For more than 100 years, the small island of Man has been touring the Tourist Trophy - one of the most dangerous and spectacular motor races in the world. A race where every year crazy speeds are achieved with which top-notch spectacle is guaranteed. The course is more than 60 km long and the drivers race through villages, along mountains and on long straights normal road. Developer Kylotonn understands this attraction and together with publisher Bigben Interactive has joined forces to bring this spectacle to the PlayStation 4. Our inner speed devil craves a good motorcycle racing game, but can TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge satisfy this hunger?
200 km / h!
The first question I had when I started the game was whether the game only knew one known course, but fortunately we can immediately take away that care. You can choose from a total of 10 different tracks of which the course of Isle of Man is of course the highlight. Kylotonn has always made it a point that the course is identical to reality in every place and fair is fair: there is no word of it. If you are familiar with the race, it will be one big party of recognition. You can choose from around 20 real drivers with the legendary John McGuiness as absolute leader, with 23 victories to his name. It's nice if you are a hardcore TT fan, that you can select all drivers with their machines.
When you start TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge for the first time, you will immediately get to know the whip in the optional tutorial. You start with automatic switching and all possible assists are activated. Halfway through your very first round on the Isle of Man track you can taste the higher difficulty: you now switch manually and the majority of the assists are (partially) switched off. The result is probably that you immediately go to your hole after you pull the gas in the first gear just a little too long. The number of times I crashed before I reached the finish I do not even dare to admit.
The available customization options are however too scarce to speak of a pure racing sim. Somewhat surprised, for example, I found out that the sensitivity of the DualShock 4 sticks can not be adjusted. As a result, it never really felt like 'my' engine, but more like a generic engine that is replaceable by any other model. In that respect, for example, we may have been spoiled by the many options and institutions that a game like Project CARS offers us.
The animation of the driver is also quite limited during steering, as leaning from left to right looks pretty static. For me reason enough to drive in first-person mode. The realistic feeling of speed in first-person left me (in real-life I am a nice weather motorcyclist) the most realistic impression. On a 650cc engine that feels good, not to mention the feeling you get with a 1000cc Honda Fireblade. Regarding the choice of engines, there are two categories; super sport (650cc) and superbike (1000cc). The brands range from well-known Japanese as Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki to European brands such as BMW, Triumph and Norton. My personal favorite brand Ducati is unfortunately missing, but that is completely in accordance with reality, because there are no Ducati's in the TT Isle of Man.
Graphic well cared for
The engines all look great and if you are a motor fan like me, you will appreciate this level of detail. Graphically, it is generally a mustache, especially when you look at the routes and the motorbikes. The audience seems somewhat of cardboard, but the roads, the houses, the trees, the fields all look great. Another important aspect of a motorcycle race game is of course the sound. Every engine has its own, unique roar and that is partly the attraction of such a game. The sound that every engine produces seems, unfortunately, not quite match with the real sound. Now I have not seen and / or heard all the engines in real life, but often I did not even notice that I was on another engine because the sound was too much like the previous one. Sometimes the sound does not seem to be completely synchronized with your action either. It is only a fraction of a second, but it is just enough to stand out. Graphically and audio technically, the game may well be fine, the problem is that it does not really feel special.
The choice is not giant
Worse is actually that it is not very fun to play. The game offers a little special career mode where you make a driver, buy a 650cc engine and then win races. It is all sufficient, but the much-needed variation is lacking. This has to a large extent also to do with the concept of the Isle of Man TT. This TT is not a race where everyone starts at the same time, this race has an interval start. That means that there is a fixed interval between the drivers. The result is that you only race a lot of time on the track.
Some races that are part of the career mode, have a mass start but that does not feel very good. The drivers stick together in a group and the AI is not great. It is striking that you are in the verge of the slightest mistake with your motor, while your AI companions apparently do not suffer from it. When you crash with your motorcycle (yes, that is going to happen) then the animation is almost always the same, regardless of the speed you have on the counter. The physics are not right and the great feeling of speed ends up in a very clumsy way. The engines also lack the feeling of weight. Your motorcycle ends in a crash almost always 20 meters away while your body bounces a few meters like a ragdoll before stopping somewhere.
Damage to the engine is not shown. Now a motor crash of 200 km / h is always a one-off, but a damage model was not out of place. Perhaps the engine manufacturers did not want to cooperate, perhaps it is the laziness of the developer. Who knows may say. Besides the career mode there is of course also an online component. The problem at the time of writing this review was that only an opponent (or several) was found sporadically, so we never really could test this. If there was finally someone who wanted to race online, the session was ended prematurely (voluntarily or not). However, the game has been officially on sale for more than a week, so the hope for an improvement in the multiplayer is probably vain. Here, too, it is not very special.
Conclusion
Motorcycle racing must be one and all passion. The roar of engines with more than 200 hp you have to pump up with adrenaline. Unfortunately, TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge can be called unremarkable in one word. The feeling of speed is - certainly in first-person mode - great and the 60 km long route on the Isle of Man has never been so beautifully designed. However, it is a lonely experience where the AI of your opponents leave too much to be desired, the physics miss the board and the different modes do not promise a lot of fun. Online is so far too thin with opponents to be playable. The chances are therefore that you will be looking for something else in no time. If you like motor racing, you can get the best hours of fun here by perfecting your lap times.
The Plus and Minus points
✔ Feeling of speed is top
✔ Trail is great
✔ Engines look nice
✖ Game feels lonely
✖ AI is unreasonable
✖ Physics are bad
✖ Limited settings and modes
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