, as the identity of the famous scrapped world from Kingdom Hearts III was already an open secret.
The reason Nomura's comments quickly pointed to Cars lies in a 2024 data mining incident. At that time, data miners obtained the "Premium Showcase" development files for Kingdom Hearts III and discovered the text "カーズ(仮)" (Cars (Tentative)) in the game's world list.
This is currently the only known Disney world explicitly removed from Kingdom Hearts III. Data miners pointed out that the entry was text-only, with no associated 3D models or assets found, indicating the concept was likely abandoned early in development. The Kingdom Hearts series has an unwritten tradition where Sora and his companions take on forms consistent with the local residents upon entering a Disney world. Imagining Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy transforming into cars in the world of Cars is certainly a topic of great interest.
Officially, this world has not yet been confirmed. However, combining Nomura's hints with solid data mining evidence, fans of the Kingdom Hearts series may truly look forward to seeing Sora racing against Heartless in a Keyblade-shaped car under the sunset on Route 66 in the near future.