RIDE 6 Review – Threading Needles at 200kph

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Okay, so as someone who loves racing games, let me tell you, riding a motorcycle at its absolute limit is intense. It’s all about being super precise, having tons of patience, and being brave enough to really push it – one wrong move and you’re wiping out! That’s what RIDE 6 is trying to nail. It’s got a huge selection of bikes, really detailed simulation stuff under the hood, but it also feels way more welcoming to new players than previous games. Milestone clearly made this to bring in newcomers while still keeping the hardcore riders who want everything to feel realistic happy.

Having spent a lot of time playing, I can say that RIDE 6 largely lives up to its promises. The realistic physics make winning feel truly rewarding, and the game keeps you hooked as you improve. While the visuals and festival setting aren’t perfect, the game’s incredible attention to detail when it comes to motorcycles is what really stands out.

When driving in Pro mode, it’s crucial to brake sooner than you normally would, carefully control your speed through turns, and accelerate smoothly and gently.

Okay, so I’m new to this game, and RIDE 6 is really trying to show me how connected you feel to your bike. They’ve got two ways to ride: the old ‘Pro’ mode, which is pretty realistic, and a brand new ‘Arcade’ mode designed for beginners like me. Honestly, the Arcade mode isn’t just a simple start, it feels like the game is helping me stay upright! At first, the difference between the two modes doesn’t feel that big, even in the early races.

While Arcade mode makes bike handling easier, it also simplifies the experience by removing detailed customization and electronic settings, prioritizing quick reactions over realism. This creates a racing experience that’s easy to pick up but doesn’t offer much depth. Combined with the new Bridgestone Riding School tutorials in RIDE 6, the game gently guides players towards the more complex Pro mode, making the transition feel natural and expected.

The game offers a variety of helpful accessibility features, like color filters, simplified controls for one-handed play, options to manage sounds for those with tinnitus, and adjustable game speed—I even slowed it down by 15 points when I first started playing. These features make the game easier for new players to pick up without changing the core experience.

When you switch to Pro mode in RIDE 6, mastering the nuances of bike control is key. This means braking earlier than feels natural, carefully managing your speed through corners, and applying the throttle smoothly. Unlike cars, bikes require a precise balance between speed and lean angle. Slow down too much, and the bike will lean over sharply; go too fast, and you risk losing control. RIDE 6’s tutorial system focuses on helping you find that sweet spot, and the feeling of a perfect lap is incredibly rewarding when you do.

Getting your machine perfectly tuned also improves how well you understand it. Small changes to things like gears, suspension, and brakes might not seem like much on their own, but together they can make all the difference in a close race. For example, adjusting gears for a higher top speed can be great for a track like Daytona, but it can also make the back of the bike less stable. You’ll need to fine-tune the suspension to compensate. Ultimately, though, your riding skill is more important than any setup. It’s about finding the balance between a well-prepared machine and your ability to ride it to its full potential.

Bridgestone’s Riding School helps you become a skilled rider through short, easy-to-understand lessons. You’ll start with the basics and then move on to more advanced techniques, including how to use electronic rider aids, handle wet conditions, and master challenging turns.

If you choose the ‘Pro’ riding style in RIDE 6, it’s more challenging, but incredibly rewarding. Mastering it requires precision and a good understanding of how bikes handle. When you get it right – hitting your braking points, perfectly navigating corners, and smoothly controlling the throttle – it feels like a flawless, high-speed run. This creates a sense of flow that’s rare in racing games, and it’s where the game’s realistic bike physics truly shine.

Bridgestone’s Riding School helps you become a skilled rider through short, easy-to-understand lessons. It starts with the basics and then moves on to more advanced techniques like using electronic rider aids, handling wet conditions, and mastering chicanes. A key benefit of the training is how the simulation’s realistic feedback – through controller vibrations and trigger resistance on the PS5’s DualSense – lets you feel the grip, pressure, and surface of the road, making the experience more than just mechanical.

While the school is generally well-paced, it’s not perfect. Some lessons are too strict, demanding a single racing line even when faster times are still possible with a different approach. This rigidity almost clashes with the freedom of motorcycling, where riders usually have multiple ways to tackle a track. It’s a small issue, but having to repeat lessons you could easily complete in a real race led me to stop using the school after learning the fundamentals and instead practice by racing against others.

