MotoGP 24 Xbox Review – High Realism, Adaptive Difficulty

MotoGP 24 revs up its engines today as it launches on consoles and PC. Developed by Milestone SRL, I admit this is my first time playing a MotoGP title. I have played the RIDE series of games and enjoyed the progression of technology and visuals, and now having played MotoGP 24 I found this much more difficult to control. There are four difficulty pre-sets, and within these you can tune specific options to your ability. MotoGP 24 goes even further with a new adaptive difficulty that dynamically adjusts the AI’s performance as you race. This made progression feel real, even for a rookie rider like myself and I enjoyed the game more with each practice, qualifying and championship race.

Playing this game on the Xbox Series X, the first thing that struck me was the visuals. The bikes look incredibly detailed, and your rider is too, with the ability to customise the racer’s look from several presets, and then you are able to change the suit, gloves, helmet to your favourite brands. You are able to modify colour highlights as well, but as I didn’t recognise too many brands, I just went with what was default. From there we go into the different game modes of Grand Prix, Championship and Time Trial. In career mode, after completing a debut season in Moto3, players can then choose to race in Moto2 or MotoGP.

When selecting which diffculty preset you wanted, I loved being able to do some test races at the different game experience/difficulty levels before locking one in, though you can adjust this at any point later. For me there was a large increase in difficulty going from simplified to intermediate. With simplified, much of the acceleration, braking and leaning is done for you, which is almost on rails, but I still slid out on some corners and bumped into riders on straights if I didn’t brake early enough or leant too far.

Going up to intermediate was such a huge leap in difficulty for me. Even with the on-track speed line, I would brake too hard or too late, and slide/crash off the track often. There is a rewind option with ‘RB’, but it was too big a difficulty leap for me while learning the game. I used simplified for the first couple of hours until I gained some muscle memory of the tracks and watched other riders for how much they leaned into and out of corners to maximise their tyre traction for acceleration. It’s a steady learning curve and I appreciated having practice races to hone my riding lines before tackling qualifying and then the championship races.

For complete newcomers to the MotoGP series like myself, there are tutorials to practice as well as a MotoGP Academy that acts as your personal riding school. Here, you can hone your skills in a safe environment before graduating to the big leagues. If you still need a little extra support, the neural assistance system can be adjusted to help with steering, braking, and throttle control, smoothing out your learning curve. It was an enjoyable learning experience without any frustrations and I could feel my skills growing the more I raced.

The Xbox Series X flexes its graphical muscles in MotoGP 24 with racetracks recreated based on their iconic real-life locations such as Mugello and Sepang, bringing them to life in stunning detail. Similar to the recent RIDE 5, peripheral characters like race stewards and team members aren’t as detailed as your rider avatar, but I will take that for having a perfectly smooth racing experience on the track. These visuals are backed by smooth, high-performance gameplay, ensuring a seamless experience as you hurtle towards victory at breakneck speeds.

For more seasoned veterans and motorbike enthusiasts, MotoGP 24 has revamped the physics with a new electronic tuning system that promises a more nuanced control experience, particularly when it comes to managing power delivery through tight corners. This translates to a more realistic feel for the weight and handling of the bikes, making every manoeuver feel deliberate and consequential. You get choices of which tyre compounds to use during races, with the game recommending a set based on the weather and track location.

Milestone has added a MotoGP stewards system which introduces race penalties for reckless riding. There were times where I would accidentally bump into another racer either on a straight or a corner, and thankfully it wasn’t intentional enough to be picked up. However, I went slightly off course on one corner, crossing over the red/white curb and got penalised by that lap’s timer not counted in the practice round. Some penalties will include time penalties added to your total race time, a long lap penalty, or if you gained a position unfairly, you have to give it back within a certain time. Thankfully I haven’t experience any of these in my races so far.

After each race, a fellow rider will comment on your performance and you are given options as to how you respond. You can be cordial and supportive, or more aggressive, and this will affect your relations within the team and within the sport through the riders transfer market. Both yourself and the AI riders might be proposed to change teams as the racing seasons progress, including promotion between race classes. Your replies to post-race comments could fuel rumours about possible team transfers on social media within the game’s career mode menu. It’s an interesting dynamic to consider as you go from race to race.

In terms of multiplayer and online modes, there is 2-12 online multiplayer, and it is cross-platform as well. You can choose to just play with other riders on your platform which is good to have the option. You can also play local 2-player splitscreen racing. In addition, there is a monthly LiveGP ranked championship consisting of 10 events per month that take place during weekdays and weekends. Players can challenge each other to prove their riding abilities and shine on leaderboards. Milestone has said they will be releasing a Race Director online mode later this year.

Overall, MotoGP 24 on Xbox Series X has been a step up in race difficulty for me compared to RIDE 5, but I felt a steady increase in my skills and race finish positions as a result. With a focus on dynamic AI competitiveness with the adaptive difficulty, stunning visuals, and a revamped physics system, the game has been highly engaging for me as a newcomer to the series. It offers an experience with multiple racing options and highly customisable physics features that caters to both MotoGP diehards and newcomers alike. The monthly LiveGP events will also be a good option to return to the game regularly, as well as updates to race liveries.

This review utilised an Xbox key provided by Plaion ANZ and MotoGP launches May 2 on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC.

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