Ride 4

For PC, Xbox and PlayStation

I’ve raced arcade and simulators on and off for years, games such as in the Need For Speed Series, Drive, Forza Horizon 4 and simulators like Gran Turismo 6, Project Cars 1 and 2. With games like Gran Turismo 6, I’ve bought, upgraded and tuned over 900 cars. I also tune cars in Project Cars 1 and 2. I love racing but I’m not a gear head. I’ve had to go online for the most part, and learn what toe angles were, camber angles, right height, effects for downforce, pretty much everything that applies to a simulator.

Each of these games come with some level up tuning and and the ability to add upgrades. However, when it comes to motorcycle racing, I’ve never played a motorcycle simulator until now. Ride 4 is the first time ever that I’ve attempted at a motorcycle simulator and I’m not sure if it’s considered a full on sim. Never the less, Rid 4, in itself is a beautiful racing game with added frustrations.

Starting Out

I started of in the intro when you have to pass a test to move onto other events in the game. For someone like me that comes from racing cars different kinds of cars, it took a while to get use to racing a bike, taking a race line, knowing when to turn, It wasn’t difficult but it did take time to get use to. Although, the principle of taking a race line remains the same. After finishing the intro, you can jump into races and race any track to earn money, to buy upgrades and new bikes. There’s around 34 tracks with multiple layouts for many of the tracks.

Circuit & Street Racing

One thing that attracted me to Ride 4 was the mix of circuit and street races. Many of the circuit tracks I’ve race in other games, like Monza, Brans Hatch and one of my top favorites, Nürburgring also known as The Green Hell, it was a joy to race on these tacks in a motorcycle. Sadly, Silverstone wasn’t added. One street race I like a lot is the French Riviera and the Okayama International Circuit in Japan. I think it would have been nice to see additional tracks even if it were fictional or, have gamers create there own tracks to download a race. A testing track could have been added as well. A testing track is good to test out top speed and cornering. This can also be done through free roam, another feature that’s missing. Testing out you bikes is a good way to set up different tunes.

Bike Manufactures

Ride 4 has a vast selection of motorcycles from there manufactures, many of the brands we’re familiar with, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, BMW, Ducati, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, KTM and other brands as well. Each of bikes comes in it’s on class. For example Class 400 to 599 so, you can race choose a bike to race in that falls with in that class. You can upgrade your bike to race in high classes or keep it around the class you like to race in. You can upgrade the engine, exhaust, dog clutch, brakes, suspensions, rims and tires. When equipping racing tires, you can choose from Soft, Medium, Hard or Wet for when it rains. Each of the bikes sound and feel different.

24 Hour LeMans

One aspect about race/multiplayer that I love, is being able to increase the speed of time by x60. Doing this, allowed me to run a 4 lap LeMans style race in Nürburgring. I started the time at 8:00 and the race ended around 6:00am. I’ve always wanted to run a “LeMans using bikes and now I did and I can continue to do so. I can also set the whether condition, time of day, time compression, It’s really well done. However, no snow to choose from.

A.I.’s Are Not That Bright

Ride 4 has a wide range of events, however, racing with NPC’s can be a bit annoying from the from the grid. Some take off like as if they hit Mach one and for some ironic reason, bikes just have to crash after the race starts, every single time. It’s annoying. Some of the A.I. have no sense of awareness, they just try to drive thorough you. When this happens, I get knocked off and start again in last place. It’s cool to see some bikes just eat it but on a constant bases, especially from the starting grid. Accidents should happen but it should be speared out and not all the time.

Each bike that I’ve raced on has fantastic handling. Granted, not all bikes are the same and I spend most of the time falling off the bike or watchin my bike hit a curve and it jumps 100 feet in the air and I’m thrown around like a used up rag dolls. It’s quite funny because it’s never the same. Or, falling in the middle of the track and you just get run over lie you’re not even there. I just find it funny.

Penalties Are Annoying and Overdone

But I will tell you what it’s not funny and what kills Ride 4 for me. Ride 4 is a beautiful game, I can hit btween134 to 150 FPS, when you go at high speeds, you can here the wind just blowing inside your headphones. It’s gives you this sense of speed. However, the penalties are extremely annoying and it’s over doing it. I spend over and hour in Monza, racing the Stock 1,000 cc Cup with my Ducati S class 899, for every corner I took, for every lap I completed it was one penalty after another penalty. Time after time that I would finish first place, I would be placed second or lower due to time penalties. There is no way for me to obtain goal in the Stock 1K cc Cup due to all the penalties.

I jumped on the Imola circuit and I would get a penalties from the grid, or going to fast or turning, it was and is annoying. There is not in-game explanation, no in-game tutorial explaining how to avoid all this moronic penalties. Ride 4 dose not offer and option to either turn the penalties of, or, have and option with Lite, Medium or Strong Penalties for you to choose. It’s just down right annoying and frustrating. However, in multiplayer, you can turn the penalties off if you like. This option is not available for career mode. Or, like I said, have an option to set the strength of the penalties, for example, cutting corners only. I think that with a patch, penalties can be in a much better place.