MotoGP 10/11 Review

MotoGP 10/11

by Ali Plumb |
Published on

MotoGP 09/10 disappointed many fans of the real sport. It was too arcadey, too unrealistic, and too forgiving, appealing more to high-octane speed freaks who have no real interest in the actual sport at hand. In fact, bikes practically couldn’t crash, braking could be instantaneous, and so at times it felt like your bike might as well be a car.

With MotoGP 10/11, it seems Capcom have been paying attention and changed things accordingly. The same slick visuals are in place and general attention to detail — from the spot-on real world tracks to the tiny sponsor stickers littered all over every vehicle — but the pick-up-and-playability is now no longer there, forcing you to work hard to even get close to winning your first race.

That said, there is an option of switching assistance on and off to suit your tastes, rendering your bike handling more stable and balanced at the push of a button, but by and large you definitely feel like you’re riding a real bike, really fast.

Pleasing petrol heads even further, the ability to tweak and tinker with your vehicles has been vastly improved, and the career mode offers a “reputation” mechanic which increases with your successes — winning races, successfully overtaking, nailing corners — and declines with your failures, allowing you to hire and attract better staff and better gear, as well as keeping people engaged for much, much longer.

In this way, MotoGP 10/11 is far more authentic than the original, and refuses to give in to mass-market pressures, difficulty-wise. But for those of you who have limited interest in racing games and would rather be playing Mario Kart than changing tire softness on Gran Turismo, move along, nothing to see here. But if you love racing games, and enjoy a genuine challenge, MotoGP is a safe bet.

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