MotoGP 26 Review: Two Wheels, One Great Racing Game

As one of the resident racing fans at DualShockers who has been losing his mind over the current Formula One hiatus (we're almost back, baby), it was a no-brainer to hop into the newest iteration of the long-running MotoGP series to see what the 2026 offering had ready to roll.

No, I am not currently a dedicated, die-hard follower of MotoGP in real-life, but good racing games are still always welcome in my household, especially when they can also eventually sell me on investing in the IRL counterpart of the sport as well.

Between F1 being gone for so long at this point and MotoGP 26 ending up being such a blast to cover for review, I'm now fully primed to become the newest fan of this sport and video game series in general. Let me tell you what I liked so much about this one.

Leaning into the Action

For the very uninitiated, MotoGP 26 is the video game version of the real-life motorcycle racing sport that takes place all around the world at many of the most famous and iconic racetracks in history. Teams and riders compete for points based on where they finish races, eventually leading to both an individual and a bike constructor winning their own championships in the end.

It's an intense sport, and MotoGP 26 does an excellent job of capturing the thrill, excitement, heartbreak, and stress of a real race all at once. In fact (and in large part to adaptive AI opponent racers that keep every session interesting), I was worried I might break my DualSense controller during this review process because I was working the triggers with intent and gusto they hadn't felt since Elden Ring.

You're eased into the high-octane action with a brief tutorial, and while I think it skips a couple steps in really getting a new player up to speed with some of the more nuanced aspects of the sport, it still gets you mostly up and running in no time. From here, there's nothing else to do but burn some rubber, scrape some knees and elbows, and fight tooth and nail for every podium.

If you're new to the world of video game sim racing on two wheels, it'll take some time to get your equilibrium here. MotoGP bikes likely handle distinctly differently from other racing games you've played before, depending much more on full-body leaning and orientation of the rider's body in order to actually affectively rotate the vehicle around tight, slow-speed corners, chicanes, and whatever else the game's 22 official tracks throw your way.

22 real-life racers are featured in the game, as well as all 11 teams that make up the MotoGP grid. This roster is further extended when you add in the Moto2 and Moto3 leagues as well.

MotoGP 26 does a great job of letting you customize the racing experience exactly how you want it with tons of settings for control types, rewind features, custom camera angles, granularly tweakable difficulties, as well as changing exactly how strict you want the race stewards to be in calling out your rule infractions and penalizing you for repeat/serious offenses.

Wearing Out the Photo Mode

The racing itself is very good in MotoGP 26, and it's highlighted even further by how great the bikes and riders actually look in motion. The game looks superb once you're in the action, almost sneakily so, since you'll be so hyper-focused on staying on the track for a while to really notice all the visual shine here.

After a race, however, take the time to pop into the Replay Mode, then dive into the game's Photo Mode from there. Sure, we aren't quite talking Gran Turismo or Forza-levels of visual fidelity here, but it's pretty dang close.

Getting such nice flicks from a Photo Mode might seem like a silly thing to focus on in a review, but it really was darn impressive in MotoGP 26. All of the above images in this section were taken by me, but I like to think they all look good enough to be official promo photos for the game's press kit. But no, these are in-game stills that really go a long way to highlight just how good these aspects of MotoGP 26 look.

I will say that I don't think this high level of fidelity applies to everything in the game. Skyboxes, audience stands, and other details around the tracks can look a little empty at times. The human models don't always look incredible between races. Regardless, we're all here for the on-track action in the end, and MotoGP 26 looks great in that regard.

Plenty of Modes and Ways to Customize

MotoGP 26 was deep enough for me on the Mode front. No, the packaged Career Mode isn't as deep as, say, any recent F1 title, but it's still plenty to sink your teeth into. Using either a real rider or your created racer, you'll be tasked with working up the ranks (starting with Moto2 or Moto3 if you'd like, or just skipping straight to MotoGP). Do well enough and raise your reputation with potential teammates along the way, and opportunities will come knocking for new seats at better teams with stronger resource pools.

In Career Mode, you'll also get to pitch in to conversations with engineers to figure out how to develop your machine exactly how you want it, test out two different bikes before the season to see which setup you prefer/perform better with, as well as speak with the media as a way to set season goals and choose a rival rider as some extra incentive to compete (if you needed any).

Along the way, you'll earn experience points to level up your rider's rank, making them more attractive to potential suitors at different teams once you start negotiating new terms via your manager. None of this gets quite as deep as Career Modes in some other titles, but it's enough to keep things interesting, as well as enough constant motivation to take every race weekend seriously.

I didn't get to test out the up-to-22-player online functionality of the game, but as long as it all works as it should at launch, I can see myself taking my skills worldwide once the game is live. There's also local, split-screen multiplayer if you're someone that misses the days when we could still compete with someone next to us on the couch.

In addition to all this, MotoGP 26 also features some additional race modes on four different types of bikes: Flat Track, Motard, Minibike, and Production Bikes. While I don't personally find any of the four as interesting as the standard racing in the game, they are still very fun inclusions if you ever feel like doing something different and switching things up.

New this year is a card collecting feature as well, which has you ripping packs and seeing what you find inside. Thankfully, none of these are used for anything like Madden Ultimate Team or other pay-to-win type sports card games. It's just a fun little inclusion that lets you collect virtual cards of your favorite riders, some of which also feature some nifty custom artwork as well.

A Solid Presentation Package, But a Bit Behind the Pack

We've talked above about the highs and lows of MotoGP 26's visual fidelity, so now let's discuss the additional points of presentation within the game. The bottom line is that the game's presentation is good. Or at least, it's definitely not bad. But at the same time, you will notice that it's not quite the same package in the end as some other racing titles out there.

The music selection is pretty generic and repetitive. The commentary before and after races feels a bit flat. Animations in cutscenes all look a little stiff and lifeless. Things like that. Again, we're all here for the racing, so none of this is the end of the world. Still, there's a noticeable difference in overall presentation quality between MotoGP 26 and some of the other sim racers coming from larger teams.

That said, there's a lot here that's very strong as well. It's simple stuff, but also details I've seen other racing titles get wrong: Things like a nice timing tower that shows relevant gaps/splits/data, menus that are simple to understand and don't overload you with way more information than you could possibly need, and other telemetry from your races that you can leverage to find time and get on that podium.

In the end, these are the things that really matter in a racing game, and MotoGP 26 does much more right than it does wrong. All of this combined has resulted in what's certainly the best motorcycle sim racing game I've ever played, and I'm excited to keep working my way up the Career Mode ladder.

MotoGP 26 continues on the legacy of this series being the best racing sim on two wheels, and yet it's also more approachable than ever with its refined and tweaked "Arcade" options as well as a shift in focus to a rider-based handling system. The racing itself is thrilling, straightforward enough, and has a high skill-ceiling that feels rewarding to work towards. An overall presentation package that isn't quite as good as some contemporaries is really the only "blemish" on another exciting and slick MotoGP experience. Oh, and the bikes look awesome in Photo Mode.