In MotoGP 17, you'll race at full speed to push ahead of the pack of other motorcycles, using the game's tight controls to your advantage to make narrow turns before accelerating again. Keeping that balance between speed and strategic slowdowns is exhilarating when you manage to pull it off and win race after race. You'll get to feel the weight of the motorcycle in your hands through the controller. The vibrations mimic the engine and your wheels grinding against the asphalt of the tracks, making you feel like your hands are right on the handles of your motorcycle. The smooth, responsive controls help to make sure that every race is all about your skills as the player, so you won't have to worry about laggy button inputs when going for difficult turns. No music plays during races, but listening to the buzzing of your motorcycle's engine is addicting and doesn't get old.

For anyone looking for customizable difficulties in a racing game, MotoGP has plenty of settings that you can fine-tune to match your skill level. Longtime racing fans can jump right into races at higher difficulties, or you can tweak the AI settings to be more challenging across the board. For tournaments, there's a ramp-up in difficulty from the qualifying rounds to the ranked races, so veterans will find a good challenge in adjusting to each race on the fly.

For new players, you're able to adjust settings in the menu to give you an easier time controlling your motorcycle. You can set colored path lines along the track that you can follow if you need some help with getting ready for turns ahead of time. There are also options to manually lower the AI difficulty to get you used to the game's learning curve. As you become more skilled at the game, you can gradually wean yourself off of these tools. They're great for anyone who wants to reach those expert levels of play, but might be discouraged by all the new mechanics that come with the racing game genre.

MotoGP 17's managerial mode gives you control over a team's resources to lead your riders to the World Championship. It has some interesting features that have potential for more additions in future games in the series. Working behind-the-scenes, you'll invest resources into improving your riders' skills, like with nutrition programs and athletic training. As your team wins more races, you'll gain more visibility and have a better selections of paid sponsors to choose from, earning you more money. As you earn more money, you'll be able to afford faster motorcycles, making your team even better. All of these systems have the promise for more improvements and depth, but what's available is plenty of fun to experiment with.