RIDE 6 Review – Joyride or Stopover?

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Our RIDE 6 review explores the newest installment in Milestone S.r.l.’s popular series. RIDE 6 features gameplay enhancements, a revamped Career Mode, and an expanded selection of bikes. But is it worth the cost? We’ll take a detailed look to find out.

RIDE 6 Review – What is RIDE 6?

RIDE 6 is the latest installment in the popular RIDE motorcycle racing series. Developed and published by Milestone S.r.l., a studio with a long history of creating racing games – including the well-known MotoGP series – RIDE 6 offers a modern and immersive bike racing experience.

The game will include more than 340 bikes, including those from downloadable content, split into seven different types. Players can use and customize these bikes before racing on any of the available tracks.

The game is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Gameplay – RIDE 6 Review

Let me start by saying this is my first experience with the RIDE series. And if you’re new to it too, be aware there’s a bit to learn. The game has a tutorial called ‘riding school,’ but I mostly figured things out as I played, as I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the racing terms.

Honestly, I enjoyed figuring out how to play the game the most. It was hilarious watching my character crash and tumble, and thankfully, the game lets you quickly rewind and correct any errors you make.

Thankfully, this game is much easier to pick up than other Milestone titles, such as MotoGP. Players familiar with the series will quickly feel at home, and the gameplay is very similar to RIDE 5 – which is a good thing!

RIDE 6 gives you a choice between Arcade and Pro modes. Arcade mode is perfect for newcomers like me, simplifying things like steering and braking. However, experienced RIDE players will probably find the Pro mode feels familiar and similar to past games in the series.

A major new feature in RIDE 6 is the addition of off-road riding. Now, you can race on dirt tracks in addition to traditional circuits and roads.

I quickly fell in love with off-road racing – honestly, it’s because I seemed to be a bit better at it! But beyond that, I just loved how the courses were designed and how fast-paced each race was. There’s nothing quite like racing off-road at night with all the fans cheering you on – it looks and feels incredible!

Fans of the RIDE series will be happy to find many of their favorite tracks are back. You can race on iconic circuits like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, experience the freedom of open roads, or tear it up in a stadium on a motard. RIDE 6 will have a total of 45 tracks, including downloadable content, giving players plenty of racing options.

So in terms of gameplay, what exactly can you do in RIDE 6? Well, to sum it up, you can:

  • Play Career Mode (We’ll get into this later)
  • Play Quick Modes (Single Race, Time Attack, Endurance)
  • Buy & Customize New Rides across the various vehicle classes (Garage, New Bike Dealership, Used Dealership, Editor)
  • Play Online in private or public lobbies (Multiplayer)

I’ve been messing around with the Quick Modes, and they’re awesome for getting a feel for how the game handles – the controls and physics are really intuitive. But what’s really cool is how much you can customize everything. I’m talking about the track itself, the weather, even the time of day! Plus, you can tweak the race length, where you start on the grid, how many opponents you’re up against, and even little details like whether or not your tires wear down. It’s all about tailoring the experience to exactly how I want to play.

Quick Modes offer incredible customization, allowing you to design almost any racing scenario you can imagine, whether you prefer Arcade or Pro style racing. While they’re great for a quick, casual experience, Quick Modes can become repetitive because there isn’t much long-term progression.

The game features two shops where you can get new bikes. One is a used dealership, which is perfect for players starting out and looking for a specific bike at a very low price. While these used bikes aren’t usually top-of-the-line, their affordability makes it easy to begin collecting them in your garage.

Looking to upgrade your ride? Our new Bike Dealership offers great value, even though the bikes themselves are a bit of an investment. We have everything you need to customize and improve your bike’s performance, from brakes and air filters to exhausts and control units. You can really make it your own!

While not all bikes are suitable for improvements, it’s definitely worthwhile to upgrade your favorites. You can then use these enhanced bikes to excel in Career mode or compete against other players online.

