Ride 6 is the latest entry in Milestone’s iconic franchise, and as an avid fan of racing and simulators, I had to check it out. Ahead of its release, I got the opportunity to dive into the latest offering and try out the immersive world of motorcycle racing.
If you are a fan of car racing, you may be in for a rude awakening when it comes to your skills. Speed isn’t the hard part. Anyone can twist the throttle, but Ride 6 takes you to the grassroots of motorcycle racing and teaches you to know when not to push. The title transforms each turn into a delicate balance of skill and perseverance, offering an immersive experience.
Here’s why Ride 6 takes the legacy of motorcycle racing and elevates it, one perfect lap at a time.
Ride 6 review: A high-octane love letter to motorcycle racing
Motorcycle racing is fundamentally different from car racing in several aspects. While cars rely on mechanical grip and stability, bikes demand a unique blend of balance, body control, and constant compromise. In cars, you are inside a stable platform, while bikes are essentially an extension of the player. Ride 6 has hit the nail on the head in creating a truly immersive racing experience.
The title features over 40 tracks and an impressive roster of over 340 bikes, offering massive gameplay choices. Apart from the regular touring and track bikes, the title also introduces dirt racing, maxi enduros, and baggers. The dedicated off-road track makes it a fun and thrilling racing experience.
Gameplay
Ride 6 offers an immersive riding experience across different disciplines and on various tracks across the world. You can thunder down the straights of iconic tracks like Suzuka or speed down the curves of Gunma if you are a fan of Initial D like I am. Each track offers its own set of challenges depending on the discipline and vehicle you use.
As for the learning curve, the developers have introduced two modes for players, Arcade and Pro. Arcade will give beginners and new players a balanced approach with more braking power, and the driving is much more relaxed since collisions are also simplified. As for the Pro mode, it is tailored for gamers who want to test their mettle in some of the most demanding circuits around the world.
When I dove into Ride 6, I was fueled by my ego as a simracer and chose Pro mode. After crashing fifteen times on the first turn, I decided to get back to my senses and play in Arcade mode. The enhanced grip, TCS, ABS, and even double-braking made it easier for me to get used to anticipating turns or braking on time.
However, if this seems like too much, Ride 6 offers a Riding School within the game. In an exclusive interview with Game Director Paolo Bertoni, he mentioned that the concept was introduced to allow players to truly master the bikes rather than just ride them.
The school, based on the iconic Bridgestone Riding School, features different lessons in braking, cornering, and understanding the fundamentals of motorcycle racing. Once you progress past the basic lessons, you can take curated masterclasses on Enduros and at Mugello. These features offer a seamless learning curve that lets you master the motorcycle with ease.
In terms of game modes, you have Career and Quick Races in single-player and a multiplayer mode with up to 12 other racers. While the career mode lets you rise through the ranks and become a top athlete, the quick mode offers different presets, such as single races, time trials, and endurance races. These are great for learning how each bike handles or understanding various race formats.
Another fun feature is that you can rent motorcycles for races. This nifty feature lets you try bikes in races and get a feel for the handling, offering you a better perspective before you put down in-game currency for it. I have loaned quite a few bikes and tried them in sprint races before committing to a purchase.
If you are tired of the endless tracks and racing options, you can hold your own against ten real-life racing champions. For the first time, Ride 6 lets you race against legends such as Guy Martin, Peter Hickman, and Skyler Howes. There are ten intense boss chapters that you can complete, rewarding you with Fame points and the satisfaction of racing alongside legends.
Riding physics and realism
One of the foundational aspects of the immersion in Ride 6 is how detailed and realistic the riding physics and mechanisms are. Each bike in the game feels like a unique vehicle rather than being a reskin with a more powerful engine or faster specifications. The improved steering response and braking management allow more natural curves when racing or battling opponents in tricky sections.
If you ride bikes or understand how bikes work, you will marvel at the detailed attention to weight transfer in the game. You can feel the bike’s behavior change based on the load and lean you give. Since this affects the grip and suspension behavior, every action has a consequence. When you lean, you can feel the active change in the way your bike responds.
Braking is one of the most important aspects in motorcycle racing, and Ride 6 offers a truly immersive experience. The front and rear braking behavior is highly realistic, with each different intensity and pattern resulting in lock-ups or saves. This is especially great for trail braking and navigating corners with relative ease.
Another essential aspect of riding realism is the camera and the way you view each race. Ride 6 has a host of camera angles that let you adjust your POV based on your preference and skill level. Apart from the usual chase and near cameras, the helmet cam and the handlebar cam offer a unique perspective to racing.
The feeling of roaring down the cherry blossom-laden track of Gunma at night, using your helmet cam, is an experience that will leave you speechless. The blur of trees and the glow of street lights illuminate the winding roads, where you feel every bump and each kerb in stunning detail.
Environment
Environment is a massive factor in racing games, acting not only as the backdrop but also actively impacting visibility, clearance, and the ability to push forward. Each track has its own unique ambience, ranging from cheering crowds in Suzuka to the hot-air balloons in Kapadokya.
The dynamic day-night cycle, paired with the effects on the tracks, offers a truly immersive experience. Rain affects your traction and visibility, forcing you to be more cautious. The harsh sunlight can temporarily blind you if you are using the helmet cam, making these visual effects active participants rather than just a part of the design.
