Best motorbike racing game (outside MxSim)

[die996]

This is a discussion topic. DISCUSSION, so please don't fill it with stupid comments

The question is easy, what's the best motorbike racing game apart from MxSim?? It can be both off and on-road motorcycling

I have 3-way tie in my head...

· RIDING SPIRITS 2 (PS2)
This game was essentially Gran turismo on 2 wheels. It had a ton of bikes (from scooters to Gp bikes to supermotards), a good bunch of tracks (Suzuka, Motegi and like a dozen of fantasy tracks, all fantasy tracks had reversed versions), a lot of events, bike modification and an incredibly fun "battle mode" (challenges, usually one-on-one although some battles were against a team of 3-4 riders). It also had quite a few gear and up to 12 bikes in a grid

What could have been better??
More competitive AI (the career mode was quite easy), more different bikes (there were up to 4 generations of the same model and many brands were not represented fairly), better physics, rain and a better supermotard mode (no jumps and powersliding felt weird)

SPECIAL FEATURE : it included real-life Mt. Haruna/Akina mountain pass of the Initial D series (ingame name was 5Loops) and 2 more fictional mountain passes

· MX vs ATV Untamed (NextGen versions)
Just awesome, it had a ton of everything. I've never seen such a high number of tracks/arenas in a single game. Physics were arcadey but still more realistic than Unleashed's ones. I completely loved the ton of difficulty levels included, which could take anybody from a noob to a pretty decent rider in a few hours and keep them motivated.

What could have been better??
Heavy vehicles' physics were fun but stupidly unrealistic. Being extremely good made the game look a lot less realistic (I never like that feeling) and a career mode with something around teams and sponsors could've been awesome

SPECIAL FEATURE : hidden freestyle areas in some freeride scenarios were almost better than the "official" ones, also only game to ever include enduro indoor as an official feature

· SBK X (NextGen)
The full official 2010 World superbike season plus a few extra interesting features, just saying. Up to 28 bikes on the grid, all the official tracks of the season, changeable weather and a true career mode with contracts are its 3 main points. Want more?? It has 3 championships : World superbike, World supersport and Superstock 1000 (not sure if a World championship) series. The 3 different levels of realism plus the ability to turn on/off things like tyre wear, bike damage or rider health makes the game good for anyone at any level. Also, setting up the bike is made in real measurements (like "clicks" for the suspension or milimeters for the ride height) and truly affects the handling

What could have been better??
AI difficulty only has 4 levels and they're quite spread out. I go from winning by 2 seconds a lap being relaxed to race like Hell sweating blood and having to make no errors in a single step. Also, it's an official single-season game so the number of tracks is quite low (like 13 or so), it would've been cool to have a few old tracks with the Legends thing

SPECIAL FEATURE : SBK legends class, with bikes from 1996-2009 seasons racing together. Although it's quite bad due to its age (and it wasn't a top bike at its time), I love to ride the old Kawasaki ZX-7RR

[TeamHavocRacing]

I think GP Bikes is the MXS of RR sims. Problem is, there's like 8 people that play it(unfortunately same for KRP). The other problem is it's run by 1 guy like MXS, but he's a playboy or sumpin cuz he has a snail's pace for development and updates.
Check this vid...

[Phathry25]

YEAH GP BIKES IS SO REALISTIC, YOU CAN JUST HOLD THE LEFT TURN BUTTON AROUND A LEFT HAND CORNER AND HE WILL NEVER LEAN FAR ENOUGH TO CRASH. IT TAKES SOOOOOO MUCH SKILL TO DO THAT!

Sorry, I purchased it, got burned by the developer, and got a shitty game in the end. Oh well, that was before I discovered MX Sim, what else was I supposed to do...

[slug]

GP bikes were promised to be the next GP500, but it failed at it.The physics engine is not that much worse than MXs, but jvl put that much more work into the stabilizing physics,
which make the game react realistic to all kind of different situations.In GPbikes to much rear brake means an insta 360 spin.
The only hope we got for a hardcore bike sim was kunos "NetBike".But the developer let it drop, probably because of the low speed stability physics, that , compared to jvl's, were horrible.
(and once again proves jvl did a damn fine job on them).The trye model is lightyears ahead though.Dragging and sliding the rear wheel felt amazing.And yes Phatry ,you can over lean and crash.
I was obsessed with this game.Here are a couple of my videos:

[die996]

Gp bikes was quite disappointing... at least I didn't spend my money, hehe
Gp500 was awesome for its time... the base was awesome (1998 FIM World 500cc Gp season) and it had a great community making tracks, bikes, skins and even full-size mods. Btw, you should all know we have one of the best in the game here in MxSim now (Pepete), you should try his minimoto mod and most of the stuff he made back then