You’ll primarily need credits to get new bikes and improve the ones you have. While some bikes become available as you progress in your career or finish specific goals, credits are the main way to purchase and upgrade your vehicles.

It’s easy to earn in-game credits! Playing career mode will quickly give you enough to buy a lot of cool vehicles. Unlocking and upgrading everything takes time, but it’s definitely achievable and really satisfying as you watch your collection grow.

You can improve your vehicles in many ways – you can upgrade their performance and completely customize their appearance, along with your driver’s gear. The game’s editor is surprisingly detailed, and it’s easy to spend hours creating a unique vehicle. From designing custom paint schemes and suits to adding stickers, the possibilities are endless.

One of the cool things about RIDE 6 is that you can race against other players online, either in private lobbies with friends or in public ones. I didn’t actually try it out during my playthrough, though. Honestly, I probably would have gotten completely destroyed in every race – I’m just not that good!

So, now that we covered the game’s modes, how does it all feel?

I really like how the game plays. Milestone has always been good at racing gameplay, and this game is no exception. There’s a ton of variety with the cars and tracks, and the ability to customize and upgrade them gives you plenty to strive for.

But with everything I do like, there is a downside.

RIDE 6 is enjoyable to play at first, like many sports games, but it gets repetitive quickly. If you’re not a huge fan of this type of game, you’ll likely find yourself losing interest. While most sports games eventually become predictable, RIDE 6 seems to fall into that pattern faster than usual.

While Quick Modes let you design any race imaginable, there isn’t much to actually do once you’ve built it. It’s initially enjoyable to create your perfect race, but that novelty wears off quickly. Beyond simply earning in-game currency and leveling up – things you can do in other game modes – there’s not enough reason to spend a lot of time in Quick Modes.

Beyond Quick Modes and Career mode, the game doesn’t offer a lot of content for solo players. If you don’t enjoy playing online, you’ll quickly run out of things to do. Even though there are many bikes and tracks, I felt like I’d seen most of what the game had to offer within a few hours.

As a fan, I’m really hoping the developers add more stuff later on, but honestly, when you first start playing RideFest, it feels a little bare bones. It’s fun, but could definitely use more content right away.

Story – RIDE 6 Review

As a RIDE 6 fan, I’m really enjoying Career Mode! It’s basically a series of challenges you complete to unlock new tracks and content. Everything revolves around ‘RIDEFest’, which is the central hub where you access all the different events and progress through the game.

Career Mode is broken up into several smaller campaigns, each with multiple levels. Each level has both main and bonus objectives you need to complete to earn Stars. These Stars are used to unlock more campaigns – you’ll need a total of 4600 to unlock everything.

Each campaign has its own unique focus. Some, like the Howe’s Campaign, center around specific types of racing, such as off-road. Others highlight individual riders, like Guy Martin and Ian Hutchinson. Plus, the game lets you experience a wide range of bikes on diverse tracks.

The game features a variety of experiences beyond just different bikes and tracks. You’ll compete in several event types, like individual time trials, single races, or even competitions made up of three races. Throughout the game’s campaign, you’ll encounter six distinct event formats.

Campaigns get longer and offer more stars as you progress. Finishing a campaign is fairly easy, but earning all the stars can be quite difficult.

One of the best things about this game is how long and rewarding Career Mode is. It lets you experience all types of racing, both on and off the track, and really showcases everything the game has to offer.

Plus, racing against real-world drivers makes the game even more enjoyable. It’s really exciting to compete against famous racers like Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson, and Tyler O’Hara. Overall, the game is a lot of fun and has tons to offer.

One of the great things about Career Mode is being able to use the credits you earn to buy new vehicles, which can help you complete challenging goals. The game also provides…

I enjoy the general setup of the career mode, but it could have been improved. Around the middle of the game, it started to feel repetitive, with the same tracks and cars appearing frequently.

Career Mode had some frustrating glitches that caused me to lose money. For instance, while playing through Howe’s Career Mode, I purchased and fully upgraded a bike, but the game didn’t let me actually select and use it. I lost the credits I spent, and even trying again resulted in losing over 50,000 credits total, which was disappointing.