Ride 6 utilizes Unreal Engine 5 to create a truly realistic world. The high-quality design of the environmental assets, like trees, roads, and leaves elevate the title from just a racing game to a serious and dedicated motorcycle racing simulator. The ability to set the weather and the daylight values lets you create the perfect race with your desired atmosphere.
When talking about the environment, it would be a sin not to compliment the track design. The developers have added high-quality renders of popular real-life tracks, blending LIDAR scans with high-resolution images to faithfully recreate iconic racing locations from around the world. No two tracks are similar, with imaginary circuits having their own attributes and playstyles.
Apart from the visual identity, Ride 6 also adds a highly detailed and meticulous audio design to the environment. You can distinctly hear the rolling thunder or the patter of rain during stormy weather or the skid of the wheel as it rolls over a kerb. Audience members cheer for you when you pass the stands, making you feel like you’re actually in the race.
These different elements come together to create a vibrant racing world that feels robust and engaging. Each stage of gameplay in career or race mode feels like a tastefully crafted story, featuring an eclectic mix of raw power and engaging racecraft.
Bikes
Ride 6 introduces a total of 340 bikes across 21 different manufacturers (including day one and DLCs). There are seven bike categories, ranging from sportbikes and motards to the newly introduced enduro and baggers. Each bike feels like a unique vehicle rather than seeming like a reskin with the same specifications. Even bikes that share the same engines feel different due to their handling and design.
The developers have offered bikes with different levels of difficulty and performance scores. This allows gamers to get better at lower firepower before they can burn rubber on the big guns like the Suzuki GSX or the iconic Kawasaki Ninja.
Each of these vehicles is created using laser scans and real-world references, making them painstakingly detailed. This is evident from the high-resolution textures, especially in the photo mode. Even when you switch to the handlebar cam, the details are immaculate. The animation is so fluid that you will even notice the brake fluid jostling around when you drive over rough terrains or bumpy kerbs.
I cannot talk about the immersion of the vehicles without mentioning the sound design. Ride 6 captures the heart and soul of each vehicle, providing authentic and dynamic sound that heightens the thrill of the chase. From the ambient noise filtering in through the helmet cam to the sound of skidding tires on asphalt, nothing comes close to how these bikes sound.
You will hear every rev, every gear shift. Missed a gear shift? You will hear it. Braked hard? You will hear it. Instead of pairing engine sounds to the bike, the developers have recorded each soundscape in detail. Additionally, Ride 6 lets you customise your bikes to a massive extent. You can swap almost all parts to create your personal racing demon.
You will hear a difference in the engine sounds as you switch from the handlebar cam to the helmet cam, highlighting the level of immersion present. The engine and the bike sound different if you hear it from the chase cam or atop the bike, making it a nifty attention to detail that left me truly impressed.
Control and accessibility
Like I have mentioned before, control can be a bit tricky if you are not used to bike racing. However, the array of assists in Ride 6 ensures the learning curve is manageable. It is recommended to use a gamepad or controller instead of your keyboard to ensure maximum responsiveness.
The controllers can be mapped to your preference and even have a one-handed mode if it suits your playstyle. Apart from this, the accessibility settings include options to reduce the game speed and support a colorblind mode. This enhances inclusivity and ensures gamers can enjoy the thrill of motorcycle racing without being hindered.
As for control, I played using both the Xbox and Dualsense controllers. The detailed visual feedback, paired with the vibration and haptic, will leave you speechless the first time you jump into a race. You can feel each rev of the engine and the growl of your idling vehicle, adding a tangible feeling to your gameplay.
Apart from just the vehicles, the vibrations are also present when driving over kerbs or hitting walls (let’s pretend I crashed into walls on purpose for the sake of this review). Additionally, the developers have made these controllers more responsive for uniform gameplay across all platforms. Paired with the stunning environment, the intuitive controls will leave a lasting impression on you.
Conclusion
If I have not made it painfully obvious, Ride 6 has well and truly impressed me. The attention to detail and the immersive world create a rich racing environment, where every race feels like a new adventure. The title seamlessly blends simulator-level realism with arcade-level options, offering a welcoming foray for players of all skill levels.
When you switch the helmet cam and put on your headphones, the world around you melts into nothing but pure adrenaline. You feel the high-stakes action at every turn and corner, leaning close enough to kiss the asphalt and touch some grass. In Ride 6, speed is secondary to control, and it is earned through restraint and an understanding of limits that keep testing your skills at every juncture.
At its core, Ride 6 is more than just a motorcycle racing game. It is a living, breathing snapshot of high-octane racing from the comfort of your home. The title effortlessly blurs the lines between reality and gaming, offering a realism that sets a new benchmark for racing titles.
Ride 6 is a title that rewards commitment and expects nothing less. Precision, not speed, defines success. I can safely say that the title respects the racecraft without watering down gameplay to make it easy. The two racing modes ensure players of all skill levels can take part in this beautiful synergy between rider and machine.
For motorcycle racing fans seeking authenticity over spectacle, it stands as one of the most focused entries in the genre. It teaches not just how to race, but to be a better racer. It may seem uncompromising and unforgiving at first, but passing the learning curve is when you realise this is as close as digital motorcycling gets.
If you love bikes and imagine riding is going to be like a dainty Instagram reel, you’re bang out of luck. But if you yearn for the machine spirit and the thrill of knowing when to go for the gap, Ride 6 offers some of the most rewarding two-wheeled racing available today.
Ride 6
Reviewed on: PC
Platform: Steam
Developer: Milestone
Publisher: Milestone
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Edited by Sayendra Basu
