What the stewards say is the law. Your judgment is the top priority in racing. Many pilots can sing a song about it – not always a jubilant aria. In any case, this instance is missing in most simulations, where there are sometimes more, sometimes less consistent penalties for driving over the track limit or accidents, but no race stewards.
It should be clear why I start this way. Because in MotoGP 24 they exist: stewards who look at incidents and, if they find someone at fault, impose a penalty, sometimes immediately and sometimes after a short investigation. This can be a warning or a request that you have to give up a position you gained the left-hand way.
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Of course, the whole thing is based on the same calculations that simply impose penalties elsewhere. However, the message that an incident is initially being investigated and the subsequent request for a long lap stick in your mind differently than the text messages in its predecessors. This doesn't work perfectly if, for example, a bad decision means that you only receive a warning after shortening a complete chicane and overtaking an opponent at the same time. The stewards give the race a personal and realistic touch.
The current year's licensed season (includes all routes and drivers as well as six courses from previous years) also radiates personality through the messages from other pilots in a social network, to which you can give a friendly or a combative answer – which has recently become the case Rumors about possible personnel changes have an impact.
Because they are also new and ensure that there is movement in the field of drivers, and not just on the track. MotoGP 24 gives you the choice: should the changing driver market be active from the start, only get rolling before the second season, or do you prefer to play with a permanent, real workforce? It's nice that the development opportunities of the individual teams also play a role in the competitors' thoughts of changing. After all, the bikes change over the years, as do the performances of their opponents.
Last but not least, you can use the real racing calendar or put together any selection of tracks yourself – depending on the team you choose in Moto2, Moto3 or MotoGP, with MotoE to be added later. The length of each race weekend and which training or qualifying you complete or not can also be adjusted at any time. Together with the revised menu, MotoGP caters to practically all preferences.
It's not quite a great career that you experience here. The few shots before the start or from the box are repeated quickly and seem quite stiff in the long run. Apart from that, you don't have too much influence on the development of the team. But I like the momentum that the innovations give it, especially since they don't distract from what it's ultimately all about: the duels on the track. And like in '23, MotoGP 24 does it really well.
Now I wasn't the biggest fan of motorcycle simulations for a long time. On the one hand, I'm hardly familiar with motorized two-wheelers and, on the other hand, the corresponding simulations were always so difficult to control that after short test drives I usually didn't feel like it anymore.
However, that has been history since last year. Milestone has installed clever driving aids that intervene in the controls so carefully that you still feel like a driver while at the same time speeding relatively safely across the asphalt. Think of Gran Turismo or a slightly more demanding Forza Horizon: both racing games with excellent physics that automatically correct small errors so that you can get around even without particularly sensitive input.
Of course, you don't have to use it – or you can set it so strongly that the bike brakes and steers automatically. I prefer the middle ground, where directional inputs as well as braking and acceleration are stabilized but not completely taken over by the program. I'm also very grateful for the unlimited rewind available, especially to undo falls. Last but not least, automatic long laps, clutch, simplified driving on grass or sand and other aids are available.
I already said this with Ride 5, Milestone's current representative of the sister series, and I mentioned it again here: These aids are great and ensure that after all this time I have finally found access to motorcycle simulations! Especially since you can also adjust the response of the analog sticks, for example, to different needs using a number of sliders.
At this point I have to point out small annoyances that really got on my nerves after a few days. The game doesn't remember these sliders, which is why you have to reset them every time you start it. Apart from that, the PC version does not save graphical settings locally, but rather pushes them to the Steam cloud together with the game status. Therefore, every time I switch between the Steam Deck and a large computer, I first have to go into the graphics setup.
And while I'm at it: The fact that you can look around behind you while driving but can't look left or right is a very annoying omission. You can move your gaze gently to the left or right, but that has little to do with a realistic overview.
