Give me the key to 12 @VGR

In order to Nacon Connect which will be held on July 6, 2021, Nacon, a subsidiary of the French publisher BigBen Interactive, not only entrusted us with the WRC 10 Demo for which we concocted a taste, but also allowed us to access RiMS Racing upstream. It’s still a mechanical racing simulator, this time based on two wheels, expected for the August 19, 2021 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Switch. We owe it to the Italian studio RaceWard, which certainly offers us here to play the pilot of racing cars launched at dizzying speeds, but also to familiarize ourselves with all the mechanical aspects of the most powerful motorcycles and to regulate them with small onions in order to reach the highest steps of the podium.

Live my life as a pilot

Before you get into the deep end, RiMS Racing offers you a quick and not bad tutorialé to teach you the basics of the trade. For this, he asks you to make your first turns of the wheels on the Belgian circuit of Zolder begining with follow the beautiful ideal trajectory indicated for you on the track. Accelerator, brakes, turns, it’s all up to you, but that’s not all. It is in fact also possible for you tointerrupt the race by pausing the game to analyze the many parts of the mechanics and electronics taken into account by the software to see what can be improved. Once this is spotted and a little tour of the stand later your performance like that of the motorcycle should be improved.

Be careful from one race to the next to check everything before returning to the track.

The different components being subject to wear and can be damaged by drops, it is therefore better to keep an eye on each of them to avoid wasting precious seconds due to lack of maintenance and follow-up. Career mode also allows you to optimize or replace them by better parts. And be careful from one race to the next to check everything before returning to the track. Brakes, suspensions, tires, electronic system, nothing should be neglected. And if you need to approve the pilot suit, you must also take the mechanic’s blue, the engineer’s or researcher’s white coat and the director’s overalls.

RiMS therefore asks you to intervene at several levels and also wants to be an educational tool intended for all motorcycle enthusiasts. But if the complexity of the mechanisms on which modern motorcycle technology is based, and the detail of the fine adjustments they require, escape you, don’t panic, everything is explained and even a beginner should be able to understand. Rider Motorbike Simulator, since it is the original name of the acronym used by the title of RaceWard, is not just a racing game, it is a biker life simulator.

On the road once more

Graphically, we will make the same remark as for WRC 10, namely that the NPCs, admittedly secondary in this type of production, turn out to be quite steep and square and the atmospheres are correct but with good effects improving the final rendering. The different weather options are indeed quite significant. However, the title will not offer no RTX. As for motorcycles, they are still well made with 6 possible views while driving (distant, close, bubble, handlebars, helmet, front wheel). As of course, these are the last 4 which provide the most sensations of speed and the most immersion with a particular mention to the very realistic helmet, to the handlebars and to the bubble views with movement of the fingers and thud in the helmet, while being perfectly playable. Note thata photo mode is also available if you want to create beautiful pictures.

The different weather options are quite significant.

Replays at the end of the race offer even more camera angles and are really nice people. We see in particular that the feet were not left aside animation level. On the other hand, the pilot’s body does not seem to be taken into account in terms of contact with the asphalt. The knees penetrate it sharply, which explains why only the toe clips rub with, moreover, a very unconvincing noise, but never the sliders. In terms of noise, the noise of the engines, differentiated from one motorcycle to another, is however very immersive and contributes to the sensation of power that one feels on the handlebars of racing cars. The voice that explains how the game works is good localized in French but has a bit of robotic clues, shame.

Side animations, we will also regret falls sometimes a little too exaggerated, ragdoll effect in support. The version of the title we had in our hands was however only a “Work in Progress” build requiring some adjustments like the AI ​​or the race penalties. We also encountered several game crashes, a few key errors shown on the screen, and this one was devoid of music, for lack of having finalized the contracts with the partners. The name of the composer behind the soundtrack has not yet been released. Likewise, we will avoid citing a brand here for the aforementioned reason. In all cases, you will be entitled to 8 most efficient motorcycles in the world like the Ducati Pingale V4R, the MV Agusta F4 RC and the Kawazaki Ninja ZX-10RR, but also 10 famous circuits including Zolder (Belgium), Nurburgring (Germany) or Monsanto (Portugal), as well as 5 emblematic routes do it both ways, like Great Victoria Desert in Australia and Million Dollar Highway in the United States. Even if the offer is attractive, however, we would not have spat on a slightly wider choice of motorcycles and circuits.

