Thank you Nacon for sending us this game to review!

I have reviewed and enjoyed several motorcycle games in the past, though I admit I do prefer car racing games (because crashing isn't quite so easy). Realism is nice, but as I play more and more of these, I have come to realize that if things are too realistic, there is more than I prefer or care about. RiMS Racing is perhaps the most realistic motorcycle racing sim on the market – and certainly the most realistic one I've played. But for me, it crosses that line of being so realistic that it's not fun for me anymore.

And yet, if you do want that realism, this game has a lot to offer. For one thing, the bikes are crazy customizable, with around five hundred real-world parts available to be swapped in and out of your favorite bike – of which there are eight, but simulated in extreme detail. Parts customization is broken down into nine different categories, like breaks, livery, exhaust, transmission, suspension, wheels, and more. It's honestly pretty insane. This is on top of whatever customization you want to make to the gear ratios, suspension stiffness levels, tire pressure levels, and more. You could easily spend hours just tweaking the bike to your heart's content.

Not only can you customize all of these things, but the game offers a form of education on them, too. For example, if you want to replace a brake rotor, the game walks you through removing each and every part that you need to in order to get to it – and you have to press certain button combinations in order to perform each individual task. And unfortunately, it's not optional. While playing this game on a stream (posted below), about 33 minutes in, I was tasked with replacing the brake pads. You can hear my surprise when the game asked me to not only perform each step as if I was a pit mechanic, but to press buttons, rotate the analog stick, and so on in order to perform each step. While I can appreciate the educational aspects of this, the fact that you can't bypass it is far less appreciated. It was at this point of the stream that the game kinda lost me. Tedious tasks without reward in modern games like this just rub me the wrong way.

With that said, the actual racing aspect is quite good. The graphics are great, and the sense of speed is wonderful. The engine noise sounds believable, though I sadly lack a racing motorcycle to compare it against. The physics are quite realistic... and if my experience with these games is any indication, perhaps I should pick a different midlife crisis hobby than taking up motorcycle riding, as I doubt my aging body can handle quite what my on-screen avatar goes through on a single lap, much less in a whole race. What I find happens is that I either drive way too slowly to ever have a chance of avoiding the ground, or I crash a lot. If you're going to pick this game up, expect to have to put in a whole lot of practice to get anywhere above last place.

Content-wise, this game is somewhat different than many competitors. For example, there are only about fifteen different race courses (with some reverse routes, and at least one DLC course). (At the time of this writing, most of the DLC is cosmetic; only one is a racecourse.) However, with five hundred different bike parts, tweaking your bike is a job unto itself – and you are strongly encouraged to do so, as each race gives you ample time to get practice runs in. The only 'gotcha' is that your bike wears down, even during practice runs (in career mode, not outside of that), but that's the price of doing business in real life, too.

Singleplayer game modes include Career, which it really pushes you to do – this is where most of the simulation aspects of the gameplay are tucked into. Outside of Career, there are a few other simpler modes. These include Single Race, Private Testing, Academy, and Racing Tutorial. The Tutorial is pretty much just a way to replay the simple 'how to' that the game starts you with when you first play. Single Race is a simple custom race with rules and bikes you choose; most racing games have this. Private Testing is a fancy way to say challenge the online leaderboards. Academy is a way to replay the challenge events that the Career mode tasks you with; if you never play Career, these will never unlock.

The multiplayer modes aren't many, but they are likely enough for most. Being a fan of split-screen, I am thrilled to say that it's present, even in the PC version. There is only two player, but still – that's enough for me. You can also choose to create online custom events, where you can create lobbies, or join lobbies that other players create. These races are played in real-time with your competitors. There are other challenges that change every month as well. You compete against other players via an online leaderboard. If you do well enough, you earn Fame points, which you can use to earn badges on your online profile.

Technically, the PC port is well done, though NVIDIA has a driver bug in the latest stable release of the GeForce driver that broke the game (as of this writing). There is a hotfix that does fix this, but seems to introduce other oddities, so be warned. I can't blame that on the game, of course. The frame rate and all that was consistent in my time with the game. The minimum (and recommended) system requirements are quite modest, so it scales down well also. I do wish it supported more controller types, as some might want to use a racing wheel (even if that seems strange). Xbox controllers work fine, however.

Morally, this game is squeaky clean. If you crash, you hit the ground, or can go flying before hitting the ground. That's about it!

RiMS Racing is a good racing game that is so hyper-realistic that it's really not for everyone. Most modern racers are very well made, and look great. So the big differentiators is the number of bikes and track, the racing physics, and the extras that makes each one unique. What I do like about RiMS is that it's different enough to be its own thing – it's not a yearly iteration, like some, but something that's trying something truly different. For that, I applaud this attempt. However, you have to be deep into the most mundane aspects of motorcycle racing to appreciate the detail offered in this game. If you do, then I recommend you pick it up – it's well done for what it is. But if you are looking for something to pick up and play casually, this is very much not that. Know what you are getting into before buying.