Time to once again burn rubber on the MotoGP race circuit with the yearly return of the series. MotoGP 21 once again grips the track, offering a roster of 120 riders, along with another 40+ historic riders and bikes, as well as 20 iconic official tracks for its annual release. It’s more than enough content to get the burning tire smell a new player like myself craves after flexing my rainbow road mastery!

Start Your Engines

From the first lap, MotoGP has always prided itself on its realism and rightly so. It’s a simulation game that rewards players who perfect their skills which is no easy feat. The game bends players to its will with realistic bike power and control along with a game A.I. that keeps the opponents challenging even on easy difficulty. A racing game that takes itself this seriously isn’t something I’d usually pick up, but some part of me was keen to give a motorbike simulator a go. The idea of racing neck and neck with competitor times on tracks all around the globe hits an itch I’ve had since Melbourne’s first lockdown.

For those unfamiliar with the event or the previous game iterations of MotoGP, high-speed purpose-built motorbikes are pit against each other in weekend-long bouts before they travel to the next one. The bikes themselves can reach a deadly 300 kph and the riders have an innate control over their mechanical beasts. It’s also incredibly dangerous and yet the riders still do it! I’m very glad the worst I feel is some thumping vibrations when I crashed playing the game.

The Game Modes

The game contains a decent offering of modes, again geared towards the realism of the game so you won’t find any Balloon Battle here.

– Quick Modes: Easy access to instant adrenaline. I appreciated this area of the game because it allowed me to hone my bike skills on different tracks and find what works for me. Grand Prix drops you straight into a weekend-long event while Championship lets you undertake your own playlist of racetracks without the practice sessions and the qualifiers. Between those is the humble Time Trial mode where you can flex your best times on the global leaderboard.

– Tutorials Mode: Go here first if you’ve never played MotoGP before, please – or you’ll endure the same humbling first few races as I did. There are also some Advanced Sessions which I came back to after a few races, although definitely run through the Basic Sessions at least once. They’re quite rewarding at building confidence.

– Career Mode: The business end of this simulator game. This mode encompasses all the off-track goings-on before the big weekend competitions. While overwhelming at first, it allows one to hire staff and invest in bike developments to enhance racing ability.

– Multiplayer Mode: This features all options for online play with friends or joining other game lobbies.

Taking Control

I think what I enjoy the most is how seriously the game prides itself on conveying the full experience of MotoGP. It’s something I’ve never gotten the chance to experience or attend, likely due to how much it moves around. I think of all the yearly release sports games, MotoGP is the one that catches my eye most of all. Who doesn’t like the allure of motorbikes? And the men in tight leather doesn’t hurt either. It’s really this hyper-masculine space that’s also bizarrely colourful.

After my initial false start with this game, I grinded through the tutorial and moved on to the Time Trials and began playing the assorted tracks by order of interest. I’m definitely biased but I have to say the track that I had the most fun on was Australia’s own Phillip Island motorcycle raceway. I didn’t see any Hemsworth’s but it was weirdly validating to count laps at an Australian track.

Careening away from Career Mode

Career mode was a formidable beast early on as I was still learning the ropes as the explanations it provides really didn’t help someone who lacked general motorbike racing knowledge. The progression in this mode is a week-by-week style event similar to a turn-based game. Some weeks there is a Grand Prix, and other weeks staff have to be paid, and then the in-between time you can research and customize the bike. Honestly, I didn’t see the value in this mode but I can see why others might. It adds context to the wins and losses while just the races by themselves are isolated. Career mode forces you to take accountability and push your team through the season.

I do truly have to thank the game’s dedicated photo mode on the pause menu for giving me the freedom to snap many photos of my player character enduring crash after crash early on. Honestly, it kept me sane during a time of great failure and adversity.

Dead Face NPCs

The game includes a character creation element beyond the in-game leather suit and bike which actually shocked me. You can select your player’s face which is barely seen in-game unless you’re on a menu screen or the stylised preparation screens. It seems like the game purposely wants the player’s character forgettable so as to allow the player to live the fantasy once the helmet is on.

It didn’t take me long to realise that the character preset faces from the customization menu are the same as those present in MotoGP 2020. I respect their commitment to the old batch of generic preset faces but I’m a little surprised they don’t opt for a more neutral player character/mascot.

The Finish Line

I have no doubt MotoGP 21 will be popular with its core base of fans who worship the yearly release for its incredible realism and experience. I enjoyed my time with the game, though it certainly came at the cost of forcing myself to endure the steep learning curve. I’d grind hours into a track in preparation for the main event and I’d still feel like I didn’t stand a chance against the A.I. racers. I don’t see myself devoting time to this game in the long term as a new player, though the thrill of a high-speed and realistic racer is clearly felt.