The art of smoothing corners

Career mode asks you to start choose one of the 8 powerful bikes, and this choice is final. To obtain the others, it will be necessary to finish on the podium of the 4 events organized by their manufacturers. which you will be able to access gradually as you move through the calendar. Season 1 has over 100 events among which you will also find duels, brand events, cups, the world championship, tasks to accomplish, work cases to test motorcycles in extreme conditions, or even school. The latter is also accessible outside of career mode but only allows you to participate in previously unlocked events in this last. The goal here is tolearn how to configure and control the motorcycle. There are different events that let you fly models that you don’t own yet, and that’s pretty cool. And sometimes there are several options to choose from, it is even possible to rest. In the latter case, there will be no wear and tear but no reward either.

You will also have to put your hands in the grease to disassemble and adjust every detail of your motorcycle.

Gold, to improve your machine or ensure its maintenance, you regularly need new parts. If you don’t earn them, you will have to buy them, and for that you will need money to be earned using gum. The same applies to develop the skill tree for engineering, research or management, you need earn team points. It’s up to you to make it progress in the various fields. You will also have to put your hands in the grease to disassemble and adjust every detail of your motorcycle. More than 45 components are accessible (brake pads, discs, tires, shock absorbers, computers, suspensions, etc.) in more than 500 official brands. And just as information is provided on motorcycles (history, characteristics, performance), each element is detailed (utility, operation, optimization, etc.). Also remember to resell unused parts because space in your inventory is limited. Finally, note that you can customize your pilot as his mount with a list of more than 200 objects to choose fromr. The title is therefore relatively complete in terms of details and it will allow you to perfect your knowledge in the field of motor sports on two wheels.

As for the ride itself, we appreciated being able to ride on track as on road, this brings a little change. Besides that, we can not help but draw a parallel with the MotoGP of Milestone. Besides the fact that they play in the same category, the two titles indeed present some similarities, starting with the representation of the ideal trajectory with its color system indicating when your speed is too high and you need to brake. Likewise, we find ECU can be changed on the fly. On the other hand, it does not offer no rewinding in case of error, the key-key is less permissive and slips are legion. You have to be very careful when taking an angle in turns so as not to brake or accelerate too hard, such as when landing after a light take-off. It is quite easy to lose the grip. It not remain that RiMS is less demanding and will be accessible to as many people as possible. With his 3 levels of physics and his 4 difficulty levels, everyone should find what they are looking for. And if you’re looking for as much realism as possible, you can also resort to separate braking and manually switch the transmission, rider stowed position and pit refueling.

It is quite easy to lose the grip.

The great peculiarity of RiMS lies in its VEM system (motorcycle condition control) which can be switched at any time during the race (except wheelie, stoppie or accident). The game is then paused and you can view each part of your machine to check its status. Not only do you have statistics on each of the many referenced parts, but a colored icon also shows you in what state they are for a faster check. If something is wrong, do not hesitate to verify the source of the problem and then come and repair it at the stand if necessary. Many data are available, for example for a tire: its pressure, its composition, its temperature, its tension, and of course its wear. What else, real-time telemetry analysis allows you to identify how to optimize your performance and control of the motorcycle. Messages are communicated to you in this regard. Note that the passages to the stand (where you have to be as fast as possible, a good idea), such as workshop interventions, call for QTE and desire to be realistic. it is indeed necessary dismantle if necessary all the elements allowing access to the part concerned before you can change it, like the caliper to reach the brake pads for example, then reassemble everything in the correct order before returning to the saddle. We will finish by specifying that apart from the career mode, you can also embark on quick single-player games as well as local multiplayer (split-screen duels) or online by choosing the race conditions (weather, asphalt, time penalty for false start, 1 to 40 laps, 2 to 5 riders with or without wear of the components of the motorcycle and of the rider’s equipment).

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