When it comes to motorbikes and gaming, no one has mastered the art of getting the digital knee down quite like Milestone.
The Italian studio is behind games featuring SBK, MXGP and of course MotoGP, even doing special titles for Valentino Rossi and Ducati. This is before you get to the Ride series too, now in its 6th instalment, and is to bikers what Gran Turismo is to car fans.
But it’s the MotoGP series where the studio really shines, having created 16 of them over the years and with MotoGP 26 marking their 14th consecutive entry in the series.
Read More: Screamer review – Milestone’s Amazing 180
We were lucky enough to grab a quick chat with both Milestone’s Game Director – Matteo Pezzotti and Lead Game Designer – Stefano Talarico. We spoke to the duo about bringing the challenge faced with yearly instalments of games, working hand in hand with the grid and what the future holds for the series.
What would you say is the biggest change this year to the game compared to past instalments?
ST – As always, we have a few things that make MotoGP 26 shine. Our main focus is always on the Career mode, and this year we’re giving players the chance to play as a real MotoGP class rider for the first time in the series.
This was something that our fans asked for, and we were happy to make it happen, also because this year’s Career has a new presentation that revolves all around the paddock and all the environments that you can see on TV and that make a race weekend, besides the track itself.
With the game being a yearly series, do you find it hard to improve year on year, and how does the studio approach creating a “hook” to bring fans back beyond grid updates and tweaks to the core gameplay?
MP – I believe the key is to have a long-term plan. We have a clear roadmap for the improvements we want to make over the coming years, and we try to distribute them evenly year by year based on the time available.
How have you improved the bike physics compared to previous entries, especially in terms of tyre wear, grip, and rider weight transfer?
ST – This year, our physics revolves around the whole new Rider-Based Handling. In past iterations, players moved the bike, and the rider on top moved along with it. This year, it’s the other way around: the player directly controls the rider, and the bike moves along.
It’s a totally different style of playing and, of course, applies to every technical aspect of the bike. I would say Rider-Based Handling is more accessible since the bike feedback is more direct and readable.
Of course, accessible does not mean easy, but I do believe that MotoGP has the best physics model yet, and it’s easier to put together a good lap and, most of all, understand where you can improve. There is less friction and less frustration, and more time to understand how to ride better and how to improve. It’s a more enjoyable experience overall.
What changes have been made to AI riders to make races feel more dynamic and less predictable?
MP – One of the most important improvements this year was separating the training of the neural AI for arcade and pro experiences. Having two completely different AIs allowed us to make the challenge in arcade mode fairer, aligning braking points and other manoeuvres with what the player does. At the same time, it gave us the freedom to experiment much more in pro mode without risking affecting the other player experience.
Have any new features been added that fans have been asking for?
ST – The Career as a real rider was for sure one of the most requested things in the past years. With the introduction of the full rider transfer market in 2024, it was only natural to work towards this feature, and we’re happy with what we achieved.
It features every aspect we have in the Career with a custom rider, along with the new Thursday interview and expanded contract negotiations, so it’s a deep experience.
And I know that fans always want more, I read the comments and the Reddit posts. What I can say is that we always build on what’s already there, and we’re the first critics of our work: we don’t want to put stuff in the game just to check boxes; we want to focus on things that give our players an exciting, cohesive experience.
The Career as a MotoGP rider is clearly a demonstration of this philosophy.
How do you think fans will take to the new collectible card system? Was this inspired by the likes of FIFA and WWE titles?
MP – To be honest, it’s something much more related to our childhood experiences, when collecting cards was just a game, without the obsession that surrounds trading cards these days.
We wanted to introduce a collectable system that would make career progression more enjoyable, but we balanced the game so that completing the collection isn’t extremely difficult; in fact, it should be within everyone’s reach.
And, we also included special variant cards illustrated by Ranka Fujiwara, a talented artist connected to the MotoGP world. We tried to create something that is also visually appealing from an artistic point of view.
Could this be the first step towards a MotoGP “Ultimate Team” mode, where current and past grids blend to create uber teams?
ST – I don’t know how much I can say without putting myself in danger… jokes aside, that’s one of many possibilities, for sure. We work closely with our brand partners to sort out every aspect and deliver the best experience for our players, given the development time that we have.
Can players expect deeper management elements in Career Mode, such as team development, sponsorship decisions, or rider relationships?
MP – Not exactly the ones you’re suggesting, but yes, we do have many new “managerial” features in career mode. This year, we focused on the introduction of press conferences and the personal manager.
At specific moments during the season, the player will be required to take part in the classic Thursday press conference, where journalists will ask them questions about their ambitions and goals. Depending on the player’s answers, the game will set objectives and rivals for the upcoming races.
For example, saying you want to focus on bike development will lead to rivalries with your manufacturer teammates, while declaring that you want to be the best rookie of the season could result in competing against the other young MotoGP riders.
The personal manager aspect, on the other hand, is used to determine which teams you want to race for and to try to secure new contract offers. This will be done not only by speaking with your manager, but also through actual meetings with top MotoGP team managers.
