SBK 22 Game Launches On September 15th, 2022

Want to experience the life of a professional World Superbike racer without the effort, risk and financial expenditure? You’ll be able to try it out virtually when the new SBK 22 game launches on September 15th, 2022.

It will be available to buy online as a digital download for the PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S consoles, the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5. And it will feature all the bikes and riders of the current World Superbike class, along with the circuits on the current calendar. So you can be a Kawasaki ZX-10R mounted Jonathan Rea or Alex Lowes, Scott Redding on his BMW M1000RR, Alvaro Bautista on the Ducati V4R Panigale, Toprak Ragatioglu on the Yamaha YZF-R1, or Iker Lecuona on the Honda CBR1000 RR-R.

The new SBK 22 game is being developed by Italian company Milestone, who also produce the official MotoGP games, along with titles for MXGP and AMA Supercross. And the roadbike-based Ride series. And it’ll be the first title to virtually recreate the series since 2012, and SBK Generations.

So it should be a reasonably good and polished videogame experience. But there are some concerning aspects about the new SBK 22 title. The first is that the two main support classes aren’t currently included (World Supersport and World Supersport 300), although theoretically these could be added as free or paid add-ons at a later date.

But the main aspect troubling fans is that the game looks almost identical to MotoGP 22. That makes sense, as it’s coming from the same developers. But it could mean that the bikes handle like a MotoGP prototype, despite looking like a road-based Superbike. That’s obviously an issue if you already own the current MotoGP game, as the only other difference will be the four circuits which feature on the WorldSBK calendar, and not in MotoGP.

And it’s also a problem if you want a more realistic feeling of riding a production-based superbike (no matter how much it’s been tweaked and tuned from a showroom example), rather than a pure prototype machine. With riders moving between series, or joining up for events like the Suzuka 8 Hours, the differences between the motorcycles used in both series has often been discussed.

We’ll find out how much the physics and handling has been altered when SBK 22 is released on September 15th, 2022 for the PC via Steam, the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S via the Microsoft Store and the PS4 and PS5 via the PlayStation Store.

You can see all our previous coverage of motorcycle videogames, here.And if you want more in-depth articles on two and four-wheeled sim racing, check out our sister site, OnlineRaceDriver.