In fact, I wish Milestone would give the game a radar like you see in Gran Turismo or Assetto Corsa. Of course, such an ad in itself would not be realistic – but the resulting overview would be even more so. In any case, thanks to the lack of it, I ended up riding shoulder to shoulder several times in a way that wasn't planned.
Speaking of which: I'm not completely satisfied with the behavior of my competitors. On the one hand, they sometimes rush into a curve a little too recklessly and, on the other hand, when the road is wet, they thunder on seemingly undeterred, while I have to compensate for the decreasing grip.
I don't want to rule out the possibility that I just lack the necessary skills in such situations, but I also think that the AI is a bit too strong and too aggressive. All in all, it drives very well – especially when you consider the different lines the two-wheelers take when cornering! And she often has to deal with my own bumps; In the end, that's why it works. Every now and then she could still act on an idea more believably.
In any case, I have had a lot of cool duels and at least a race is stopped if the track is too wet. Or you have to go to the pits to switch to the spare bike with rain tires. Major accidents also cause the race to be temporarily stopped. All in all, I find Milestone's compromise between simulation and playability pleasantly convincing.
I only have mixed feelings about the dynamic level of difficulty, which automatically adapts to the player's skill level, so that you can always be at the forefront, but are always challenged – which basically works quite well. Often enough, however, I suddenly end up in last place or am well ahead on pole. And the latter really shouldn’t happen – healthy confidence or not.
MotoGP 24 is both Available from Amazon and other retailers and of course digitally. While the versions for PlayStation and Xbox consoles cost just under 70 euros, the game on Switch costs just under 50 euros. This version was not available to us for testing.
- Amazon
- Steam
- PlayStation Store
- Xbox Store
- eShop
- Just as convincing and accessible simulation, optionally with well thought-out help at different levels
- Freely configurable career in Moto2, Moto3 and MotoGP with technical development and team changes
- Realistic race course with race cancellations and delayed decisions by the race stewards…
- Daily online races and associated championships
- Training individual route sections, split-screen races and freely configurable individual races
- Not looking to the side or a lack of radar prevents a good overview
- Opponents sometimes jostle too aggressively and are strangely fast in the rain
- … who sometimes make wrong decisions
- Dynamic difficulty with up and down drops
Apart from that, I would be happy to receive clear feedback about what level the dynamic difficulty is currently at, as I actually prefer to determine the challenge and that way I could orient myself to my current level.
And to briefly touch on the technology: MotoGP doesn't look outstanding, but it looks consistently good, runs smoothly even on the PlayStation consoles (on PS4 you have the choice between a performance and a quality mode) and even races through the Steam Deck at 60 Second images. Only this bright piece of asphalt at the end of every long stretch of asphalt doesn't look good in the PC version at all. This is one of those details that is small in itself, but constantly catches my eye. By the way, the Switch version was not available for this test.
Finally, a word about the multiplayer races, which can be held either on a split screen or online with up to twelve participants. As is often the case in the days leading up to a release, I haven't met any other players, which is why I can't really assess the online mode. But I'm not just excited about the online races themselves, but also the new championship for which you can earn points. This could ultimately be a great long-term incentive for ambitious players.
The fact that the races only take place once a day at fixed times is of course extremely inconvenient – I suspect this is due to the generally relatively low number of players. However, it is still annoying if family, work or other social obligations have priority in the evening. It doesn't help that PlayStation and Xbox pilots meet in crossplay. Especially since PC and Switch owners are excluded from this anyway.
MotoGP 24 in the test – conclusion
As an accessible and comprehensive simulation, MotoGP 24 cuts a damn good figure. The decisions of the race stewards give it a realistic touch, the career is not only pleasantly configurable, but thanks to the driver changes it is also more varied than before and with the now familiar aids, even beginners can quickly get to grips with two wheels. In detail you can definitely see weaknesses in the stewards as well as the changing level of difficulty, the somewhat too aggressive behavior of the opponents and the limited overview in the saddle. All in all, MotoGP 24 ensures that you become a virtual bike pilot in a very convincing way!
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