Are You Interested in Motorcycle Racing Games/Sims?

motogp_2022_motorcycle_sims.jpg

Are you interested in motorcycle racing games/sims (details in comments)?

  • Yes

    Votes: 355 58.9%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 102 16.9%

  • No

    Votes: 146 24.2%
  • Total voters
    603
Racing on 2 wheels can be so very exciting. The several international motorcycle racing series prove that season over season. Yet, motorcycle games haven't really taken the sim racing field. So, what do you think about motorcycle racing games?

Now, I admit, calling most motorcycle games out there "simulations" might be a bit of a stretch, as all of them lack a certain degree of realism. Therefore, in the following paragraphs, I will be calling them "games".

Be it MotoX or Superbike, There are Bikes For Everyone!​

In the dirt, on roads, in the air or on the ground. Bikes have a variability in racing that arguably exceeds car racing. One detail that the IRL racing series show time and time again, however, is the incredible amount of overtaking. And that just makes sense.

Bikes are much smaller than cars. If they race on the same tracks, overtakes are much easier to come by, because, on tracks where cars could go 3 wide, bikes could go at least 6 wide. In racing series like the Moto3 that happens regularly. But even the larger machines have a much easier time just diving inside of their competitors cleanly.

So, if real life can make those races so close and competitive, why hasn't it taken the digital world yet?

Digital Two-Wheel Racing is Lacklustre​

There might be a few problems coming together. In fact, I own a few motorcycle racing games, but none of them could reel me in for a longer time. There's the MotoGP games which are just nothing special. A few in-development steam games are fluttering around for motox. And there's SBK 22. Which I'd rather forget altogether.

But instead of me listing up every problem that comes to mind, I'll just put the question to you:

Are you interested in motorcycle games? ​

If you have problems with them, what are the problem? And what would you suggest to make them more enjoyable? Let us know in the comments down below!
About author
Julian Strasser
Julian Strasser
Motorsports and Maker-stuff enthusiast. Part time jack-of-all-trades. Owner of tracc.eu, a sim racing-related service provider and its racing community.

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Comments

THK84
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Pete Conway
Premium
If I was rich I'd have a rig for a Motorbike sims, (not that I feel I'd use it more than a car rig... which I also don't have) but I'm not and I can't really get the feel of a bike without sitting on one, I used to ride and loved it, and often on shorter exhilarating trips forgetting to breath.
I've played a few motorbike beat-em-up games and that's ok with a controller cos it's just behind the bike and fun, but sims are for me at least immersive, and just as I can't drive from wingman cam with a controller, I can't do Bike sims without bars, and I'd feel weird sitting in the arm of the settee with a set of Handlebars.
So for me it's a no go area until the lottery win... but I don't do the lottery ;)
 
Large Style
For myself (and this is coming from a real life biker at times) I find that bike games are harder / worse / less fun to play than car games simply because of the extra bike physics that are needed to be understood to push and I can't feel these physics at all, and there's also the extra complication of the view (if playing in first person) where we also have to consider two elements (bike & rider placement) over car racings singular perspective.

When simracing cars it's always fun to push it to the limit, but for bikes it's often the complete opposite as pushing when you can't feel the bike underneath you is just stressful due to the extra calculations and therefore concentration required just to keep the damn things upright let alone actually race. This coupled with also having to constantly be aware of where the biker and bike placements are in relation to the camera (which some bike games are displayed in inaccurate or confusing pivoting ways) makes the whole experience much less fun and much more stressful.

My favourite bike game is TT on PS2 as it was very forgiving, very fast and had a great balance of simcade that made it just fun. I have the 2 newer TT games but don't play them as I can't gel with them anywhere near as much - the first for the unrealistic handling / physics, the second as I just don't have the time / commitment / patience as I had in my younger years to tackle such a challenge. I've enjoyed brief stints on MXGP and Ride 4, but again they're a bit too demanding to play (especially the latter) so I'm put off from going back to them.

One recent night I spent the first half playing Gran Tourismo Sport ragging around Nordschleife and I was fast, competitive, and consistent. I could push myself and my car to a very clear level and it was great fun and such a rewarding experience. The second half of the night I spent trying to win a singular 5 lap race around Oulton Park on Ride 4 and I was fast but kept crashing mainly due to the bike reacting in ways that I had no means to predict and recover from, and the fun stopped and frustration and eventually anger took over, which was a big buzzkill on my night.

I play games to have fun and to succeed, and I wasn't achieving either on bikes so I have to turn to cars to get my required fix!
 
