Game review: Rev far into the horizon with Ride 5

Ride 5 game.

Back in late 2020, there was a viral footage of a bike zipping through the streets of UK, rain on the screen and puddles pasted across the asphalt. Mistaken for an excellently captured Go-Pro footage, this video blew the minds of viewers when they found out it was from a video game called Ride 4. The video got so popular that almost immediately, gamers across started talking more about the Ride series than ever before.

Living up to that realism that exceeded expectations, developer Milestone S.r.l pulled another rabbit out of its hat with its latest iteration, Ride 5. We’ve played countless hours of this game and here are our impressions of this title that doesn’t leave the throttle.

Precision riding, unforgiven simulation

Ride 5 is not your average motorcycle racing game. It unabashedly provides a simulation and realism that push bike fanatics who love to tame beasts, to the edge. Your turns are not going to be simple, and the brakes are more of your best friend than the throttle if you’re a newcomer. Kicking things off with a short cutscene (albeit with a cheesy narration to supposedly get you hyped), Ride 5 immediately displays just how you’re either taking corners meticulously or stumbling into a ragdoll for the next five seconds.

Holding the line is extremely important and this is something the game has carried forward from Ride 4. The handling definitely seems tighter than before but purposefully so because you’re expected to spend a significant amount of time later to tweak the bikes to your play style.

Technologically advanced with incremental visual change

Accessibility features

Milestone has loaded Ride 5 with a lot of advancements which offer incremental improvements in the visuals. At first glance, these may not be as noticeable since it’s probably been a year since you played Ride 4, if at all. You are now presented with a dynamic weather system which generates realistic weather changes. It took us a couple of sessions to really experience this but the immersion of the ride itself is probably going to take your attention away from the sailing 3D clouds. Still it’s a great touch and shows the passion of the developers for the game. The lighting reflections off the bike and the roads is still top notch and noticeable in every weather. However, sunshine is where it truly stands out making wallpaper like experiences on every frame.

Career progression and accessibility

Customize from the lowest layers.

Career progression in this game is a time-tested ranking system against your rivals. Going from simple low cc bikes to absolute beast like machines that make you feel like a god on a steed, the career progression doesn’t feel arduous but definitely challenging. Owing to just how tight the handling can be and different for different tracks, emerging victorious in a season feels absolutely fulfilling. Progression also comprises of secondary events that are only available based on your skill level. This is a high risk, high reward system that can totally make or break your racing career which adds an extra element of challenge.

The game presents you with a trove of accessibility features to help you fine tune the realism. Simplified to Pro, you can customise the presets for handling, braking, transmission and more and really find the sweet spot that makes the game enjoyable for you. There are plenty of racing aids that you can tweak to your requirements to help you feel comfortable.

Bikes, a lot of bikes

Starting off with a small garage with the bare minimum, Ride 5 has a potential of a whopping 270 real bikes, each more expensive than the last. Name the manufacturer and it’s highly likely that they’ve popped the bike right into the roster. Plenty of care and attention to detail has been put into rendering these bikes for screens of all sizes. You can notice this when exploring through the garage v each of them are fully customisable in terms of looks, paint jobs, liveries and more. I was in awe with just the sheer depth of tuning I can give the base coat of my bike’s paint and the layers of canvases that popped up before my eyes as I dived in further.

First-person view.

Each of these fully customisable bikes can be taken across 40-plus tracks — both real and fictitious, each having their speed traps, chicanes and turns designed to leave you at the edge of your seat. The tracks looks different in differing weather conditions, giving a level of unparalleled immersion to the rider.

Photo mode

Of course, there’s a photo mode to play around with! While it wasn’t as comprehensive as we would have loved it to be, it does the job for creating those wallpaper moments you want to capture during your high-stakes races. The game’s AI also takes automatic shots for you and presents them at the end of the race with options for you to pick from in case you don’t want to invest that time, manually keying those knobs to fashion picturesque memories.

Who should play Ride 5?

If you’re a sucker for high-octane bikes, play Ride 5. If you love challenging races that make every input from your device purposeful, play Ride 5. If you love to come back home to a fantasy career of living on the edge flying at 250-plus kmph on a superbike which you could only dream of owning, play Ride 5. This is the ideal simulation motorcycle racing game, for amateurs and pros alike, that fits every check-box and is a major step up over its predecessor in almost every way.

Reviewed on Playstation 5. Also available on Xbox Series X|S and WindowsReview code provided by Games The Shop