With MotoGP 26 releasing on PC and consoles next week, Milestone has released a new deep dive trailer showcasing the game’s new features and improvements.
Based on this year’s season, MotoGP 26 will feature all 38 teams and over 70 riders, including new entries such as Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Diogo Moreira. Showcased in the trailer, the Brazilian Grand Prix also returns to the race calendar for the first time since 1992.
This year, riders will be assigned ratings based on four attributes: time attack, race pace, head-to-head, and reliability. These ratings will dynamically change based on their real-world performance.
The trailer also highlights the new TV-style menu presentation, as well as the career mode. Set in a new 3D paddock, it sees you work with a personal manager to manage relationships. Each race weekend starts with you answering questions from the media, with your answers affecting your reputation.
Completing events in and outside career mode will unlock new collectable card packs featuring riders and tracks, with artwork by Japanese artist Ranka Fujiwara.
Elsewhere, the Race Off has expanded with the addition of the UK’s Canterbury Park circuit alongside the series’ debut of production road bikes.
On the track, the revamped physics let you move the rider first, affecting your bike’s trajectory. In previous games, the left stick moved the bike, with a rider animation representing their weight shifting.
Milestone dubs this new system “Rider Based Handling Technology.”
“Rider Based Handling is a complete overhaul of our physics engine,” Lead Game Designer Stefano Talarico recently told Traxion.
“Everything has changed, and you’re controlling the actual rider – their physique and movement,” he explained. “You can feel through the pad that you are moving the rider and the bike is coming along where you take it with the rider.”
“[The change] is pretty huge and it’s a step closer to reality because, of course, when you’re riding a real bike, you’re shifting your body and your weight to change the direction of the bike.
“Gameplay-wise, it’s [now] easier to understand when you’re reaching the limit because in the past iterations, you were moving the bike and it was always tricky to understand where the limit was. Now the feedback is clearer, you feel more in control and it’s also easier to understand how to make a good lap.”
We’ll find out if Milestone’s claims hold up soon when MotoGP 26 launches on 29th April for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
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