RIDE 2

My first instinct when booting up RIDE 2 was to check if it had split-screen for Saturday night sessions, and yes, local split-screen is confirmed in the mode list. That said, this is not the game you pull out for four drunk friends who have never touched a motorbike sim. This is a game for the person in your group who has a Ducati poster on their wall and will spend thirty minutes in the garage menu before ever hitting the track. The roster is the main event. We're talking over 170 bikes at base, spanning categories from naked street bikes and café racers to two-stroke legends, Supermotos, and 1000cc Superbikes from manufacturers including Yamaha, Triumph, Ducati, BMW, Kawasaki, and KTM. Each class genuinely handles differently. Jumping from a 250cc sportbike, where corner speed is everything, up to a 1000cc Superbike is a humbling experience. The bigger machines will punish any hint of impatience at turn-in. That variety in handling alone gives the bike roster real purpose beyond being a cosmetic catalogue. Customisation goes deep too, with over 1,200 parts to tune across five mechanical categories, plus rider clothing and an adjustable riding pose editor that will appeal to the obsessive types. Progression follows a Gran Turismo-style loop through the World Tour: race, earn credits, buy or upgrade bikes, unlock the next tier of events. The four career categories (Urban Style, Street Icons, Hyper Sport, and Pro Racing) each demand a different riding approach, and the Amateur, Rookie, and Veteran difficulty tiers mean there is room to find your footing before the AI starts punishing sloppy braking. Beyond career, there are twelve modes total, including Time Trials, Supermoto Races, Point-to-Point events, daily and weekly challenges, drag races, and slalom cone courses. The Team vs. Team online mode lets you build a three-person crew to compete in ranked leaderboards, which is a genuinely fun wrinkle for players with friends who also own the title. Real-world tracks including the Nurburgring Nordschleife, Macau Grand Prix circuit, and the Ulster Grand Prix are highlights for road racing fans. Where the game stumbles is predictable Milestone territory. The visuals were already showing their age at launch, with bike models looking sharp but environments looking flat and sparse. Sound design is a mixed bag. AI behaviour is inconsistent and the career grind can feel repetitive once the novelty of the bike collection wears off. Online multiplayer has a thin player population at this point, so finding full lobbies requires patience or friends with copies. The physics assist system is broad enough that newcomers can dial down the simulation to something approachable, but the lack of clear in-game tutorials means some players will wrestle with the controls longer than necessary before finding their comfort settings. A community-built unofficial patch has also been floating around since 2017 that fixes a number of lingering bugs, which tells you something about the post-launch support. For the dedicated two-wheel enthusiast who wants the closest thing to a Gran Turismo experience on a motorcycle, RIDE 2 still holds up as the most content-heavy option in that narrow lane. Casual players and anyone expecting arcade-style forgiveness will bounce off it. Controller works fine for most, though a gamepad with good analogue triggers makes cornering feel much more natural than keyboard inputs ever will.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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