What a long way for the Milanese of Milestone. Since the 90s, the studio has been able to create, not without difficulty, a place of choice in the video game landscape and more precisely in the register of mechanical racing. WRC, Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo, Gravel, MXGP, Monster Energy Supercross, Hot Wheels Unleashed… it’s them. But it is indeed with two motorcycle licenses that Milestone stands out and marks its affinity for the world of two wheels: MotoGP as well as Ride. The latter welcomes its new iteration on current-gen only, 3 years after the release of Ride 4. Will this development time granted to the game allow it to push the cursors ever higher to offer us the ultimate experience of the series ? This is what we will see in our Ride 5 test.
Limited risk taking
For some time now, games stamped Ride have been regularly referred to as “Motorcycle Gran Turismo” by players. A rather flattering comparison given the iconic status of the titles developed by Polyphony Digital, car and motorcycle with Tourist Trophy, a very good time for all those who lived the PS2 era… This reference, the Ride series owes it in particular to its versatility, the richness of its garage and a general public approach, accessible by all, novices as confirmed.
As much to say right away, don’t expect a revolution with Ride 5. Milestone plays here the minimal risk-taking by taking up the controversial recipe of the previous opus embellished with a dose of immersion in the service of substantial content . 233 motorcycles from the catalog of 14 manufacturers, where Ride 4 only offered 176 when it was released, 38 fictitious and real circuits, plus their variants, spread over several continents, several game modes, classic of course, but offering also some novelties. You will not count the hours as you embark on the adventure, an adventure with the bitter taste of deja-vu.
One day I will be the best
Many players have regretted the disappearance of the career mode of Ride 3, which then gave pride of place to the biker spirit and its disciplines on the track as an open road on the handlebars of the most beautiful cars of recent decades. The much colder and classic approach of Ride 4 and its succession of less immersive and mainly circuit events will clearly not have convinced the majority of virtual pilots. I’m not going to lie to you, when I launched the career, Tour de Ride 5 mode, I believed it. An introductory sequence propels us on the handlebars of an M1000RR on a new route, carried by the sound of a voiceover making us imagine mountains and wonders… Well, a few minutes later I was quickly disappointed when I found the same choice than three years ago, namely to select a league between Europe, the Americas and Asia. You know, this choice which will then prevent you from changing it until you have accomplished all your objectives… From this moment on, the course of your career will be based on a model similar to the opus of 2020. 4 acts each containing around ten groups made up of mixed events will make you alternate between timed challenges, races, head-to-head and endurance. Once all the groups of an act have been completed, you then unlock access to a series of additional challenges, often on the handlebars of historic motorcycles. Whether you like it or not, you still have to salute the overall content which offers no less than 200 events, and in other words dozens of hours of play for this mode alone. Note that a rival system, requested for a long time, has been integrated. Again it’s a missed shot with a completely anecdotal feature that will have absolutely no impact on your gaming experience, being limited to a simple name to surpass in race and ranking.
Simple but effective customization
The Tour de Ride 5 mode therefore did not thrill me too much, but fortunately the title is not just about that. Ride is also the pleasure of personalization, and this year it will not be limited to the cosmetic aspect. Of course the mechanical and visual customization of your mounts is still topical even if relatively basic and once again similar to what we already know with, for example, engine training courses to acquire, an improvement in the transmission, the exhaust, brakes or rims for better performance. Your pilot will also have the same treatment of choice and will be able to get dressed from head to toe by configuring each aspect of his equipment.
Everything is completed by a new mode, the Race Creator. Much more than a simple custom race, it allows you to create a race or even a championship from A to Z and down to the smallest detail: event logo, types of authorized motorcycles and their liveries, AI level, circuits traveled and weather, time and speed of flow of time… Nothing really revolutionary in itself, but which will have the merit of giving free rein to your imagination by forging an event worthy of the career. A simple but effective way to extend the life according to your desire of the moment. And speaking of duration, the most relentless of you will have the possibility of carrying out endurance races of up to 24 real hours, with fortunately a backup option for each session necessary to see the end of it.