These are two of the biggest additions to career mode, but we’ve expanded many more features to make the experience more complete: training, bike development and so on. We wanted to create a world were, at the end of each race, there’s always something different to do. We also paid attention to the visual presentation, designing a brand-new hospitality area where all the career-related scenes take place.
How much access do you get to the teams, riders, gear and tracks for scanning and audio, and how early do you get access before the season starts?
ST – We have full support from the licence for every aspect of the game. This year, for example, we knew everything about the new Goiania Circuit months before the track was finished in Brazil.
Teams are more secretive, so to speak; they don’t want to put their prototypes out in the open for anyone to see, but in the past, we had the chance to speak with MotoGP personnel and riders, record audio with our microphones on the bikes, and do all sorts of things.
MotoGP is a circus that moves worldwide every weekend, and video game development works on a tighter schedule than most can imagine from the outside, so the biggest challenge is to make everything on time for day one.
But after all those years, I might say that everything works like clockwork, thanks to the work and support of everyone involved.
With the game being an annual series, are there any teams or riders who return year on year to help you with development?
MP – Our strongest partnership is with the championship organisers; we’ve been working with them for over 15 years, and it’s incredibly important for staying up to date with everything happening both on and off the MotoGP tracks. Thanks to them, we’ve had the chance to speak with many riders over the years, from Moto3 rookies to MotoGP world champions. Many of them are also passionate gamers, and it’s interesting to hear their feedback on how the bikes in the game feel compared to real life.
I can tell you they all have something in common: they’re extremely competitive, and once they get a controller in their hands, they won’t put it down until they’ve set the track record.
How are you balancing realism for hardcore fans while still making the game approachable for newcomers? Is it a challenge to get that balance right within the game engine?
ST – It’s challenging for sure, but we started working on this way back when we introduced the assists. Then we worked on them to deliver the Arcade Game Experience that comes alongside the Pro Game Experience, which is, and always will be, the core experience of the game. As I said, Pro Game Experience benefits most from the introduction of Rider-Based Handling, the latest step in Milestone’s path to recreating the bike feeling via a controller in the best way possible.
On the other hand, Arcade Game Experience is far more approachable from the get-go, and winks at people usually accustomed to four-wheel racing games. This year, we worked hard to give Arcade players a more cohesive experience.
We doubled our efforts to provide them with dedicated AIs that could bring proper competition at every difficulty level. It’s a lot of work, but we want to make sure that everyone, at every level of expertise with racing games, can pick up MotoGP and enjoy what it’s like to be one of the best riders in the world.
Will MotoGP 26 have official esports support, and how are you growing the competitive scene?
MP – At the moment, nothing has been announced regarding esports, so I can’t talk about the 2026 season. However, I can say that following the esports championship has definitely helped us improve the game. It allowed us to experience the MotoGP world more closely and to interact directly with pro players.
Read More: Ride 6 review – Milestone Series Entry
These players, besides being incredibly skilled, are also among the most passionate fans of our game. Listening to their feedback and observing how they push the physics system to its limits has greatly helped us enhance the gameplay experience over the years.
It seems to be a feature of Milestone titles not to include in-game music during races (ie on track) – why is this? It works well when riding a GP bike, but the sound of a Moto3 engine can become a little grating after several laps.
ST – To be fair, Screamer does a great job with in-game music; each team and driver has its own track, and everything audio-wise is incredible in that game. Speaking of MotoGP, to be honest with you, we considered having in-game music, but we preferred not to do it so as not to undermine the realistic experience that we want to offer.
Also, one of the main aspects of the MotoGP experience, especially on the higher, pro-player end, is listening to the bike, its sounds and its audio feedback. Of course, if that becomes something highly requested from our fanbase, we could consider implementing it. But right now, we want to stay true to our pro and esports community.
Would you consider adding options like in-race commentary rather than limiting it to pre- and post-race?
ST – Since that’s also something that might end up covering engine sounds and audio feedback, if we want to make it, we have to do it properly. We don’t want to make it sound fake, scripted or worse.
If a red flag happens during a race, we already have an in-race commentary that works, but to make it dynamic and interesting is a lot of work, and we have a lot on our hands already. Let’s see how things pan out; you never know.
With the studio also working on the Ride series, how much DNA do the two games share, and does each title influence the other in terms of new features or ideas?
ST – Fun fact, the lead game designer from Ride 6 comes from the MotoGP series, so there’s definitely some influence! Jokes aside, we are two separate teams, but of course, every project in Milestone knows what’s going on and sees what the others are doing. We discuss and play every project during development, and we try to help each other in every way.
MotoGP26 features production bikes from the five manufacturers in the MotoGP class, and of course it was easier for us and our gameplay team to source things from Ride and adapt them to MotoGP faster than doing them from scratch.
We wanted to offer our players something that real riders do in their spare time, which is to train and have fun with real, everyday bikes, and after we introduced minibikes, flat track and motards, production bikes seemed the perfect thing to add.
What kind of updates or live content can players expect after the release of this year’s game?
MP – I can talk about what’s coming soon: from day one, we’ll already have all the riders and bikes from the MotoGP category available. Moto2 and Moto3 will also be coming shortly!