New VR Publisher Unveils ‘VRIDER’ Superbike Racing Game, Coming to Quest and PC VR

By
Scott Hayden
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6

VRAL Games, the publisher behind the SBK superbike mobile franchise, announced it’s publishing its first VR motorcycle racing game, coming to Quest and SteamVR headsets later this year.

Called VRIDER, the multiplayer game is set to be the official title of the Superbike World Championship, bringing 12 licensed circuits, 23 official riders, and five official superbikes model: Ducati Panigale V4 R, BMW S100RR, Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10RR, Honda CBR1000RR, and Yamaha YZF R1.

Image courtesy VRAL Games

Developed by Italian indie Funny Tales, the game offers support for up to eight online players, featuring in-race voice chat, as well as AI races and races against the clock.

This includes Quick Race, Tournament, Ghost Challenge, Endurance, and Hot Lap racing modes—and of course global leaderboards.

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VRIDER is slated to launch first on the Quest Store later this summer, and on Steam in Q4 2024. The game is currently being debuted at GDC 2024, which takes place March 18th – 23rd in San Francisco, California.

In the meantime, you can join the game’s Discord (invite link) to sign up for beta testing, and follow along there for the latest in virtual superbike racing. Check out the trailer below:

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • simon cox

    Looks really fun but it’s made me realise what I really want is VR Road Rash.

  • namekuseijin

    seems footage from flat game only. Hopefully great in VR

  • So is this gonna actually utilize the XR2.2 …??

  • david vincent

    Wonder how it will compete against Ride 4 + UEVR

  • Nice trailer, even if most views don’t look like from a VR headset!

  • Nepenthe

    Motorcyclist here. It could be good or crap, not sure. Motorcycles are tough to do in VR. It’s almost impossible to do a motorcycle rig in your home, for example. Driving a car is a lot like sitting at a desk, which is why VR driving is a pretty good match for VR — and I’ve done some VR driving that knocked my socks off!

    But motorcycles are so very different. For example, at moderate to high track speeds, the motorcycle’s triple tree mount and clip-ons basically don’t move off of straight ahead. You can even see this in the vids on this article. You initiate lean using muscular inputs into the clip-ons (handlebars), but the actual fork doesn’t move much beyond the amount needed to provide the lean. The turning happens because the motorcycle tire has a variable diameter. It’s complicated.

    I would LOVE for a VR simulation of motorcycle riding to be possible, but after 70,000 on- and off-road miles, loads of my actual sleeping dreams of riding, and ten years of considering what it would take, I don’t think it will ever be possible (of course there’s the “until Neurallink” caveat to mention), at least at a consumer level.

    That said, I’ll be trying this just to see what they’ve accomplished and how it resets my expectations.