Building on the enjoyable freedom and community of motorcycle riding, RIDE 6 now structures its progression around a festival atmosphere. This system will feel familiar to players of Forza Horizon, though it doesn’t offer the same open-world exploration. RIDE Fest takes you through a wide variety of events focused on different types of motorcycles and riding styles. New competitions become available often, and you’ll earn Fame Points at a good rate to unlock them. With a constant flow of races, qualifying laps, head-to-head challenges, endurance runs, and off-road events, the game always feels like you’re moving forward. This feeling is enhanced by a constantly expanding collection of beautifully designed bikes that you can win as prizes, buy new or used, or even rent using the credits you earn.

What really sets RIDE Fest apart is the chance to compete against ten of the world’s best riders in events designed around their unique skills. Whether you’re a dedicated fan of MotoGP legend Casey Stoner or Isle of Man TT record holder Peter Hickman, or new to the sport, the game quickly establishes each rider’s impressive reputation. Some challenges are even presented as epic boss battles, making you feel like you’re truly fighting for your place in motorcycle racing history. Milestone wants you, the player, to be as central to RIDE 6 as the bikes themselves, and it’s clear they’ve poured their passion for motorcycle culture into the game.

The new off-road racing game doesn’t feel very realistic. You get little sense of the terrain – there’s hardly any dirt kicking up, and the surfaces don’t feel reactive. The sound design is also off; the crowd noise sounds unnatural, with cheers in empty areas and noticeable looping that breaks the immersion.

The festival concept is strongest in its structure and the way it highlights exciting new racing categories like Bagger racing and Maxi Enduro cross-country. However, it falls a little short when it comes to creating a genuine atmosphere. While the event has visual appeal with things like hot air balloons, it often feels more like a staged presentation than a true celebration of motorcycling. The ‘live paddock’ area, in particular, feels more decorative than immersive.

Whether you’re racing on paved roads or off-road, RIDE 6 consistently creates exciting and competitive races, even when other racers aren’t as skilled as you are. The game lets you adjust the difficulty and how aggressively the AI opponents race, giving you control over the challenge. However, the AI isn’t always perfect; opponents sometimes bump into you or collide from behind as if they don’t see you. While these moments don’t ruin the experience – and are balanced by the AI making its own errors, just like human racers – they can slightly break the feeling of realism that the game’s excellent bike physics otherwise create.

As a huge motorcycle fan, I have to say the graphics in RIDE 6 are incredible! They’re using Unreal Engine 5, and it really shows – the lighting and weather effects make the game world feel so much more immersive. I’ve been playing on a base PS5 and it runs flawlessly, consistently delivering a smooth 60 frames per second in vibrant 4K. But honestly, the best part is the bikes themselves. They’ve clearly put a ton of work into modeling each one with amazing detail. If RIDE 6 is a celebration of motorcycles, it’s most obvious in how stunningly they’ve recreated these machines – some of them are seriously powerful-looking, even a little intimidating!

While the game looks good overall, some areas aren’t as polished. The new off-road racing feels unrealistic – you don’t get a strong sense of how the vehicle interacts with the terrain, and there’s not much visual feedback like dirt spraying. The sound design also has issues. Crowd noises often don’t match what’s happening on screen, and you can clearly hear the sound loops repeating. You can adjust the sound volume and use presets in the settings, but there are no specific options to optimize the audio for headphones, which is a noticeable oversight.

Whether you’re skillfully navigating Suzuka’s challenging Esses or expertly handling Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew, RIDE 6 delivers a uniquely thrilling and precise racing experience.

The engine sounds in the game are impressively realistic across all bike types – from the deep rumble of touring bikes to the sharp bursts of dirt bikes and the high-pitched wail of superbikes. Even the scooters sound authentically reedy. It’s a shame, though, that the overall sound design isn’t as refined as the engine sounds themselves, because it holds back the game from being fully immersive.

Despite some flaws in how it’s presented and a festival mode that doesn’t quite come alive, RIDE 6 truly shines when you’re actually riding a bike. The game perfectly captures the feeling of speed and freedom that makes motorbike racing so exciting. Especially try the Ulster GP course – its tight, winding roads are genuinely thrilling and intense, just like the real experience.

Learning to ride and getting started is easier than ever thanks to helpful features and a clear tutorial. Whether you’re a casual player or a dedicated biker, there’s plenty of interesting content to enjoy in RIDE 6. While it doesn’t quite capture the full spirit of motorcycle culture, it’s the most polished and complete competitive racing experience in the series so far. The game truly shines when you’re skillfully navigating challenging turns like Suzuka’s Esses or Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew, delivering a unique and thrilling racing sensation.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

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2026-02-10 20:43