Decent riding/racing video games?

[adouglas]

I've always been a Mac guy (since 1985) and have never even owned a PC. I was given one at Christmas that ought to be able to handle some gaming (somewhat upgraded HP Pavilion desktop).

Never been a gamer and have no interest in consoles. For the most part developers don't bother writing for MacOS anyway. So I'm new to this stuff.

What's the consensus on worthwhile moto games? Primarily interested in just using it to fill the time over the winter and maybe hone track skills if that's even possible.

TIA...

[RyanNicholson]

I have Ride 2 and enjoy it. I think most moto/auto games are going to be tough to the point of useless without some form of analog input (joystick, wheel, console style controler, etc).

[Tekime]

Ride & Ride 2 are good. I've got the MotoGP games too but never quite did it for me. All the MX games (MXGP etc) get boring extremely fast. I saw a preview of an "enduro" version of MXGP and got pretty excited until I saw it was just flat "trails" with basically no enduro components at all, like realistic body/bike physics, terrain, climbs, water, etc.

I did a lot of PC gaming back in the day, but in the last 10-15 years nothing ever held my interest more than a few hours, with the exception of a few RPGs and Ride.

You definitely want a controller. You can pick up an Xbox USB controller for cheap.

[nt650hawk]

[scottieducati]

Also dated, but Tourist Trophy for PS2 was pretty sweet...

You can sort by release date and/or operating platform here: List of driving and racing video games - Wikipedia

[theducman]

Also dated, but Tourist Trophy for PS2 was pretty sweet...

You can sort by release date and/or operating platform here: List of driving and racing video games - Wikipedia

I loved that game. I had the Kawasaki gp bike... That thing was uncontrollable ha

[Degsy]

Believe it or not, you can race at Loudon with this game from 1997.https://www.amazon.com/AMA-Superbike-Pc/dp/B00002SUP5

[Philkinson]

Since my neck injury back in 2017 I've been yearning to fill the hole left by not racing.
Finally caved and bought an Xbox for Christmas... it came preloaded with Forza Horizon which was meh. I've stopped playing it. I downloaded F1 (2015) and Motogp (2017?). I don't own a steering wheel or anything, I'm not a hardcore gamer.
The MotoGP game was the game I was most excited to try and I hated it. Highsiding everywhere, brake inputs were super artificial, etc etc., everything bad that I feared it could be, it was. Bummer.

The F1 game is everything that I was hoping for! Trail braking, maintaining proper throttle position, proper braking position, tip in points, apexes. It's all so real and very close to racing a motorcycle. Awesome tracks... except I hated the Monaco circuit. Crashed into a wall so I didn't have to deal with it anymore

Give it a try, I highly recommend it.

[RyanNicholson]

Trail braking, maintaining proper throttle position, proper braking position, tip in points, apexes. It's all so real and very close to racing a motorcycle.

I'm not a big gamer either so I hear ya. I have noticed that the moto games are way harder to wrap my head around, but not bad once I get comfortable. I know in Ride 2 I can customize specific feel and function between arcade fun and realism to my liking. As for car racing... after trying my buddy's actual driving set up, I vowed to never buy another racing game until I feel like dropping the coin on a set up like that. That shit was fun.

[butcher bergs]

If only Turn10 would make Forza Moto...

EDIT: I too did not connect with the Horizon series and prefer the straightforwardness of Forza.

[Philkinson]

If only Turn10 would make Forza Moto...

EDIT: I too did not connect with the Horizon series and prefer the straightforwardness of Forza.

I didn't know there was a difference. What's Forza like? Not as fantasy as Horizon?

I think i just prefer organized road racing, real life or video games.

[motoarch]

Road rash 2

[butcher bergs]

I didn't know there was a difference. What's Forza like? Not as fantasy as Horizon?

I think i just prefer organized road racing, real life or video games.

The Forza Motorsport series is laser-focused on laps and realism but only on road courses. There are some fantasy tracks sprinkled in with numerous configurations of real tracks. I will suggest going straight into Forza 7 if the series interests you. It's the latest release (and my favorite so far) and has many hundreds of vehicles including side-by-sides and the racing style semi trucks.

There are also all the configurations imaginable for tracks like VIR, Road Atlanta, COTA, Dubai and Nürburgring, to name a few.

[MattR302]

This past weekend I went to an adult arcade/bar in Boston. I played one of those motorcycle race games where you sit on a bike. Here I was thinking I would be good at it, having actual motorcycle race track experience, so things like tip in point and proper race lines should come naturally.



Yeah it wasn’t like that at all. My race was a disaster. At least I beat my sister.

[Fast_Eddie]

If you like car racing sims, Race Room Experience and Automobilista are good. Being a sim, you must have a force feedback wheel like a T300 or something.

[Pittenger5]

Dont waste your money on anything else, and spend the money and get iracing and a real setup. Once you do that, you can never go back.

[Fast_Eddie]

I never cared for the Iracing tire model. It feels like a rain tire over-heated.
Iracing also is another monthly bill to pay and that is fine for some I guess, but new driver can buy half of the content in Race Room for $30 and it never times out. You can buy every car/track/mod in Race Room for $70 and you own it forever.

[jhawley]

Got bored and DL'd the grand tour game. and its not bad at all for 15 bucks. but you have to be pretty vested into the show to get the most out of it.

[Garrett]

Road rash 2

Came to post this and ExciteBike

[Garrett]

If you like car racing sims, Race Room Experience and Automobilista are good. Being a sim, you must have a force feedback wheel like a T300 or something.

At first I thought you were talking about this ancient GameCube game

[Fast_Eddie]

Automobilista is a spin off of the original Rfactor 1 code. the F1, F3 and Indy cars are really good cars. They also have the best shifter kart racing on PC and a stadium truck series that is fun after a few margaritas.

Race Room has the best GT3 GT1 GT4 Porsche cup and a few other sedan classes. Their F4 Tatuus is also very good. Race Room is the easiest to get setup and racing competitively, but both titles are popular with those of us who's sim racing addiction is deep. I have an insane amount of money tied up in a Fanatec rig with load cell pedals, so my addiction is very deep.