I started losing interest in the game around that point. While it often involves repeating courses with different vehicles, it just wasn’t enjoyable. I understand that’s common in sports career games, but other titles in the genre usually offer more variety than a simple level-based campaign.

I also didn’t think the six event types were distinct enough. It mostly boiled down to just two main scenarios:

  • Participating in a race (single or three races)
  • Time Attacks
  • & Duels

Eventually, some campaigns start to feel very similar. In fact, later sections of the game sometimes reuse maps from earlier ones, making it difficult to tell them apart. Often, the only differences are that a section is longer, or it introduces a new type of event.

I really appreciate how long the career mode is, but I think the developers could find ways to keep it engaging throughout the whole experience.

Graphics – RIDE 6 Review

Most racing games today are visually appealing, and RIDE 6 is no different. If you enjoyed the graphics in RIDE 5 or MotoGP, you’ll likely be pleased with how this game looks. While it doesn’t have the same level of polish as a top-budget, AAA game, Milestone created a good-looking game considering their resources and development time.

Bikes look fantastic in RIDE 6, and you can really personalize them to create a unique look. The game offers robust customization options, letting you modify both your rider and their bike. Plus, with so many different bikes available, the creative possibilities seem limitless.

The game also has a great photo mode with lots of tools, letting you easily capture awesome or hilarious moments. If you like taking pictures inside video games, you’ll probably really enjoy this feature.

While RIDE 6 might not have the most stunning graphics, Milestone, similar to their work with MotoGP, still delivers a visually impressive game.

Audio – RIDE 6 Review

RIDE 6 excels with its sound design. Even with a large number of bikes, each class of bike has a unique and realistic sound, adding to the immersive experience.

The game’s soundtrack is great too – it features some energetic house music that really matches the game’s vibe. While the soundtrack isn’t very long, so you might hear songs repeat if you play for a while, the quick loading screens make that hardly noticeable.

Honestly, all the bike sounds and everything else audio-wise seems solid. My only thing is the game feels a little quiet overall. It’s missing commentators and a lot of chatter, which makes the festival atmosphere feel a bit flat. But honestly, I’m not too bothered by that. I was way more concerned with how the gameplay felt and how deep the career mode was, and those are the things that really matter to me.

Verdict: Is RIDE 6 Worth Your Time & Money?

RIDE 6 is an enjoyable racing game with dependable gameplay, but it doesn’t really push the series forward.

I had a good time playing, but honestly, things started to feel pretty samey after a while. After about six hours of my twenty-hour playthrough, I felt like I’d already experienced most of the game’s content.

Okay, so the off-road racing is a nice change of pace and keeps things interesting for a bit, but it doesn’t fix all the game’s problems. Honestly, the modes besides the career mode – like just jumping into a quick race – don’t really feel unique enough to bother with. I kept hoping for something different, but it just wasn’t there.

The Career Mode is okay if you play through it once, but it doesn’t have much replay value because it gets repetitive quickly. Unlike other sports games where people enjoy starting over with new characters or teams, RIDE 6 doesn’t give you that option for fresh starts.

The game includes online play, but if you’re playing on Xbox or PlayStation, you’ll need a paid online subscription to compete – and likely face highly skilled players who are already experts.

Milestone has created fun gameplay, but the game needs more content to really stand out. Specifically, adding more maps, diverse career missions, and overall depth would make it a truly great experience.

If you already enjoy the series, you’ll probably find this enjoyable, though it doesn’t offer a significant upgrade from the previous one. Because of that, it’s difficult to recommend, even to dedicated fans of the RIDE games.

I really like Milestone as a developer, and they definitely know how to make a game fun. However, the game could use more variety to stay engaging over time. If you’re unsure whether to buy it, I’m not strongly recommending it, but I’m also not telling you to avoid it.

Score: 7/10

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2026-02-10 18:13