The MotoGP games in general have a reputation for being quite hard overall, but in relative terms MotoGP 23 seems to be one of the easier ones to get into. The handling is certainly a lot easier than it’s predecessor MotoGP 22.

That said, another component of the game’s overall difficulty that is controllable by the player is the AI level that is set. It runs on a slider from 20-120%, but honestly, it’s probably the 50-80% range that’s going to be most commonly used.

And compared to MotoGP 22, it’s clear that although the handling is much easier on ’23, the AI difficulty has actually got a little harder on this game.

In terms of knowing what level AI to set for your own skill level, here’s a very rough outline for MotoGP 23:

• 20% – Super slow pace for absolute beginners
• 30-40% – Still very slow and useful when learning the tracks.
• 50 % – Getting better but still crashing 1-2 times per race.
• 60% – For consistent players with reasonable pace.
• 70% – For faster consistent players who make few mistakes.
• 80-90% – Fast, experienced and consistent players.
• 90%+ – Very best no assists players.

Also, if you’re coming on MotoGP 23 direct from it’s predecessor MotoGP 22, a good rule of thumb is the take whatever AI level you used on ’22 and lower it by 5-10% to get a usable baseline for MotoGP 23.

Now let’s dive into this issue in much more detail, examining some of the more commonly used difficulty levels and matching them up to suitable skill/experience levels for players.

The Different AI Levels Matched To Skill Levels

As I did on the last MotoGP came, I created my own mini custom Championship to test some of the different AI levels and find a suitable one for me. For context, I’ve been playing the game a month or so and have developed a reasonable level of consistency on most of the tracks, but I’m not blisteringly fast at all. I’m an improving semi-assists player.

Here’s my descriptions of the different AI levels matched to lap times/skill levels:

20% AI – Super slow AI level here, good for beginners who are always still falling off regularly. But honestly, it might be better to practice and improve consistency on Time Trial or the Tutorials rather than race against this AI level.

30-40% AI – Still very slow and you’ll be beating the AI by probably 5-6 seconds a lap even using assists, once you get up to speed with the circuits and lap somewhat consistently. You could use this level if you’re aggressive, improving but still falling off a lot. You can recover from crashes on this level as the AI is very slow in corners.

50% AI – Still quite slow in relative terms, and very sluggish and easy to overtake in corners. Even a moderately practiced player on this game will smash the AI by 3-4 seconds on a half decent clean lap. I tried this AI level at Qatar, which admittedly is one of my stronger tracks. I was comfortably on pole by 3 seconds and pulled away from the pack by 3-4 seconds a lap once in the lead, setting OK but not blistering laps in the 1.55/1.56s. Plenty of leeway still if you crash – I could have probably fallen off 2 or perhaps even 3 times and still recovered to win or finish high. So a good level to use if you’re still not confident of staying on the bike all race.

60% AI – I noticed a huge jump in difficulty from 50% to 60%. Perhaps it’s because I raced at Rio Hondo which isn’t my strongest track in terms of pace. But there’s a definite sharp increase in the AI here. A decent lap will still get most players pole quite easily by 0.5 – 1 second, but you’ll often find yourself losing places at the start and there’s far less leeway for recovering from crashes in the race. I was in the leading pack, but crashed at Rio Hondo trying to push, and I fell all the way back to 18th and struggled to make up any places. So one big mistake will start to cost you as soon as you hit this difficulty level.

60% was my own new current baseline AI level for MotoGP 23, having used 70% on MotoGP 22. After playing the game more and improving further, I’m now using 65%

70% AI – I think this is basically the highest level you could go to and compete while still using a moderate level of assists. You’d have to be fast and consistent and basically make no mistakes to qualify on pole and win races. Get ready for fast and aggressive AI on race starts and in wheel to wheel action.

80% AI – This I think is the starter level for players who’ve turned off most or all of the assists and are really starting to develop some top level pace and consistency, setting fast lap times and also making basically zero mistakes. Any big crash at this AI level or beyond – forget it. You’re going to be stone dead last and not catch up unless you’ve got super human eSports level pace. Literally no margin for error once you reach 80% AI level.