P
At the moment gp bikes and mx bikes are two best sims, but for me the biggest problem in bouth is lack of ai. In gp bikes there are small nuber of players, so its hard to finde a full server, but mx bikes is a bit better with online.
 
Kveilkur
Large Style said:
For myself (and this is coming from a real life biker at times) I find that bike games are harder / worse / less fun to play than car games simply because of the extra bike physics that are needed to be understood to push and I can't feel these physics at all, and there's also the extra complication of the view (if playing in first person) where we also have to consider two elements (bike & rider placement) over car racings singular perspective.

When simracing cars it's always fun to push it to the limit, but for bikes it's often the complete opposite as pushing when you can't feel the bike underneath you is just stressful due to the extra calculations and therefore concentration required just to keep the damn things upright let alone actually race. This coupled with also having to constantly be aware of where the biker and bike placements are in relation to the camera (which some bike games are displayed in inaccurate or confusing pivoting ways) makes the whole experience much less fun and much more stressful.

My favourite bike game is TT on PS2 as it was very forgiving, very fast and had a great balance of simcade that made it just fun. I have the 2 newer TT games but don't play them as I can't gel with them anywhere near as much - the first for the unrealistic handling / physics, the second as I just don't have the time / commitment / patience as I had in my younger years to tackle such a challenge. I've enjoyed brief stints on MXGP and Ride 4, but again they're a bit too demanding to play (especially the latter) so I'm put off from going back to them.

One recent night I spent the first half playing Gran Tourismo Sport ragging around Nordschleife and I was fast, competitive, and consistent. I could push myself and my car to a very clear level and it was great fun and such a rewarding experience. The second half of the night I spent trying to win a singular 5 lap race around Oulton Park on Ride 4 and I was fast but kept crashing mainly due to the bike reacting in ways that I had no means to predict and recover from, and the fun stopped and frustration and eventually anger took over, which was a big buzzkill on my night.

I play games to have fun and to succeed, and I wasn't achieving either on bikes so I have to turn to cars to get my required fix!
Click to expand...
Fascinating. Tell us more, please.
 
DirkW
Yes I am, but I would much more be interested in an offshore powerboat racing simulator because I could use my entire race car simracing equipment including motion rig, shakers and hopefully VR with it. How extremely cool would this be to race against other powerboats over the ocean, jumping waves and whitecaps, with a super powerful engine??
 
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DRDNA333
If there was sim gear for cycles then yes all day long but no way on a controller. There are no cost effective sim gear solutions so i voted no.
 
S
Yes I do the MC games Isle of Man TT and Race 4, but only on rare occasions, and solely with keyboard controller, often left the feeling of regret, longing after the good times, comes brushing up inside me.

MC games surely had my interest in the arcade console game halls with dedicated MC rigs during the 1980ies, when I had urge for more immersion factor than my C64 'Speed King' MC game was able to deliver, though excellent local version of the Arcade Joystick.
Sadly, cannot remember the arcade hall MC titles, but especially two games delivered all what immersion takes speaking MC rigs, requiring quite some body force leaning on the bike body for a 9-13 yo, and almost more 'real sim' than 'arcade' like, since timing of negotiating corner apex was crusial.

Which was far more sim-realated that any other of the four-wheel arcade games could deliver.
I.e. the extra crucial physical layer of immersion was already there.

I clearly remember my thoughts by then was that MC rigs would surely be for households in the future, just with better graphics.

And my MC experience from the game halls could even be used a few years later taking my MC driver license

But turned out not to be the trend, sadfully, instead MC simrig has become a real niche genre.

Today's Ride4 and IoM TT 'ridden' with keyboard controller is pretty darn far from those good physical immersions from arcade console game halls with thr physical MC sim rigs.

I remember racing a couple of MC games round the millenium, the one reflecting that time's Superbike World Championship and the other the 500cc championship.

Both millenium MC games worked out pretty well, even better than modern MC sim/game releases...
 
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T
Of course, but the bike sim scene became rather stale over the years. Milestone has the monopoly for almost 15 years. I mean i like their products but we need more.
If only somebody could make a proper game out of GPBikes and MXBikes. More content, a bit better graphics and sounds and you have the best bike sim in history. Modders have been porting bikes, riders and even tracks from Milestone's Ride and MotoGP but there's only a few of them. Just a few minutes ago i was lapping around Kyalami on a 999R. What an experience this simulator is.
There's also TrackDayR but the developers aren't taking it very seriously and it's kinda janky.
 
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