Playstation 2 Tourist Trophy: The Real Riding Simulator (PS2)

 This game is only for the die hard racing fans
I ride a motorcycle, so any game that comes out with motorcycles as the main feature is going to be purchased. Tourist Trophy looks slick, plays somewhat OK, and the diversity of motorcycles is pretty impressive (there are bikes in there that you will never see in the US, only in Japan or Europe). BUT, the programmers didn't get the dynamics of braking right. And contrary to what most people think, braking is the main skill that will make you fast on a motorcycle. Anyone can roll on a throttle, few are the ones who master the subtleties of proper braking. On a sport bike, 90% of your braking is with the front brake. Once learned, proper modulation of the front brake is how you can go fast on a motorcycle. (you learn to go slow to go fast on motorcycle) With Tourist Trophy, you touch the front brake with hard, progressive pressure, and you're down on the ground before you realize it. OTOH, you can mash the rear all you want and nothing unsettling happens. This is completely opposite from real life riding. Mash the rear on a real motorcycle and you're going to have the rear tire locked, sliding, and coming around on you. Don't squeeze hard and progressively on the front, and you're going to run out of road real quick. I've followed many of the games bikes into corners at the same speed, lean angle, and apex entry, and while the game bike rolls merrily along, my bike is sliding off the track and flipping into the barriers. This seems to happen most when I'm closing on the final bike in a race. You'll know what I mean if you buy this game. After understanding the games dynamics, you can adjust for this, but the reality of how real world riding is affected by the front brakes is gone from this game. Lastly, the racing is crap right from the start. You don't line up on the grid, (unless you play against a fellow human) like you would in a real race. Instead you're placed behind every other bike for a rolling start (sometimes the lead bike is up to 8 seconds in front of you, an eternity in real racing). The thrill of the the standing start and the first corner bunch up is completely removed from your racing experience, and that's just inexcusable. Also, the whole scenario of the game becomes repetitive real quick. Yes, there are hundreds of bikes, but all you're doing is racing the same tracks over and over on different machines. Dull. The sad thing is, this is 2006, and while the graphics are almost state of the art (I think the PS2 holds back most games as far as graphics go), the racing is pretty much crap with this game. The Superbike series for the PC, even though it is 5+ years old, is still the best motorcycle racing sim that has been made. Moto GP is a close second. So, unless you are a hardcore racing fan, pass on this eye candy, because it's lack of real race simulation, track selection, motorcycle setup, and real world motorcycle dynamics makes it what it really is, a painted over Grand Turismo with motorcycles.
Submitted by mdgore.geo (SB county, CA) 
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 Cool Games
Sweet game, just like GT but with more tracks. Also the license are not tht hard to get unlike GT. Now all we need is these graphics in a game like Need for Speed!!!
Submitted by spd2004 (Hawaii)
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 It's an Ok Game
This game is alrite, the graphics are great but the game itself is very difficult, Moto Gp 4 is a lot better.
Submitted by Veshinfsky04 (Indiana, PA, USA)
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