As well as for four-wheeled vehicles there are games of Forza MotorSport, Gran Turismo, The Crew, among others; for those on two wheels there is ride from the developer milestone. Currently the motorcycle simulation series is in its fifth installment, which indicates that it has somehow carved a space for itself in the industry, even competing with MotoGP.

RIDE 5 is the next installment of the Italian developer’s franchise that comes exclusively to current consoles and PC. It rescues part of its mechanics that were key in previous installments, in addition to offering gameplay improvements, a deep driving system, and spectacular graphics.

Bringing out the best in us

RIDE 5 proposes us to start by creating our avatar with a series of basic options in an also basic character creator. Although one might think that it doesn’t matter since they won’t see their faces, well they will when we win a race or before starting it. Once our virtual counterpart is created, we move on to a race to familiarize ourselves with the game’s mechanics and controls.

We will immediately note that RIDE 5 is not for beginners. The controls are demanding, because it is not just accelerating and following the indicator arrows on the track, we must know when to take a curve, when to apply the brake and when to give everything in the race. Any mistake and we will slide down the asphalt, although it can be remedied with the Rewind button.

The game gets off to a slow and rocky start, but if we hang on long enough we’ll have a satisfying game when we finally get over that steep curve for the fifth time. I’m not a fan of motorcycle games, but for some reason Ride kept me glued to the controller. Another detail is that during the races he leaned over me as if he were riding the bike due to the level of immersion it offers.

On PS5 the game makes use of the DualSense controller in an immersive way, I would say too much in a good way. When we accelerate, the triggers offer resistance as speed increases, going into gravel will feel the same way, we can even feel our bike wobble. One thing I did notice is that the battery life of the controllers is much shorter than the average DualSense time, due to the fact that the game constantly makes use of the vibration functions.

starting from the bottom

Unlike the previous installment, RIDE 5 has more than 270 motorcycles from more than 20 official manufacturers, among which are: Ducati, BMW, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, among others renowned within the industry. There is the Manufacturer Affinity mechanic, which is a reward system for keeping us participating with a specific brand. Also, the game has more than 40 real and fictional racing tracks, meeting the specifications of structural designs to challenge the racers.

Now for the matter, Ride has several game modes among which is the ubiquitous Career mode, which in turn is divided into Single Race, Endurance, Time Trial and Split Screen. However, the featured mode is Career. Here we started our career as a competitor, participating in local events to go up in rank and thus have access to international events. It is divided into two types of events: Primary and Secondary, the first is divided into four acts in which we will win different types of races to move on to the next event (Secondary) in which the rewards will be juicy, but there will be more challenging.

Each motorcycle is designed with a physics system that is quite close to reality within the game. Issues such as weight, lean angle, improved AI and better speed simulation are the keys for the title to stand out from other similar offerings. In each event there will be participants managed by the CPU who will be our rivals or the so-called antagonists in the races. These will be a total of 10 and they will go up the leaderboards and our duty is to defeat them to be number one on the podium.

Another prominent mode is the Stamina mode which consists of the competition of 24 real hours within the game. However, it can now be saved while playing to continue at a later time. We have the options of online mode that allows you to compete with players from all over the world in public and private sessions (20 players) where you can modify the options of the race and through Crossplay play with users from all platforms. He is also back Split Screen Mode which was not present since the second installment and will always be a welcome option for players.

even more options

Ride 5 has several customization options with the mode RaceCreator in which we can create our own competition with the options of whether it is an individual race or a championship. In addition, you can create and edit vinyls, helmets, uniforms, and stickers. It is an easy-to-use editor for the most dedicated and can be shared online for other players to see our designs.

Another detail on the sidelines that is worth mentioning is the implementation of the Dynamic Weather System. This mechanism allows you to modify the weather parameters, calculating in real time the temperature, lighting, sky conditions, etc. It can be set to be fixed or random depending on how long the race lasts.

In keeping with current trends, the game has accessibility options so that everyone can enjoy the races. It has a percentage of activation of automatic aids that are based on AI. They range from brakes, steering, acceleration to help off the track. Another option is the reduction of the speed of the game for better control and handling of the races.

championship graphics

One of Milestone’s goals with its motorcycle driving series has been to bring graphics closer to photorealism. The gameplay on the bike model side is quite impressive, allowing us to see the surface textures of the bikes and how light behaves based on the direction it comes from. Also, the sky goes from having 2D clouds to fully procedural 3D, that is, their deformation is in real time and randomly. This implies that the light that passes through them will be able to be seen inside the track.

Another detail is that depending on the weather and the level of simulation that we have activated, this is how the motorcycles will behave in the races, being able to have a slippery track if it is wet. We can say that it is one of the most realistic motorcycle driving simulators to date. Regarding performance, the game had no graphical glitches and runs smoothly at 60fps. What did not convince me was the modeling of our avatar, where the skin is not so realistic and the face is almost expressionless.

In the sound department they shone with the sound effects of the motorcycles. Between acceleration, the machinery running and the brakes, everything is very well done. We have a narrator who enlivens the account of our rise to supremacy in Castilian Spanish. What I did notice is that the game doesn’t have licensed songs accompanying us in every race, but still, I liked what I saw.

Verdict

RIDE 5 is proof of how a series moves steadily towards perfection, of course it is not a perfect game, but for lovers of motorcycle racing it is a good proposal. They have used options such as AI, better graphics and accessibility to offer a game for all audiences. Sure, it is better to have played the series before or similar games as it is a challenging title, especially at the beginning. As for the graphics and its simulation system, they make it an impressive game and closer to reality, bridging the gap. Of course, the game demands both of us and of the DualSense as it runs out of batteries. I recommend R5 both if we are fans of the series and motorcycling lovers, because otherwise, it can overwhelm us.

Note: This review was made on PS5 and the code for the review was provided thanks to Plaion.