90%+ AI – For very top level no assists players who’ve likely been playing these games for years and know all the tracks inside out, where to find lap time, how to nail qualifying laps, etc. You’ve got to be seriously quick to compete at this level and beyond and consistently win races.

Update – On further testing and playing on this game, it’s clear that the AI pace is quite inconsistent from track to track. In other words, using the exact same difficulty level may make the AI way too easy one race and then way too hard the next race, and just right at other tracks. There’s no way around this unfortunately other than being aware of this and tweaking the AI level from track to track as needed.

Finding Your Own Optimum AI Level

Once you have a rough baseline starting AI level as per your current skill level and the suggestions above, it’s not usually too hard to dial this in with even more precision and find an exact AI level that works well for you.

Here’s how you can do this:

Step #1 – Set up a small Custom Championship of your favourite tracks, or ones you find the easiest (good starting list here). Set a starting difficulty that you think matches your pace and consistency, as laid out above.

Step #2 – Do the race weekends and notice the pace gap to the AI and especially to your own team mate(s) on the same bike, plus your own consistency levels. Where do you sit in relation to them?

Step #3 – Adjust the AI level as needed in between race weekends (unfortunately, you can’t adjust it during race weekends, but you can change it between events). As a rule of thumb, every 1% up/down equates to 0.1 second more/less pace per lap from the AI, so 10 clicks up/down makes the AI about 1 second faster/slower.

Keep doing this testing between race weekends in your mini season, and it won’t take very long to hone in on a difficulty level that works for you.

Other Factors To Consider

Of course the raw pace and lap times of the AI is the first to consider when trying to pick a suitable AI level. But the MotoGP games can be so challenging at times that there are a few other things to take into account which may lead you to tweak the AI level used a bit.

Crashes – You need to be realistic about how many times you’re likely to crash at any given track before setting the difficulty level. Depending on the nature of the crash, falling off the bike can cost you anything from 4-8 seconds in race time while you’re re-spawned on the bike, so factor this into any AI level you set. Too many crashes on too hard an AI level, and you’ll be dead last and unable to recover any places.

Race starts – The AI is actually quite fast in a straight line on most levels and also very strong on race starts, so you can get swamped off the line by nearby bikes and lose quite a few places. Therefore you might need to spend a few laps gaining lost places back from the start. The AI are also quite aggressive and you can also get tangled up with other riders and knocked off your bike, losing you more time.

See here for my guide on getting good race starts.

Wet weather – Riding in wet weather conditions is extremely tricky on all the MotoGP games, and even experienced players can find it very hard not to crash at least once in the rain. Therefore you may want to bump the AI level down somewhat if it’s clear from the pre-event forecast that you’re going to have a wet qualifying/race.

See my guide on riding in the wet for more help on this.

Racing Against The AI On MotoGP 23

Much like the last game, the AI are pretty brutal on MotoGP 23. And a lot of fans have been pretty brutal about how brutal the AI are on this game. Overall, while opinions differ, the behaviour of the AI has not gone down that well with many players for this game.

Basically, like on ’22, they just pretty much behave like you’re not there, happily barging into you from the side and behind and sometimes knocking you off.

Therefore, don’t expect them to ever get out the way to avoid collisions with you, nor take a different line to avoid crashing into you when following. They just pretty much do their own thing, take their racing lines and braking where they would have if you weren’t there, even if it means smashing into you.

Therefore, it’s advised to give the AI a wide berth on this game, staying away from them as much as possible except when you have to go for overtakes. This might mean altering your racing lines a bit, and braking earlier/later than you might otherwise have to avoid collisions.

I’ve also found myself resorting to their tactics and barging them out the way exiting sharper corners. I’ve ditched any efforts to race “clean” or “fair”. If they’re not going to do that, why should I? I got a satisfying win at Mandalika, barging the leader out the way coming out the last corner on the last lap, to win the race.

Honestly, the AI on the last few MotoGP games has been a mess and needs improvement from the developers. But in the meantime, you might need to play a little dirty on this game to regain lost positions through the AI aggression and clumsiness.