The goal for this year was therefore to provide players with a game on their favorite discipline before mid-season is reached and on this point, we can say that the objective has been achieved hands down. In theory, the game should have come out right after the GP of Argentina, the fourth event of a season that has no less than 20 meetings. In practice, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the season has still not started, and the more time passes, the greater the uncertainties regarding its kick-off date. For now, the first event that has not been officially postponed is the German Grand Prix, scheduled to take place at the Sachsenring on June 21, and which was initially the ninth event of the season. You got it, MotoGP 20 is probably going to be the only way to enjoy motorcycle racing for quite some time. Luckily for fans, Milestone is still the proud DORNA grandfather, which means that all in-game content is fully licensed, and everything will look exactly like the real thing: from motorcycles to tracks to the smallest sticker on Valentino Rossi's jumpsuit.
Good news by the way: the transfer window has been perfectly transcribed into the game, and we are thus entitled to all the dairy changes that made the news last year. Alex Marquez has joined his big brother at Honda Repsol, Jorge Lorenzo has become a test rider, and on the French side, Fabio Quartararo is still at Petronas SRT (but with a factory bike it seems), while Johann Zarco is left suddenly at KTM to end up at Avintia, a Ducati satellite team. Better, this respect for the pilots and their mounts is also found in the smallest categories like Moto2 and Moto3. Be careful though, these promotion formulas are not entitled to the same devotion as the queen category, which will see the face of its pilots (and team managers) modeled. The consequence of this preferential treatment is that we will only be entitled to the podium during races contested in MotoGP, the pilots of the other categories having to content themselves with expressing their joy in the arrival area, the helmet screwed on on the head. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since the modeling of the faces of the champions is not really a success. Like last year, the cringe palm goes to the grid girls whose faces and smiles are frankly freaking out.
WHICH TIRE MOST TIRE LEAST
Fortunately, in terms of riding, MotoGP 20 has evolved in the right direction with some major new features for gameplay. Still just as demanding (especially when you deactivate the driving aids), the art of handling a MotoGP will require a lot of talent and a lot of concentration. If the behavior of the tires had been improved last year, this year a new level has been reached. From now on, each casing will offer three different wear zones, with the sidewalls (right and left) and the central tread. As in real life, driving on a circuit, we will never wear the tires symmetrically, and therefore their performance will be different depending on the circuit, the weather conditions, and our riding style. For example, on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans, which has many right turns, we will file the right side of our tire much faster than the left. The result: it is that by rolling like a nag, we will quickly find ourselves walking on eggshells as soon as we lay the bike on the right. Therefore, the only solution to try to overtake will be on left turns, when using the least worn part of the tire.
This new system completely changes the strategic approach to each race, but also the fact that we try to save our tires (or not for that matter), always according to a well-defined profile. At Le Mans, it is thus possible to drag oneself in the right turns, in order to attack at the end of the race when the other competitors have killed their rubbers. The other major novelty concerns fuel management. Introduced last year, this feature simply simulated the weight and consumption of the motorcycle, but without really impacting the gameplay. Now, we have several engine maps that we can change on the fly, just like in real life. Each bike has three modes depending on our needs. Mode 0 transforms our missile on wheels into an Airsal kitted 103 SP, but gives us the same fuel consumption as a moped. Mode 1 is the classic racing map, while mode 2 puts the engine on full throttle, while making it drink more than singer Renaud. The amount of fuel to carry is therefore much more strategic, because you can choose to lighten the bike as much as possible at the cost of lousy engine performance, or refuel, and take advantage of more horsepower to scratch opponents in a straight line.
With the massive arrival of downforce devices on the machines, Milestone has pushed its damage system even further so that these thin carbon fins have a very serious impact on the stability of our machine.
The possibility of varying the engine power also makes it much more important to manage the other piloting aids available on the handlebars. Traction control and anti-wheelie will be essential in mode 2 (at least if you want to keep your tires), especially in rainy weather. Similarly, we can vary the resistance of the engine brake on the fly in order to spare (or not) the rubber of the rear wheel. Suffice to say that by combining all these factors, driving a MotoGP should bring back a lot of memories for veterans of the Codemasters F1 series, as electronic management becomes essential in performance. With the massive influx of downforce devices on machines, Milestone pushed their damage system further so that the thin carbon fins had a very pronounced impact on the stability of our machine. Deprived of these appendages, the bike rears up violently and will handle seriously when passing 300 km/h. The slightest contact will therefore be fatal to a good result, MotoGP having no pit stop; no question of changing tires, refueling, or putting on a new fairing.
In terms of content either, we have nothing to complain about, even if the MotoE has gone by the wayside. We don't know if fans weren't receptive to the beauty of electric motors, or if the lack of success of the first season led DORNA to make strategic choices, but this category did not last more than a year. year in the game. To console the players, Milestone has put the package at the career level with a management system much more advanced than before, and which is furiously inspired by what Codemasters offers in the F1 series. We will therefore have to recruit an agent, engineers, and carry out an entire R&D component that will help boost the performance of our motorcycle. Four main axes are offered with the electronics (for an anti-wheelie which cuts off less power for example), the engine (more horsepower, less consumption), the chassis (limited tire wear, better rigidity) and finally the aerodynamics (reserved for the MotoGP category). Our engineers will need time to develop these new features, as well as research points which are obtained by carrying out test programs during the practice sessions of each GP.
AN AIR OF DEJA-VU?
The formula isn't new, and clearly seems to be pumped straight from what F1 2019 has to offer, but at least it has the merit of working. Too bad for the inspiration that said. The only slightly original novelty is the possibility of creating your own team, taking advantage of offers from generous industrial groups. The problem is that the system remains limited to the adoption of a ready-made package (sponsors + frame), which often forces us to type in an ugly livery in the colors of DHL, or to struggle with a bike that is not very powerful (like a Speed-up or an NTS in Moto2, while the first half of the ranking is exclusively made up of Kalex). Too bad, we would have loved to take advantage of a system that lets us buy a motorcycle, then negotiate with the sponsors to complete our budget. To console ourselves, we can modify (a little) the livery of our millstone, using a very complete editor. For more freedom, we will move towards the creation of the butt patch (the crest with the nickname of the pilots), or the decoration of our helmet, which are the only accessories where the studio gives us carte blanche. As far as our avatar is concerned, we will always be limited to about twenty faces to choose from, without the possibility of making a girl.
We will console ourselves with the plethora of historical content that we can enjoy, with many legendary pilots, and vintage motorcycles, including 500cc 2-strokes. By participating in races in the dedicated mode, we will win a specific currency that will allow us to unlock all these legends including Michael Doohan, Casey Stoner, Marco Simoncelli, Iloris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, or even Valentino Rossi in his young years. The game is also a bit nicer graphically, especially when you take advantage of the photo mode which allows you to see the sides of the tires degrade, and to contemplate frames modeled to perfection. However, as often with Milestone productions, we regret a large lack of finish in the game. The AI is capable of the best (surprising overtaking) as well as the worst (falling at each turn in the same bend), is very uneven. Thus, we started the test without being able to take advantage of the German circuit of the Sachsenring, all the motorcycles passing through the ground (we escalated the problem, and a patch came to correct this). We also have at times the furious impression that the bikes do not touch the ground, and do not worry if the animations of your pilot suddenly stop working (he no longer sways, no longer hides behind the bubble).
