What’s new: dirt that remembers
Nacon and Artefacts Studio just announced MXGP 26, the latest official motocross game updated for this year. It’s built in Unreal Engine 5 and promises a big visual upgrade over past entries — more detailed environments, smoother rider animations, and tracks that actually feel alive.
The devs recreated 20 real MXGP tracks for the first time in the series, from Bariloche in Argentina to Riola Sardo in Sardinia, Pietramurata in Italy, and Loket in the Czech Republic. Each course brings its own weather and surface quirks, so you’ll be racing on very different dirt from one map to the next.
The headline feature is track deformation: the soil reacts to every bike that crosses it. Ruts, lines and churned-up corners will change handling mid-race, so you can’t just memorise a perfect lap — you’ll have to adapt on the fly.
Riders, modes, and when you can shred
The roster includes top names like Romain Febvre, Maxime Renaux, Kay de Wolf, and Calvin Vlaanderen, letting you jump in as familiar faces or customize your own rider. Gameplay modes cover time trials, sprint races, multiplayer, and full championship runs, so there’s a way to play whether you want quick chaos or a long season grind.
Bike and rider customisation is back and deeper, with licensed machines from Kawasaki, Husqvarna, Yamaha, KTM, and Honda. Expect tinkering with setup to matter more than ever because the changing terrain will punish sloppy choices.
MXGP 26 launches in October on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series. The team bills it as the most intense and realistic motocross sim yet — that’s their pitch, but the new engine and live-track tech make that claim feel believable. A debut trailer is out if you want a quick look at the mud-splattered mayhem.
Why gamers should care: if you like racing sims that demand skill, constant adaptation, and the kind of micro-adjustments that separate pros from noobs, MXGP 26 looks like it might finally give motocross the gritty, reactive treatment it’s been missing.
