Tourist Trophy

A hardcore motorcycle sim that really makes you respect Valentino Rossi.

When Polyphony Digital, makers of Gran Turismo, say that it’s working on a riding simulator, fans of realism and motorbikes sit up and take notice. Those fans won’t be let down, but should expect unforgiving accuracy and detail.

Like Gran Turismo, Tourist Trophy is all about recreating the precise details of the 100+ bikes available to you, and it does this with razor sharp accuracy. The machines are distinct, slightly customisable and each has its own detailed descriptions and history.

Unlike Gran Turismo, however, bikes are very different beasts to control both in the real world and in the game world. Your body is more involved with the ride, and Polyphony has attempted to replicate the sensation by making the controls really twitchy.

As a result, it’s a real chore trying to get your bike to stay steady through the corners as you line them up. It’s like trying to domesticate a lion -- no matter how good you get, there’s always the distinct possibility that it’ll go all Siegfried and Roy on you.

This in itself would have been just a caveat of a very technically focused riding sim; however there are some gameplay problems that let the game down. There is no multiplayer, so you have to deal with the dreadful AI. The computer controlled players lack any sense of competition, and are all off in their own little evenly spaced worlds taking programmed turns. It all makes for a very clinical game which is both Tourist Trophy’s trump card and Achilles heel.

This brings us to a point that will polarise players. As Tourist Trophy is a simulation, it won’t show you much mercy if your ride is anything less than perfect. What’s more, there’s very little help from the game when it comes to perfecting your very necessary technique. Other than the exercises in the tiered licence class structure, which progressively unlock more powerful machines, you’re on your own.

Unfortunately, all this serves to remove the passion, tension and energy from what should be a nail-biting game experience. It feels as out of place as a pack of Brazilian soccer fans at a Sunday lawn bowls tournament.

It’s either a noble goal or incredibly frustrating, depending on why you picked the game up. Although there is fun to be had once you mount the steep learning curve, it simply doesn’t justify your time unless you are a die-hard motorbike nut and want to collect every beautifully rendered bike for your virtual garage.

If ritualistically chipping away at your best times is all you were expecting from Tourist Trophy, you’ll get everything you wanted. If not, you’re left pulling off wheelies in an attempt to find the fun. We wanted to love it. We really did.