Fans of motorcycle racing games can indulge themselves with MotoGP 20 released on Thursday, April 23rd. And the pre-order bonus of the Historic Pack is now also available to buy as DLC content. It’s available now for the PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and the Google Stadia.
Italian developers Milestone have been making the official games for MotoGP on and off since 2007, and continuously since MotoGP 13 (along with the Ride, MXGP and Supercross series, plus various other bike games).
And having decided to launch the 2020 edition earlier in the year than normal, it’s likely to pay off with so many motorcycle fans and sim racers stuck at home during lockdown.
With MotoGP 20 released, you can buy it as a digital download for the PC from Steam, for the Xbox One from the Microsoft Store, for the PS4 from the PlayStation Store, and for the Switch via the Nintendo eShop. Or physical editions from Game and Amazon.
And MotoGP 20 has a number of improvements and features that could make it worthwhile even if you already own one of the previous titles in the series.
The main changes are improvements to the gameplay and motorcycle handling, which aim to offer a more strategic and realistic experience. And the addition of a new managerial career mode.
Racing in MotoGP 20 now involves not only riding as fast as possible, but dealing with fuel management. In recent years, real MotoGP riders have lapped quite slowly for much of a Grand Prix to be able to race at full power towards the end. So you’ll need to think about the same approach.
You’ll also need to handlke asymmetrical tyre wear, along with any aerodynamic damage from collisions with other bikes. And the Artificial Neural Network Agent (ANNA) AI system used for computer-controlled riders will do the same, along with hopefully riding fast and fair against you.
Online multiplayer retains the dedicated servers from recent games in the MotoGP series, but has also received some quality of life updates to hopefully improve the experience.
And then there’s the Managerial Career mode. This involves you building up your entourage via a personal manager. And either joining existing teams, or creating your own.
There’s a selection of graphics editors to design the look of your new team. But you’ll also have to build up your squad of engineers, use winter and mid-season testing to decide the direction of your research and development, and consider how you’ll improve your MotoGP machine during the season. That involves developing areas including aerodynamics, electronics, engine power and fuel consumption.
Apparently with MotoGP 20 released earlier than normal, and due to the challenges of the current global pandemic, Milestone will need to release some post launch updates. The full update to the MotoGP 2020 season will be at the start of May 2020. And the Moto2 and Moto3 updates will come at the end of May, along with the addition of the Red Bull Rookie Cup.
Meanwhile the electric MotoE class will be added at the end of June. But for the first time, Milestone has also announced new features to expand the content of the Managerial Career to arrive post-launch as well.
You can choose to work your way up through the classes from Moto3, through Moto2 and up to MotoGP. Or jump straight into the top flight to race against the likes of Marquez, Rossi and Rins.
If you’ve been a fan of MotoGP and motorcycle Grand Prix for a while, then you can also try out the returning historical mode. This sets you the challenge of winning randomly-generated events to unlock iconic riders and bikes from the history of the top level of motorcycle sport.
Lastly, with MotoGP 20 released, the pre-order bonus of the Historic Pack has also become available to buy. This DLC costs around £3.99 and includes four riders for the game. They are:
- Kevin Schwantz and his 1995 Suzuki RGV500 XR84
- Norifumi Abe and his 1997 Yamaha YZF500
- Marco Melandri and his 2004 Yamaha M1 in the Estoril Special Livery
- Colin Edwards and his 2007 Yamaha M1
As always, it’s great to see the pre-MotoGP two-stroke 500cc era represented. Especially with the legendary 1993 world champion Kevin Schwantz who was famous for his win-or-crash approach, and the late Norifumi Abe, who was one of the racing inspirations of a certain Valentino Rossi.
Melandri was the 250cc champion in 2002, and fellow Yamaha representative Colin Edwards was World Superbike champion in 2000 and 2002 before switching to MotoGP where he still continued as a test rider after his retirement from competition.
Obviously, we’ll continue to cover the latest MotoGP 20 news and updates. Along with the MotoGP eSports World Championship for pro sim riders, and the virtual GP series for the MotoGP riders unable to race on track so far in 2020.
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