The TT Isle of Man is arguably the crown jewel of motorcycle events in the world. It has a dark history, but this aspect also makes winning the event in various classes prestigious. Unlike MotoGP or World Superbike, however, the event doesn’t garner the same attention as many racing series or events, but it doesn’t diminish from the accomplishments involved with the riders in the event. The race has managed to garner a racing game, which is seeing its third release with TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 3. Raceward Studio has implemented its KT Engine to use on the series and while it isn’t a large studio working on the title, the effort can be admired. The series is a niche title for a niche fan base, but the love for racing can be felt.
The one thing about the Isle of Man is that the roads are narrow and can get confusing when throwing in curbs for sidewalks, which is prevalent in Ride on the Edge 3. The roads are created with a 1:1 scale and with the latest version offering the new Open Roads mode, players have the ability to free roam the entire island in terms of the roads. When scaling back the map, however, there isn’t a superb amount of real estate to cover. The game does put the player immediately into the game upon starting, much like other open world racers. There’s no grass cutting or short cuts as the player is squarely tied to the roads on the island.
Players have the choice of starting a career, or season, with either the 600cc Supersport bikes or the 1000cc Superbikes. The game also includes the latest bikes available along with the official riders and teams. There are 38 official riders available with 21 bikes in the Superbike class and 17 in Supersport. The goal is to earn upgrade points and progress through the season to take the player to the final full race. The season progresses with either races or time trials on 32 different circuit versions of the full island. Each event will offer longer rides to help ease the rider into the full race.
While there is a “career” mode, players won’t be creating their own rider. Players are forced to choose one of the riders and their specific bike (which there is a rating system for each rider), and there’s no mixing and matching of riders and their bikes. Parts upgrades are available for the bikes and are much needed. Starting off, the bikes are difficult to handle and using full throttle while racing isn’t recommended. The races also have the option to have cornering aids, but strangely this isn’t in the free roam section. There aren’t any licensed parts for the game, but rather Ride on the Edge 3 offers different tiers of upgrade parts that do make a difference. Different aspects of the bike can be setup to help change the feel of the bikes, but no real description is provided of what each tweak will do. The riding physics are something to be appreciated as they’ve been updated. Even when racing, the body of the rider constantly fluctuates and it is clear the rider and the bike are separate entities. Better grip from the tyres leads to better cornering, which can be felt with the upgrades. Braking still requires a pre-mature pressure as braking last minute will have the rider hitting the wall. Slow cornering is difficult as I feel the leaning could be quicker. This does create the weightiness of the ride at high speeds, but slow cornering can be challenging.
Making contact with other riders feels realistic and this comes down to the body and the bike being separate entities. Contact looks, feels and sounds good. There are varying difficulty levels to help with the handling model and also on-bike assists that can be activated to help the rider achieve faster times. The bikes will not only wobble but also jump at high speeds, so finding the breaking point between speed and traction is important. There’s a steep learning curve with this game and its coupled with the narrow roads, so the environment isn’t like a wider circuit. Another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration are the curbs to sidewalks or raised asphalt, as at high speeds the lines tend to match up with the lane painting for the actual road. It’s worth noting that the wrecks are ridiculous and funny, plus the AI will also wreck which is a nice touch.
The AI does a good job of recognizing the player on the road. It races well and if someone is faster or coming from behind, it will move out of the way. The difficulty can also be adjusted to help with the player to either give a fair race or a good challenge. There is one event where racers are released one at a time and there are also grid starts. Weirdly, no matter how much the clutch is eased off of at the start of races, the bike will wheelie. There also seems to be a random bug where when using manual shifting, the gear change simply does not work. This seems to be tied to specific events and not necessarily a one-off.
While the riding physics feel solid and the AI does a good job, what’s a travesty are the visuals for a current generation game. One could argue this is a PlayStation 3 game and while the last title launched three years ago, one would think with more time that the visuals would improve and not actually regress. The game looks like a Switch title that has been unlocked to use on the PlayStation 5. The player and bike models are dated to the point where it looks like a community homebrew title. While there are some fans on the side of the track, the world is rather lifeless. Making this worse is the amount of texture pop-in and there isn’t an excuse for this. The game also decides to chug and stutter when a lot of environmental objects are on the screen such as buildings, trees and people. This will mess with your mind when going at high speeds and can ruin your concentration.
With a game lacking in the visual department, one would think that the developer would at least allow for 120hz option, but it doesn’t offer this. The game does run at 60 FPS and while the stuttering may not affect the rendering FPS, it is apparent something is wrong. There’s a wet weather option and different times of day to race, but the bike gives off no spray and in all honesty doesn’t seem to make a difference on handling. There are moments of good lighting, but there’s also a lot of bloom as opposed to any screen space reflections or anything of the sort. With a place as beautiful as the Isle of Man, one would think the idea is to take advantage of this. The game has a photo mode, but that would be a weird flex to take scenic photos. The backdrops of mountains and terrain are flat and lifeless as well.
While the visuals are in the state that they are, Raceward Studio did offer a reason to choose the PS5 version of this game. The implementation of the DualSense is fantastic, if not some of the best out there. The speaker is put to excellent use as tyre squealing can be heard along with exhaust backfire and crashes. Brake pressure is applied properly while the throttle doesn’t offer any resistance. The controller dynamically shakes hard including on each gear shift. This design implementation is intuitive and the only thing missing would be the ability to steer with motion controls.
The bike sounds are satisfying and vary based on the bike. Every aspect of the bike audio is captured beautifully and sounds fantastic. The only big knock is the tyre squealing coming through speaker sounds like someone recorded a fork lift in a warehouse. There’s a variety of rock music from smaller bands in the game that plays in the background the entire time, but this doesn’t help make up for the lack of life on the track. There’s an online aspect, but good luck finding other rider as this will be minimal once the game launches. There’s a lobby system for custom events, but that is about it. Now if Raceward had opted to have other riders on the island free roaming around, it would add more to the feel of the game and the life on the island. Being able to instantly race with another rider would be a huge bonus. There aren’t any motorcycle games that currently offer something like this.
Closing Comments:
TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 3 seems to focus more specifically on the technical aspect of the bikes while touching up other areas. The physics are improved and realistic, which also leads to a hard learning curve. Upgrading the bike through the Seasons is key for not only more success, but also overall enjoyability of the game itself. Atrocious visuals and the lack of life on the track hamper the overall experience of the game, though. The best way to experience TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 3 is on the PS5 to guarantee the DualSense works, as on PC I don’t have a way to verify if that works or not. Cruising the island can be fun, but I’d rather just take my actual bike out for a more satisfying experience. Having a virtual group to ride with on the island and race with would have upped this “open world” racer. It also retails for $49.99, which even at a discount, is asking a bit much.
