After a ten years hiatus, the Superbike World Championship game series is returning with the release of SBK 22 in September.
The first SBK game since SBK Generations in 2012, SBK 22 joins Milestone’s officially-licensed MotoGP, MXGP, and Monster Energy Supercross bike racing franchises.
While last month’s announcement trailer featured live-action footage, Milestone’s latest video gives a first look at raw SBK 22 gameplay.
First SBK 22 gameplay video revealed
The first SBK 22 gameplay video takes us on a lap around the Algarve International Circuit riding with Toprak Razgatlıoğlu on his Yamaha YZF-R1. The action is viewed from the chase camera.
If you’ve played MotoGP 22, SBK 22 looks very familiar as it shares the same Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine and physics model adapted for the SBK bikes. While the visuals look near-identical to MotoGP 22, the UI is updated in SBK 22.
The key difference is that bikes are based on road-going production models tuned for racing. SBK bikes are slower and nimbler at lower speeds, requiring different riding techniques to the more powerful MotoGP rockets.
MotoGP 22’s bike assists should carry over too, with assists for traction control and rear braking.
Naturally, all tracks, riders, and teams from the 2022 WorldSBK Championship will feature in SBK 22. Career mode will return, requiring you to manage staff such as a Personal Manager, Chief Engineer, and Data Analyst.
Milestone’s A.N.N.A machine-learning artificial intelligence system also replicates the riding styles of real riders based on their performance in the season.
Release date
As for the release date, SBK 22 rides onto PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on 15 September.
We expect Milestone will release more gameplay videos showing additional tracks, bikes, career mode, and customisation in the run up to release.