While the overarching career structure remains identical to before, progressing from Moto3 to Moto2 and finally MotoGP, but you’re now greeted by a couple of introductory races in the Red Bull Rookies championship, a short 7 race championship with all racers on identical low powered bikes. While detail has been improved, grassy run offs are largely just plain texture, and tracks can look flat and lifeless in the engine’s lighting, especially at night. The bikes can still look as though they’re not really attached to the ground, contact lacks weight and impact and you’re not punished for instigating a crash, and when racers do crash, they just pop back into existence on the side of the road, instead of something a little more realistic. However, all of that is undercut by many of the series’ quirks and inconsistencies carrying forward. This helps the game feel more fluid and responsive, which given the need for precision is a boon. Best of all, though, they’ve managed to overcome whatever technical hurdles were holding them back and the game is now running at 60 frames per second, instead of being locked to 30. They’ve also sampled engine sounds afresh for this game, so it will sound much closer to the real thing. Comparing to MotoGP 15 – the most recent game I have – there is a notable step up in texture work, for example, with track layouts and scenery having been spruced up as well.

While it would have been easy for Milestone to simply tread water and push out a quick re-skinned game with current racers, they have made efforts to see this era of MotoGP game out in style.

Mod motogp 17