Airframe Ultra brings custom lobbies back and takes XP beyond Ranked

Why the last beta felt different

A circuit stretches the contest across three rounds. A single finish matters, but the bigger prize depends on the points racers accumulate over the match. In its Beta 5 recap, Akupara explains that it wanted people playing those circuits long enough to test how reputation and progression worked. It temporarily pulled the single-race and custom-lobby choices to get that feedback.

That makes a difference when you’re organizing a game. For a group that wants one race together, the returning options address the length and company of the session. For someone looking to build a racer’s reputation over time, the more consequential change is where XP can come from. Akupara confirmed a route outside Ranked without giving a mode-by-mode payout table. Equal rewards across lobby types would be a much bigger promise than the one it made.

A beta paint job still needs a bike

Akupara describes an in-game code system for beta racer cosmetics. Its recap says the codes grant consumables for outfits and one consumable bike paint, with the classic Bandit99 spray as its example. The bike that wears the paint still has to be earned through progression.

That distinction matters if you remember choosing among unlocked bikes in a test. The team made equipment broadly available so it could compare how different bikes handled on different maps. Access to equipment in that setting is a poor guide to what a returning player will find in the garage. Treat the code as a way to bring some of the beta’s look with you. The recap gives no delivery deadline for an individual player’s code.

Pick the session before the loadout

For friends comparing plans, decide first whether you want a single race together or a three-round contest. Then decide how much the progression system matters to the evening. The launch announcement answers the first question clearly and leaves the precise XP earnings for particular races open. Neither decision depends on owning the bike you remember from the beta.