[soc_monki]

i have to disagree with SBX X. the physics of that game are simply horrible. you cant powerslide...if you barely lose traction in the rear it just lowsides, if you let off the gas fast enough to prevent that you get the inevitable high side. theres no middle ground. turning the bike is a chore...you cant snap the bike over like you can in real life, its a slow lean, and its annoying because you have to start turns so early, which is very unrealistic. also include the fact that the bikes dont power wheelie out of corners (c'mon, 1000cc superbikes powerwheelie all the time...its what you get with 220+ hp!!) the game is a joke and a blemish on Milestones record...then again, pretty much every SBK game milestone have worked on is a blemish on their record, besides Superbike 2001, which is the standard that all superbike games are judged to this day. sad that with all the tech and knowledge we have now, they cant beat their own decades old game. SBK 11 was a step in the right direction however. physics are much improved, bike handling is better...but the bikes STILL dont powerwheelie out of corners. really Milestone? you claim to be riders and yet you leave out things like that? backing the bike into corners?

there is a physics mod for SBK X however, i forgot who did it but if you do a google search you can find it. its almost better than SBK 11's physics, the only drawback being that the bikes still cant be snapped over like in real life. other than that, powersliding, power wheelies, etc are all included. this is for PC versions though

as for GP Bikes, ive been watching development of that for years...and Piboso just now put out a Beta (i think?) version, for people who already bought the game. however, you can still download it if you look hard enough (if you dont have a paid license) and play it in demo mode. i tried it, and it is improved over the old version, but its still not amazing yet IMO. i honestly dont think Piboso will ever finish the game. maybe hes too much of a perfectionist? lazy? i dont know...but if it is ever finished and is amazing, i will buy it. at the moment, needs a lot of work. still, a valiant effort.

but, the greatest bike game ever? MX Sim. the physics are so good that not only does riding on the dirt tracks feel right, but try on some of the supermoto tracks. you can downshift and back the bike into the turns, then blast out. power wheelies, stoppies, everything. maybe we should tempt JLV into modeling one road bike, and have someone whip up a quick road course, and do some testing? personally, i think it would be a hit. Piboso doesnt seem to think that direct steering is a good thing for a bike game (which it obviously is...look at MXS! you turn the bars to set the lean angle, which is EXACTLY how you ride a real bike...and it works, however it takes time to get used to). that is a huge step on the way to realism, not holding a joystick to the desired angle and holding it there.

seriously...JLV, if you read this, please consider a test run of a road bike sim. im sure it wouldnt be perfect right off, but seeing as how riding supermoto in MXS is very close to real, why wouldnt a road bike feel good? give it a shot! id pay another 42 bucks for a SBK style JLV developed street bike game! then JLV would really be the man! well, he already is...

[jlv]

With the current time step it wouldn't work well at extreme speeds. It's 128 Hz now and would need to be at least 256 Hz for road bike speeds. It's an easy change to make. It would make the physics use twice as much CPU though.

[KTM57]

Does anyone have a link to the GP Bikes or GP500 demo? They look like fun games to screw around on every once in a while. The GP bikes site doesn't seem to have a link anymore and I can't find a legit GP500 site. Die996, your time has come. Help me!

[KTM57]

The physics that we have in MXS seem so superbike-ish to me. With a superbike model (engine and weight, not visual) and maybe a few tweaks here and there, I feel like it could be a really fun game. I can see it now: Motorcycle Simulator.

[soc_monki]

With the current time step it wouldn't work well at extreme speeds. It's 128 Hz now and would need to be at least 256 Hz for road bike speeds. It's an easy change to make. It would make the physics use twice as much CPU though.

i see...wouldnt be a problem for some people's machines (i think mine could handle it) but others would have trouble running it, especially if they struggle with MXS as it is. how about adding multi-core support? would ease the load for the physics. im a programmer myself, but not to the degree of game programming and all that. how hard would it be to add it? would allow the physics to run at a higher rate, and would ease the load on the machine. then maybe a road bike game would be possible? eh? eh? nudge nudge, wink wink yaknowwhatimean?

just hopes and dreams my man...

[soc_monki]

The physics that we have in MXS seem so superbike-ish to me. With a superbike model (engine and weight, not visual) and maybe a few tweaks here and there, I feel like it could be a really fun game. I can see it now: Motorcycle Simulator.

well, the man himself commented on it. the physics run at too low of a rate to properly handle road bike speeds. ^^ seems that it is doable though, and maybe one day he will do it. keepin' my fingers crossed!

as it is, im quite happy with MXS, so ill be occupied for quite a while

as an aside, i just got done playing SBK X with the modded physics. Milestone should take notes. thats the way the game (and SBK 11) should have been. not perfect, but its fun.

as for a download of GP Bikes (for non-license holders) lemme see if i can find the link...and i think i found it.

http://www.kartracing-pro.com/downloads ... -beta1.exe

demo mode only, and you cant get a license because hes not selling them at the moment.

[KTM57]

Thanks, bro. I'm looking forward to playing it.

[soc_monki]

np dude!

[die996]

One of the best sites around Gp500 stuff (including many created by Pepete)
http://wxatgp500.co.uk/

To get links to the full game... learn Spanish (it's somewhere in that web)... or throw out a PM, I guess

[Phathry25]

The only hope we got for a hardcore bike sim was kunos "NetBike".But the developer let it drop, probably because of the low speed stability physics, that , compared to jvl's, were horrible.

Totally forgot about that one in my GP Bikes rage Buggy, but amazing. Do you know if it can still be found on the internets?