Introduction
Basics
User Settings
Engine Settings
Launch Options

Working with DeepSeek AI, I have developed these tweaks for Ride 4. DeepSeek knows Unreal Engine 4.25 inside out and backwards, and I have spent several days tweaking and testing. I've run a lot of laps and asked a lot of questions. Being an old, retired guy has its advantages. You can devote time to projects like this. The results are truly transformative. The difference is night and day on my PC, a mid-grade gaming machine with the following specs:

nVidia RTX 3060 with 12GB VRAM
Intel i9 10900K @ 3.70 GHz
32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 RAM
SSD Storage
Windows 10

Let's get started. Pops will show you a few tricks.

First of all, let's do some small things that will help. Go to your Ride 4 installation folder, typically:

C:\Steam\steamapps\common\RIDE 4\ride4\Binaries\Win64

Now right click on ride4-Win64-Shipping.exe, select "Properties", go to the "Compatibility" tab, and check the box for "Disable full screen optimizations", then click "OK".

Next, go to your Steam interface, find Ride 4 in the list, right click and select "Properties". Disable Steam Input. You don't need the extra layer messing with dead zones and such. Let your controller talk directly to Ride 4.

Now, in the nVidia Control Panel (You'll have to figure this out if you're an ATI user) turn VSync to "On", set Power Management to "Prefer Maximum Performance", and set Low Latency Mode to "Ultra". Click "Apply", then "OK".

Navigate to:

C:\Users\Your PC\AppData\Local\Ride4\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor

Open the file "GameUserSettings.ini". Copy and paste the following, overwriting whatever is already there:

[/script/engine.gameusersettings]
FullscreenMode=0
bUseHDRDisplayOutput=False
bUseDynamicResolution=False
ResolutionSizeX=2560
ResolutionSizeY=1440
LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeX=2560
LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeY=1440
PreferredFullscreenMode=1
AudioQualityLevel=3
LastConfirmedAudioQualityLevel=3
FrameRateLimit=0.000000
LastRecommendedScreenWidth=-1.000000
LastRecommendedScreenHeight=-1.000000
LastCPUBenchmarkResult=-1.000000
LastGPUBenchmarkResult=-1.000000
LastGPUBenchmarkMultiplier=1.000000
HDRDisplayOutputNits=1000

[ShaderPipelineCache.CacheFile]
LastOpened=ride4

[ScalabilityGroups]
sg.ResolutionQuality=100.000000
sg.ViewDistanceQuality=3
sg.AntiAliasingQuality=3
sg.ShadowQuality=3
sg.PostProcessQuality=3
sg.TextureQuality=3
sg.EffectsQuality=3
sg.FoliageQuality=3
sg.ShadingQuality=3

[TrackLimits]
bStrictTrackLimits=False

Change the resolution to whatever you want. I run the game at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings. If you have a less powerful PC, reduce the ScalabilityGroups to 2, 1, or even 0, until your performance is acceptable. If you have a more powerful machine than Pops' PC, well, you can fiddle around, but the settings above are Ultra.

3=Ultra
2=High
1=Medium
0=Low

Leave two spaces after these entries, save, then right click on the file and set it to "Read Only". Otherwise, the game will reset things.

NEW & IMPROVED! In the same folder where you found GameUserSettings.ini, open "engine.ini". Copy and paste the following, overwriting anything already in there EXCEPT THE TOP SECTION entitled "[Core.System]. LEAVE THAT SECTION ALONE! And leave it at the top. Skip a space after the last entry, then paste this over everything else, if there's anything else there. Otherwise, just paste in below the section that I mentioned, with a space between sections.

[SystemSettings]
; === PERFORMANCE & THREADING ===
bAllowMultithreadedShaderCompile=1 ; Faster shader loading (i9-10900K advantage)
bAllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdates=1 ; Smoother frames in heavy scenes
bUseThreadedMorphTargets=1 ; Better bike/rider animation CPU usage
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1 ; Rain/smoke effects won’t tank FPS
r.GTSyncType=1 ; Better frame pacing (NVIDIA GPU)
r.OneFrameThreadLag=0 ; Reduces input lag
r.FinishCurrentFrame=0 ; Improves CPU-GPU sync

; === SHADER & TEXTURE OPTIMIZATION ===
r.ShaderPipelineCache.Enabled=1 ; Pre-compiles shaders (prevents stutters)
r.ShaderPipelineCache.BatchSize=75 ; i9-10900K sweet spot
r.ShaderPipelineCache.BackgroundBatchSize=10 ; Keeps gameplay smooth
r.TextureStreaming=1 ; Dynamic texture loading
r.Streaming.PoolSize=8192 ; 8GB VRAM cap (safe for 12GB GPU)
r.MipBias=-0.2 ; Sharper textures (no oversharpening)
r.HighPrecisionMaterialGBuffers=1 ; Better material accuracy

