As the racing genre strives towards being as immersive as possible, the added realism can sometimes come at the cost of being enjoyable. RiMS Racing is the perfect example of this, as to simulate what it is like to be a motorcycle racer, the game adds tedious elements of motorcycle maintenance that ruin an otherwise enjoyable racing game.

At its core, RiMS Racing has two distinct halves. On one hand, racing feels great, with a decent selection of bikes and tracks to choose from. The DualSense’s adaptive triggers and haptic feedback truly adds to the experience, making a solid racing game feel even better. The issues arise when RiMS expands to vehicle maintenance. At any time in the race, you can check the status of several of your motorcycle’s parts and, if damaged, you can pull into a pit stop to change them. This results in a series of annoying quick-time events that disrupt the overall flow of a race. Maintenance extends to your garage, too, as your bike parts will need to be replaced or upgraded every few races to make sure your motorcycle is driving to the best of its capabilities. While it does use in-game currency, it feels like another artificial roadblock that is more frustrating than immersive. Luckily, there is a full free-play mode that removes most of the fluff for some solid multiplayer racing.

Outside of the pace-breaking maintenance gameplay, RiMS also suffers from some serious technical problems on PS5. While the game runs smoothly, it suffers from terrible pop-in for trees and other background elements. Details are also extremely lacking on tracks, especially for the spectators watching in the stands. We also encountered several instances where the game crashed during races or while navigating menus.

While RiMS Racing has an enjoyable core racing mode, the addition of motorcycle maintenance and plenty of technical issues on PS5 prove a dealbreaker. If you’re looking for a realistic racing game that is still enjoyable, look elsewhere.