Chris InglisThe RIDE series of games from Milestone has been a staple for motorcycle enthusiasts since it first hit the scene in 2015. After spending over 70 hours combined with RIDE 4 and finding RIDE 5 to be a polished but rigid experience, I went into RIDE 6 on the Xbox Series X with high hopes for the new “Ride Fest” structure. Milestone has clearly taken notes from the Forza Horizon playbook, and for a casual fan like me, it’s exactly the shot of adrenaline the series needed to add some variety.
Having put some seriously fun hours into the game so far, the biggest takeaway is the freedom. In RIDE 5, the career mode felt like a linear grind. You were often locked into a specific bike style for race after race until you cleared a tier and if you struggled with a time trial or just couldn’t get past 4th place, it often ended in frustrating play sessions. I went back and reinstalled RIDE 5 recently to make sure my memories were correct and it was certainly a slog getting through the championships.
RIDE 6 breaks this monotony in numerous ways and provided the perfect balance of variety for me who likes to regularly change scenery, bikes, and race types. If I hit a wall with a difficult time trial, I don’t have to get frustrated. I can do one of two things, either do a different race in that bracket to be able to unlock the next bracket events or rewards. Alternatively, I can jump into a different festival area entirely, moving from sportbikes on tarmac to the new dirt bike racing, or browsing new and used bikes for sale to prepare for upcoming races. The variety kept the gameplay loop fresh and my burnout at bay.
The Ride Fest structure is effectively a massive, interconnected map of themed chapters that replace the old linear ladder. Instead of just grinding through championship races, you earn fame points to unlock different corners of the festival paddock. These chapters are grouped by areas dedicated to specific manufacturers (like a Ducati-only festival), challenging motorcycle legends in head-to-head or time trial races, earning stickers and their racing gear for your character, and even disciplinary hubs for the new Bagger and Maxi Enduro classes.
One of the smarter additions in RIDE 6 is the bike loan system. Early on when your garage and wallet are empty, you can loan a bike to be able to participate in that race and stay in the action. It’s a fair trade-off too. You earn full rider XP and fame stars to unlock new festival areas and events and face legendary boss riders like Tyler O’Hara and Thomas Chare. The catch is that you won’t earn Affinity XP for that bike class, but it does give you a taste of riding those particular bikes and what to look for when buying a new or used one.
Once the credits start rolling in and you buy your own bikes, you start building that Affinity up in the relevant bike classes. Levelling up a bike you own unlocks brand discounts and special cosmetics, giving you a reason to stick with a specific machine rather than just treating it like a rental. I don’t know much about bikes or the brands, so I stuck to ones I know like KTM and Honda.
As you build your collection, the upgrade system offers depth without being overwhelming. I’ll admit, I’m not a tech expert, so I took the “expensive is better” approach. Buying the top-tier components for each technical specification and watching those green performance numbers climb was incredibly satisfying, turning my garage from a collection of loaners into a fleet of custom-tuned machines. Pro motorcycle fans and players will have much more granular control over the performance tuning, whereas I just stuck to the arcade mode and it was enough for me.
The endgame of Ride Fest features 10 real-world legends acting as final bosses. While I’m still working my way up the Fame ranks, seeing names like Casey Stoner, Niccolò Canepa, and Guy Martin at the end of the 30-hour tunnel gives the career a sense of purpose. Each legend specialises in a discipline—like Canepa for Endurance or Martin for Road Racing—and beating them in a head-to-head showdown lets you walk away with their signature bikes and leathers.
In terms of graphical fidelity, while it isn’t a massive graphical leap over RIDE 5, the UI elements felt fresh and vibrant, and the bikes look fantastically detailed as has been the series’ staple. It was easy to see within the UI elements if you were gaining or losing split times, or the big red penalty times added to your lap time for that oversteer or too much pace into a corner. The addition of off-road racing makes this feel like it has a slight hint of Monster Energy Supercross in it. I would have loved to see more realistic track deformation like ruts and divots in the dirt, but the lack of it keeps the game accessible for casual players still mastering the dual-brake system and weight shifting. You certainly felt the more slippery surface around those tight corners.
One of the most seamless features in RIDE 6 is the dynamic AI, which bridges the gap between the Arcade and Pro experience. Because the difficulty adjusts automatically based on your lap times and consistency, I was constantly challenged without the immersion-breaking need to dive into the settings menu. It creates a goldilocks zone of difficulty where if I started to win a few races, it didn’t become so easy that it got boring and actually started to challenge me. In doing so, my riding skills vastly improved from race to race, knowing which bike responds better to front or rear braking, or a mix of the two. Add in wet weather tracks which started to show up after a few hours and you can feel the skill difference the more you play.
On the flip side, those early time trials on the loan or basic bikes were tough to finish in the higher placings, but never so punishing that I felt the need to quit and take a break. This allowed me to focus on mastering my lines rather than constantly playing with the game’s difficulty sliders to find the elusive sweet spot of racing challenge. Milestone has mapped out of a heap of DLC planned for 2026 and into 2027, so this game is certainly going to have heaps of great reasons to return to the game.
Overall, RIDE 6 trades the rigid feel of a championship simulator for the high energy, incredible variety and freedom of a festival experience. Having multiple festivals to choose from and varying race modes to jump to and being able to loan class bikes prevents any progression roadblocks. Festivals and new race experiences are mapped out ahead of you and you know clearly how much fame you need, so it gives you multiple goals to work towards. This is the most approachable entry in the series for newcomers to motorbike racing, as well as allowing pro players to fine tune their riding experience, and is a must-play for anyone who wants the thrill of two wheels racing.
This review utilised an Xbox key provided by Plaion ANZ. RIDE 6 will be available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on February 12, 2026, with Early Access available from February 9, 2026.
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