A paradoxical technical achievement
Ride 4 may not have convinced everyone, but it agreed on one point: its stunning graphics, even more on its next gen and PC versions. Suffice to say that Ride 5 was extremely expected at the turn on this point, especially after several years of development announced exclusively for new generation machines. On the modeling side of the motorcycles, the Milestone teams have once again provided a remarkable job of authenticity. The machines are sumptuous, highlighted during cutscenes after obtaining them and showing off in the background of the game’s multiple menus. has more than 230. The official liveries have also been faithfully replicated, so much so that many real-life motorcyclists will be able to find their own motorcycle, a huge added value to immersion, undoubtedly a strong point of the license.
Since we are talking about modeling, we must unfortunately admit that the characters in the game are far from having undergone the same treatment. For the sake of immersion, always, short pre-race cutscenes have been added, briefly showing the preparations of your car. The idea is good, but hard not to wince over a rendering of NPCs showing several generations behind. And I’m not even talking about the post-race celebration photo… So yes, a helmet on your face and we talk about it more, that’s not the most important, but it all clearly denotes with the rest of the game .
Come on, I’m finally going to answer the question that everyone is asking: is Ride 5 the much-awaited graphic slap? Well no. It may even disappoint many of you. But all is not lost. For this new opus, the developers have taken the initiative to completely rework the management of lighting, closely linked to a new volumetric modeling of clouds and therefore to the dynamic weather of the title. During the race, the light effects are strikingly realistic and offer an impressive rendering, especially in changeable and rainy weather. Special mention also for the night races, which are also hyper immersive with their shifting lights and shadows.
The paradox, I have just mentioned, is realism. A realistic approach to light implies realistic effects. And there, we immediately think of reflections. Ride 4 impressed above all with its rainy races making the asphalt sparkle with a thousand lights, offering our amazed little eyes a spectacle of visual effects. If we put Ride 4 and Ride 5 side by side, the comparison clearly plays against the youngest, while the fact remains that a very beautiful game, mastered, but less flashy and with a more bland appearance (especially in good weather) because it was intended to be more faithful to reality. Everyone will make their own judgment on the matter. I repeat once again, Ride 5 is beautiful, and combined with all these little details of running animation, dynamic weather, day/night cycle and a worked sound part, the immersion is very present.
A game accessible to all
Another essential point for any racing game that is at least simulation-oriented: its physics. From the very first moments, controller in hand, Ride 5 expresses its desire to adapt to as many people as possible. I admit that I was a little scared on my first laps as the piloting aids were present, instantly making me fear an approach that was too arcadey, abandoning the technical and demanding aspect of Ride 4. Fortunately, this is not the case. The aids are numerous and varied and can therefore be modulated as you wish and according to your level. You can thus gradually remove each of these options and play with the settings of the electronic aids (ABS, Traction Control, Anti Wheeling, etc.) to obtain what, in my opinion, is the best experience of the game, allowing you to feel the best behavior motorcycles, their weight during transitions or on braking phases in support, all helped by the haptic feedback of the Dualsense. Piloting once mastered is truly exhilarating and satisfying. With a little practice and by manually managing the gear ratios and the engine brake, you can even take pleasure in playing with your rear wheel to try approaches while sliding. Ride 5 remains a demanding game for the pickiest among you, which will require finesse, precision, and intelligent use of front and rear brakes and throttle, although everything is a bit more forgiving than its predecessor. Big black spot, however, on the trajectory aid line indicating totally distorted braking points which will quickly send you to visit the gravel pits during your first discoveries of the tracks.
You will fall, I guarantee that. And it must be admitted that the AI of your opponents will regularly be the cause as it does not make a gift, even with its basic parameters. Opponents make mistakes, miss braking points, but will have the annoying tendency to ignore you in their path and crash into you during the braking phases, a sometimes very frustrating feeling that we find on too many games of the genre. Thanks to the rewind function…
One last point on the multiplayer part of Ride 5. Nothing really new to report in this area with the classic content of this kind of game, which however integrates cross-play between all platforms. On the other hand, we are pleased to note the return of the 2-player split-screen mode, a much-requested feature that had however disappeared since Ride 2.