; === ANTI-ALIASING & TEMPORAL SMOOTHING ===
r.TemporalAASamples=32 ; Reduces ghosting
r.TemporalAACurrentFrameWeight=0.2 ; Balances motion clarity
r.TemporalAASharpness=0.2 ; Natural sharpness
r.TemporalAACatmullRom=1 ; Smoother AA blending
r.Tonemapper.Quality=5 ; Highest quality tonemapping for UE4.25
r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=0.85 ; Crisper image (subtle)
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0 ; Removes film grain noise
r.SpecularAntiAliasing=1 ; Smoothes shiny surface artifacts
r.SpecularAAThreshold=0.3 ; Aggressiveness (0.1-0.3 is ideal)

; === SHADOWS & LIGHTING (PHOTO-REALISM) ===
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=4096 ; Ultra shadow detail
r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=4 ; Smoother cascades
r.Shadow.CSMMaxCascadesToUpdate=1 ; Prevents CPU spikes
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.03 ; Eliminates shadow pop-in
r.DistanceFieldShadowing=1 ; Dynamic shadow accuracy
r.DistanceFieldAO=1 ; Better ambient occlusion
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=2 ; High-quality SSAO
r.AmbientOcclusionRadiusScale=1.2 ; More natural AO coverage

; === REFLECTIONS & POST-PROCESSING ===
r.SSR.Quality=4 ; High-quality screen-space reflections
r.SSR.MaxRoughness=0.5 ; Reflections on rough surfaces
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0 ; Disables chromatic aberration
r.LensFlareQuality=0 ; Disables lens flares (distracting)
r.MotionBlurQuality=4 ; Cinematic motion blur
r.MotionBlur.Max=10 ; Smoother blur at high speeds
r.MotionBlur.Amount=0.7 ; Realistic blur intensity (adjust to taste)

; === VIEW DISTANCE & DETAIL ===
r.ViewDistanceScale=1.5 ; Extended draw distance (reduce to 1.2 if GPU-bound)
r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.7 ; Sharper environment details
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=-1 ; Higher detail for rider/bike models

; === DISPLAY & SYNC ===
r.VSync=0 ; Disable in-game VSync (use NVIDIA Control Panel)
r.FullScreenMode=1 ; True fullscreen for lower latency

[ConsoleVariables]
; === VRAM & MEMORY MANAGEMENT ===
PoolSizeVRAMPercentage=90 ; Leaves 10% VRAM headroom
r.Streaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=1 ; Prevents memory leaks
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2 ; Prioritizes high quality textures
r.Streaming.UseFixedPoolSize=1 ; Stability over dynamic allocation
r.Streaming.FramesForFullUpdate=1 ; Faster texture streaming
r.Streaming.MaxTempMemoryAllowed=128 ; Reduces texture pop-in

[Physics]
; === BIKE PHYSICS (PHYSX GPU ACCELERATED) ===
PhysX.GpuHeapSize=256 ; More VRAM for physics (large grids)

[Audio]
AudioMixerSampleRate=48000 ; High-quality audio
AudioThreadBufferSize=1024 ; Reduces audio latency



Leave two spaces after these entries, save, then right click on the file and set it to "Read Only". Otherwise, the game will reset things.

In the Steam Interface, right click on Ride 4 in your game list and look for "Launch Options" in the dialog that appears. Paste this in the Launch Options box:

-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -d3d11

There are reasons for this, even though the game should already be doing this. If you want the details ask DeepSeek AI. It's free, and extremely useful.

In fact, you could download DeepSeek AI and develop tweaks specifically for your PC. But what I have given you in this guide is a solid foundation. You don't need anything else. There are a lot of trial and error recommendations on the Internet, but many are wrong or not applicable. You can trust this guide. DeepSeek AI knows its stuff about tweaking Unreal Engine 4.

If you want to delve deeper, download DeepSeek AI. Have questions? Ask DeepSeek AI.

All of this has been thoroughly tested over many laps, with many bikes, by a cantankerous old man who has been riding, rebuilding, restoring, and racing motorcycles in real life for 57 years. Yes, you read that right FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS! I'm older than your grandparents.

Now that you've done all this, go have some fun! Try the Nordschliefe on the 2005 Kawasaki 636 ZX6R Ninja. Go on, get out of here!