MotoGP 09/10 Updated Hands-On

Fans of the long-running MotoGP series have reason to be excited about Capcom's upcoming MotoGP 09/10 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The motorcycle racing game based on the real-world series is coming in spring 2010 with a new racing engine, new graphics, and some fresh twists on standard modes that look to add some zest back into what has become a pretty staid franchise in the past few years. Developed by Monumental Games (which includes former employees of Climax Motorsports, the studio that made the fondly remembered MotoGP games on the original Xbox), the game will be timed with the start of the 2010 MotoGP season, and yesterday, Capcom producers dropped by to give us some time with the latest build of the game.

We saw glimpses of both the Career and Arcade modes in our previous look at the game in November, but today we got a more extended explanation of how things will work. Both modes have been significantly upgraded, so let's kick things off with Career mode. In Capcom's previous MotoGP games, Career mode was as straightforward as possible: choose a team, drive race after race, wash, rinse, repeat. With 09/10, you won't only be in charge of making sure you keep your wheels straight on the track, but you'll also be responsible for keeping your team together off the track.

You kick off Career mode by choosing the name and look of your team. You'll have multiple designs to choose from for everything from your helmet to your riding leathers, your bike livery, and so on. From there you'll need to hire staff; there are two types of personnel you can hire: press agents and engineers. Each has its benefits, and as you progress through your career, you'll eventually open up additional slots to take on more staff.

Engineers are there to research new parts and technologies for your bike. Don't get too excited here--we're not talking about hyperspace drives tied to the sides of your rear wheel or anything. Instead, all of the tech is based on real-world parts you'd find on an actual MotoGP bike: brakes, tires, engine, gearbox, and so on. Of the engineers available for hire, each will have individual strengths and weaknesses--one might be stronger with gearboxes, another with brakes and tires. Depending on the focus of your development efforts, you'll want to hire the right personnel for the job.

In addition, all staff (including press agents, but more on them in a bit) have a level attached to them--the higher the level, the more skilled they are and the more money they'll require to work for you. As you continue your research on your bike, you might find a specific part that will require an engineer of a certain level to complete--if your engineers don't measure up, it might be time for a staff shake-up. Due to the number of items available to research in a season, you won't be able to max out your bike in a single season. The choice then becomes whether to move up to a new class with an unfamiliar, undeveloped technology, or stick in your current class and try to get the most out of your bike. One other interesting bit: If you decide to change teams in the middle of a season, you'll be riding on an untested bike and will have to start development from scratch. You'll have the luxury of time, however; unlike in last year's game, which capped Career mode at five seasons, Career mode in 09/10 is unlimited.

While engineers are focused on getting the most out of your bike, press agents are interested in getting the most out of you as a rider--namely in the form of sponsorships. Sponsorships will be available to you throughout the season, and your bike will have room for multiple logos, all tied to individual contracts with the sponsors. Each sponsorship you sign has a requirement associated with it in order to earn the associated cash--for example, one sponsor might require you to finish better than 10th in a race, while another might require a certain minimum spot in qualifying.

Beyond sponsorship earnings and championship series points, there's one final measure of success in 09/10: reputation. You earn reputation on the track, whether through winning races, driving cleanly, passing opponents, or completing in-race challenges that periodically pop up in the middle of a race. While driving poorly in a race can reduce the amount of rep you earn for a particular race, it won't affect your overall rep total. Improving your reputation will let you move from the lowly 125cc bikes that you start off with in Career mode, up through the more powerful 250cc-class rides, and finally to the big show itself: MotoGP class.

Reputation isn't just a way to gauge your progress in Career mode; it also serves as a clever (if insidious) way of making sure you actually play the practice and qualifying events during a race weekend. In previous iterations of the game, there was little reason to do the practice day and only slight more reason to actually qualify. Because you'll earn reputation points at the end of every session in 09/10, it will behoove you to at least spend a little time on the track on each day of the race weekend.

Career mode is organized in a calendar system, with events happening in sequential order. Events include payday, race weekends, hiring events, and wildcard events, which are one-off races that will let you try different bikes and even experiment with different bike classes. These wildcard events are optional and can be skipped with no penalty, though you do earn rep for participating in them

Then there's Arcade mode. Completely avoidable in previous versions of MotoGP, Arcade mode has gotten a makeover for 09/10 with an intriguing conceit: OutRun on two wheels. Like in the old-school arcade racing game, in a MotoGP 09/10 arcade race, you'll have two minutes to get as far as possible into a three-lap race. Two minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time, but you'll be able to add to your time on the track by doing things like passing opponents, getting through checkpoints, and drafting behind other riders (which will actually drain time away from them; call it "vampire drafting," if you will). In Arcade mode, you can choose to play a single race or an entire season--for the latter, the time you end with at one event will carry over to the next race in the series.

So far, Capcom is being coy when it comes to online details for MotoGP, and while reps weren't ready to divulge information on online modes or the number of riders in online races, we do know the game will have online time trial leaderboards. You'll be able to download the ghosts of the top racers in the world and even check out their racing lines around the course, thanks to the multicolored racing line that has become ubiquitous in racing games. The racing line feature in 09/10 includes specific gates along the line that you can use as a guide to help you navigate corners. You won't be penalized for missing a gate, but if you manage to hit them all on a lap, you'll earn additional rep. Meters on the right-hand side of the screen will also let you know if you are running a clean lap will keep track of the wear of your front and rear tires.

The game will also include a rewind feature, known as "second chance." At any point in a race, you can choose to try a corner again by hitting the back button (on the Xbox 360 controller). From there you can rewind as far back as you like and reenter the race at any point. One interesting aspect of this feature is that if you make a mistake in a corner and thus lose "clean" sector status for that part of a track, rewinding with the second chance feature and correcting your mistake will not let you keep that clean sector rep bonus. In other words, you've got one chance to keep it clean, so drive carefully. One other note on the second chance feature: While you can use it as many times as you want in a Career mode race, it won't be available to you in Arcade mode.

So what about handling? Capcom producers admitted that in an effort to appeal to a wider audience the game has gone in an arcade direction. This isn't to say the game is devoid of challenge--producers told us that as you progress through Career mode and work your way up to increasingly powerful (and squirrely) bikes, the game's challenge will unfold. Still, from our brief time with the game's Arcade mode (on the 360), turning laps at Laguna Seca on a MotoGP bike, the handling does seem to be a bit stiffer and more forgiving than in previous versions of the game. Another noticeable aspect had to do with rider AI--there was a lot of bunching up in the corners and needless contact to boot. As a result, it seems like the kind of thing that would ruin the race of several riders in a real MotoGP event will be just fine in a 09/10 race. That may change at the higher difficulty levels, however, so it remains to be seen how the driving model in the game will turn out.

A lack of real-world sponsors in the build we saw will be a bummer for fans of authentic MotoGP liveries, but it seems that Capcom and Monumental are focused on making MotoGP 09/10 as realistic as possible. The team is planning on two DLC packs after the game ships, designed to keep the game fresh throughout the real 2010 MotoGP season--but it's staying mum for the moment on what exactly that DLC will entail. Nonetheless, we're encouraged by what we've seen so far, especially with the deepening of the game's Career mode, and we look forward to getting our hands on the game for some extended play time in the near future.

MotoGP 09/10 is due for release in spring 2010.