Want a mental challenge?

[Skybird]

Ride on the Edge 2.

This motorbike sim focusses on the Isle Of Man Racetrack, which is modelled in explicit detail in full length, all 60km.

It also offers almost 20 other, shorter, more traditional racetracks in the UK and Ireland.

Now, I am not into motorbikes, and in racing games I prefer Assetto corsa and Raceroom, Wreckfest and Dirts Rally 2. In other words: four instead of just two wheels.

Here is why I LOVE this title nevertheless: It is a challenge, a serious mentla challenge. Not an intellectual, obviously it is not that, but a mental. Because it mercilessly forces you for half an hour to have your mind completely and exclusively focussed on the task, you need to stay on your guard all the time, your concentration, your focus, your mental attitude all the time from the first to the last second need to be rasersharp and pointy like a laser, else you will ruin your so far crash-free lap around the Isle Of Man track again with just your latest addition to your collection of roadside crashes...

In a way the game is merciless. Thats while steering via an old X-Box controller is well-done and fair and the track flies by with believable physics and several on-bike perspectives from the driver's view. It certainly is something very different than a car racing. I could not be bothered with duelling myself with any of the AI drivers, I already have all my energy cells in use for just making it around the track in one piece and a reasonable pace - and I have not even switched off the indication line, memorising the track's turns and corners and danger points is still ahead of me, and on a bike you have not as much freedom to create late as you have in a GT4 car. The long 60 km on that Isle of Man certainly is the main attraction of the title, I do not care for the other tracks.

Its a mental challenge, really. If you look for right such a challenge, choose this. I got it on the current Steam sale some days ago, price had 60% off.

Also, it is a motorbike sim, maybe the best there is so fare. Providing the player with a sense of speed while still forcing a realistic perception, is of the essence, and here is where the title also scores big time.

A beast.

[Skybird]

Not even 20 minutes, holy crap... :k_confused:
I have so far managed just one clean lap without crashing, and that took me almost 35 minutes! Im getting old.

Okay, he uses the big bike in this video, I am using the smallest engine there is, and already have my hands full with that junior.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCYPGDO8DSk

Well, at least I have managed at least one clean lap without any touches, contacts, crashes. The video shows why he was so fast. 7 crashes, 4 or 5 obvious mistakes and a couple of minor ones but without the orientation line on the tarmac that I still need for guiding me.

Can this track be driven fast AND perfectly clean? I can tell you, this is exhausting. After one lap I am flat inside my head. Already just watching and seeing the world through the visors and at these speeds, is exhausting

[Sean C]

I used to feel the same way about the Nürburgring in Forza. There was a time when I knew every millimeter of that track.

[Skybird]

I have several hundred laps on laerscanned Nordsschleifen. Not only is the track just one third in length of the TT Isle of Man track, in a car its also a more forgiving steering even when going very fast. In a Bikesim, the delayed steering due to the body movements simulated, is far more tricky, and you have to be more on your guard, me thinks, have to steer "in advance" to compensate for the movement delays. Also, the visual perception of the track from driver's perspective is more difficult, you fight with reflections on the visor, the windscreen, and dirt, while the track ahead approaches you at lightspeed and literally flies right into your face. The perception of speed is very well transported in the sim. But I find it much more difficult to drive these bikes and with gamepad (with wheel it is even more difficult, I think).

The Nordschleife I have driven a fastest lap of around 6:15, in Assetto Corsa Classic, and I seem to recall it it was the Zonda. So I think I know how to take it really fast. Usually I take 30-40 seconds more, since I prefer more touring- and road traffic-classed cars. Slower cars make for better close distance duelling and door to door rubbing.

Raceroom also has a laserscanned Nordschleife. Its the only laserscanned track in Raceroom, while Assetto's are all laserscanned (except Zandvoort), and Competizione again also has only laserscanned tracks (and no Nordschleife...).

[Skybird]

Holy Moly, I just had my scalp ripping off my skull and blowing away.

I just tried a VR trick that I already use for Wreckfest. Both TT Ilse of Man 2 and Wreckfest have no native VR support and thus no stereoscopic 3D.

But there is this neat little program named Virtual Desktop, which effectively mirrors your desktop into your VR display. In the VR display you may have a floating giant screen above a romatic meadow showing your desktop then, or it is a monitor screen in a virtual, stereoscopically rendered office environment, or a screen in the Batcave.

Or you have a giant moviescreen in a cineplexx movie hall with a screen spanning from the left to the right of your viewing field, even exceeding it slightly. :)

Wreckfest displayed on this moviescreen already put the game on steroids, I won so tremendous visual detail that before escaped the eye, and had so much more immersion, that it turned the game into a completely new one.


The same happens with TT Isle of Man 2. Driving that game from drivers perspective on such a huge screen, with helmet visors active, makes it easier to actually perceive the track laying ahead, and getting sucked into the world of the trackside landscape. Imagine you walk into a huge cinema, a real big one, sit in the 4th row in the centre - and play your game on the movie screen. Thats what I am talking of.

It does not magically turn the displayed game into a virtual 3D game with stereoscopic 3D, no - but the so many times bigger virtual screen, compared to your desktop screen, makes a monumental difference. You see so much more detail, you drown in immersion, you see literally nothing but the game anymore.

The sense of speed won this way, is incredible. And it makes the bikes easier to steer, becasue you see the track ahead better and thus can anticipate needed steering inputs and braking earlier.


This trick sometimes works, sometimes not, it depends on the game. Wreckfest and TTIoM2 work very well. The Hunter does not work, and causes me nausea in no time although I am not vulnerable to it in 3D-VR at all.

The bike has gotten a huge steroid booster. This game now gives me much more than I epxected when I bought it. Originally I only got it because it was reduced in price by 60%. I now seat it at the sam etbale as the heavywieght sin my racing colleciton, Assetto crosa and Raceroom. So, the overwhelmingly positive payback comes a little bit unexpected for me. Lucky buy!

[Skybird]

Ha, vision is power! Shaved off 13 minutes and do the lap now in 25 minutes. :D

And 9 crashes. :wah:

You speed with more confidence if you have clear vision for your eyes and can see the track. Now that I do it with the VR headset I admit that the normal 2D screen setup maybe has a serious deficit by obstructing clear track perception with too much clutter by reflection, dirt, and dark vegetation dancing with shadows and sunlight. Its really hard at times to spot the tarmac.

I start to tremendously enjoy this.