Ride 4 PS5 – My Experience

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Fast Facts

Ride 4

Developer: Milestone SRL
Publisher: Milestone SRL
Website: https://ridevideogame.com/
Genre: Racing, Simulation, Sports
Platform: PS5
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: PS4 08/10/2020 PS5 21/01/2021
Price: £49.99

A code was provided for review purposes.

Having enjoyed Milestone’s MXGP 2020, when I saw that Ride 4 was available for review I was excited to try out a tarmac-based motorcycle racing game. Very quickly into the game, I realised that Ride 4’s difficulty was above my few motorcycle skills. As such, you will not find a review score at the bottom of this page but instead, this article will share my thoughts about Ride 4, or at least some of the gameplay I’ve been able to experience.

Customisation of Character and Cycle

I’ll begin this article by addressing features I have been able to experience. First of all, are the customisation options and motorcycles on offer. At the beginning of the game, I was given some options to customise my racer and, whilst the options to alter the face design seemed futile thanks to a helmet present throughout the entire game, I was impressed by the variety of options available with more clothes unlockable in the in-game store. Likewise, there’s simply an abundance of motorcycles from all manner of different companies; some of them I had heard of before and others entirely new to me.

These bikes can be purchased with in-game credits unlocked by racing in the free and career mode but fortunately, some are available to loan for free if you opt for a free mode race which gave me a great way to experience different types without needing to obtain the 10s of thousands (at minimum) of credits needed to purchase the latest motorcycles. Once you’ve purchased your brand new vehicle, there’s once again a wealth of customisation. With the livery editor, I was placing stickers, decals and splashing on new colour (or no colour thanks to my enjoyment of a monochromatic design). I’m sure this feature will be ignored by the many players opting for a high-octane experience but my creative-mind liked designing a bike I was proud to show off.

Too Hot To Handle

Unfortunately not every part of Ride 4 was as easy to use. As a newcomer to the series, I was immediately disheartened by the difficulty. The career mode offered three regions to begin my motorcycling venture in and I opted for Asia. As is evident, I don’t know too much about motorcycle racing but I do know Japan is acclaimed for its motorbikes which is why I selected this region. To start racing other racers, I can only assume that the Asia qualifiers need to be passed.

This brings me to my main issue with Ride 4. The qualifiers alone were immensely difficult for me. Time trials and speed gates required dozens of attempts with my time in the final qualifier being way above the needed threshold to advance. Even with rider assists on and following the trajectory as best I could, my attempts were futile. I thought that getting some practice with the free mode would prove useful but even with the easiest A.I difficulty enabled, I got a scenic view from the back of the pack. I’ve played racing games before and have never experienced this level of challenge in a game from this genre.  

The handling itself felt good to control with precise braking allowing me to perform tight manoeuvres in corners that felt like a u-turn. The PS5’s horsepower offers some fantastic and smooth graphics, and the haptics of the controller offered a suitable ‘bump’ when I drifted off the tarmac onto the edge of the track. Adaptive triggers are in full force to simulate the brake handle, kicking back with changes of speed.

DNF

Ride 4 does a lot of things right thanks to its tight handling, PS5 powered graphics and wealth of motorcycle options. I can’t speak for the rest of the career mode but there has been a diverse spread of tracks so far. Unfortunately, its difficulty means that I can only recommend this title to those experienced with Ride or wanting a genuine challenge; requiring hours of precise practice. Because of my low-level of skills, it seems unfair to award a final review score to Ride 4 but I hope my novice judgement has been useful when deciding whether this game is one for you.

You can purchase Ride 5 on the PS store here.