From the makers of the popular Gran Turismo racing game series comes a two-wheeled simulator known as Tourist Trophy. Anyone that knows me first hand can attest to the fact that the only games worth wasting time away on are racing simulators. Just look at my PS2 game collection: Gran Turismo 3 & Moto GP3. What else is needed?
Just another racing simulator
Oh the contrary. While Tourist Trophy is another racing simulator, it rises above the rest thanks in part to the graphical detailing and riding realism. Unlike MotoGP, or any other game claiming to be a realistic motorcycle race simulator, you will find yourself high-siding, falling on off-camber turns, flipping due to careless wheelies, and suffering traumatic endos during heavy breaking. Watch how quick you put the power down on certain machines as the makers of Tourist Trophy have gone to great lengths to reproduce rear wheel traction loss on higher powered machines like the Suzuki GSXR-1000 RM ‘05 and Yamaha R1 RM ‘05.
Racing for the passion & prestige
Unlike Gran Turismo, there are no monetary goals. Rather, successfully completed challenges and race series are rewarded with limited edition motorcycles and riding gear. Up to 300 street & race bikes from Aprilia, Ducati, MV Agusta, Yamaha, Buell, Suzuki, and Ducati to name a few. Acquiring new machines to add to your virtual garage is as simple as selecting the make and model from the manufacturers list and completing the associated challenge. Selecting your dream machine may be simple, winning the title is a whole different story.
Play motorcycle photographer
The makers of Tourist Trophy have included an interesting feature which allows users to play the role of a motorcycle photographer. After the completion of each race or challenge, the game allows players to take 1280 x 960 pixel screenshots from your actual replay. Zoom and pan during videos while capturing your favorite angles. Using the USB ports on the front side of the PS2, players can elect to print the images directly, or save on to a USB Flash drive. The images used in this post, as well as the full resolution images on Flickr, were captured from test runs played earlier.
Grab your racing gear
If Tourist Trophy were any more realistic, I’d be wearing my helmet and gloves right now. Actually, I might have to try that. Maybe I’ll have a better chance at beating the bastards riding in the Supersport class as though they were riding Superbikes. I’ll make sure to close the blinds first.
So how do you think it stacks up to the new MotoGP on the 360, Derek? Although I am not into simulation racing games, the demo on the 360 was enjoyable.
Think I might have to have a look at this one.
Sorry Regi but the MotoGP game was pants, well for me anyway.
It was an arcade racer which really does not float my boat, give me GT3 and my force wheel anyday.
From what I’ve heard, and based off of previous experience with the Moto GP series, the game does have and “arcade” like feel to it. I’ll leave it at that since I do not have a 360 and a copy of the game to actually compare the two with.