The Tour de France – the pinnacle of road bike racing, the grandest of Grand Tours, the most intense three weeks of sporting action the world has ever seen.
For the cycling fraternity, it’s the Tour de France which excites the most and even though there are many other events taking place throughout the calendar – none more so than the most beautiful of races in the form of the Giro d’Italia and the brutality of something like Paris–Roubaix, otherwise known as the Hell of the North – it’s still the Tour that brings the hype.
And for years that hype has tried to be integrated into the virtual world, with annual editions of Tour de France and Pro Cycling Manager video games signalling the start of summer. Honestly, as a cyclist, as a fan of the sport, and as a gamer, I’ve been left wanting by what has been offered. Perhaps that will change with the imminent arrival of Tour de France 2023 on Xbox, PlayStation and PC, as it is accompanied by the PC-only Pro Cycling Manager 2023.
Hopes are high for what Nacon and Cyanide Studios are promising with their 2023 iterations of TDF and PCM, as they take what has served them over the years and throw in some changes. We’d personally like to see bigger feature lists and a swathe of new ideas come to the fore – as well as big changes to the visuals and audio – but we’ll take what we can for 2023.
We’ve seen Tour de France 2023 on Steam, as well as the less exciting (for us) Pro Cycling Manager 2023 and whilst our full review will come around closer to the June 8th 2023 release, we’ve taken in enough here to be able to provide a little insight.
Most of our focus has been on Tour de France 2023, not just because the Pro Cycling Manager accompaniment is a PC only option, but prior testing has seen the console game come out on top, as we pitted Tour de France up against Pro Cycling Manager. But that’s not to say PCM 2023 won’t be worth a look for the keenest of PC cyclists, with promise of more than 260 races, 700 stages, 70 official playable teams and a host of game modes all present.
Whether it’ll be the stages of the Tour de France 2023 route that you overseer via your Directeur sportif role, or the Career, Pro Cyclist, Single Race, Multiplayer or Track offerings on the table, if it’s stats, figures and detail you want, PCM is going to be the main draw.
For us though it’s the main Tour de France game that gets the legs spinning, as we reach for the lycra, don the helmet and attempt to replicate the real-world antics of a Tadej Pogačar, a Primož Roglič, or the reigning TDF yellow jersey holder, Jonas Vingegaard.
Why? Well, Nacon and Cyanide are promising more with this edition, and for us, that is something that has been very much needed. The standards and staples that you would expect will be in place come June, with the inclusion of the biggest teams from the peloton in place, covering upwards of 800 international riders as it goes. Official licensing is a big part of what is on offer, and the development teams have gone deep with no less than 13 different stats for each of those riders. That should, in turn, enhance realism.
Of course, it goes without saying that the official route of the 2023 Tour de France will also be replicated, with multiple mountain ranges ready to be climbed – and descended. And it’s here where a couple of new features are promised – the Medium Mountain rating for riders, and agility level of each.
These should both come to the fore with the new Downhill of the Moment mode, as Nacon and Cyanide build on last year’s Race of the Moment and task you with descending a mountain as fast as you can. With new challenges promised each week, this should well work as a decent little aside from the main slog of working through the career.
Throw in the usual side races away from the Tour in the form of some of the iconic Classics, and it does feel that Nacon and Cyanide are again playing safe with what Tour de France 2023 – the video game – will offer. We’ll find out in full review as the launch of that game, and Pro Cycling Manager 2023, approaches, but don’t expect too much of a shake-up in the peloton. That said, with Netflix releasing their Tour de France: Unchained series on the same day as the games head to release, there could well be an influx of interest in some lycra-clad battles. We can only hope the virtual versions can live up to the hype.
You’ll be able to play Tour de France 2023 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC, whilst Pro Cycling Manager 2023 will be PC exclusive. You can wishlist Tour de France 2023 over on Steam.
Huge thanks go out to Nacon and Cyanide for giving us the chance to get the rundown on both games.
how can you save in this game?