If your friends game "launches some kind of spacewar" it might indicate he is using a non valid version of the game. Did they purchase the game on Steam or did your friend download a version from somewhere else?
If you both are having valid version of the game. That means you either bought the game or activated a valid key that was given to you. If that is the case you can follow these steps.
If you are having issues connecting to your friends:
- Make sure both off you are on the same version of the game. The game version is shown in the upper right portion of the screen in the main menu and lower right in the pause menu
- Make sure the System Clock Date and Time on your PC is accurate. If the current Date and Time in your Time Zone is Oct 23, 2025, 9:00 AM but your PC System Clock states Oct 23, 2025, 8:00 AM (or anything different) that might cause an issue.
- If that doesn't work please attach relevant log files from both server and client. Log files can be find in %localappdata%\Ride\Saved\Logs\Ride.log. Just paste %localappdata%\Ride\Saved\Logs in explorer address bar, and it will take you to the correct folder