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Solid effort, but inconsistent
I had no doubt Polyphony Digital could create another great race game, even one with half the wheels of the others. But "Gran Turismo with bikes" this game really isn't. While there are many varying bikes to collect, you never get the sense you own your machine and can customize it how you choose. You don't actually buy bikes in TT, you win the right to use them by winning short challenges. Most of the challenges are stupidly easy; others are devilishly hard. The actual races aren't that much more exciting. Much like Gran Turismo, the opponents are robotic in their technique, making many races boring parades that aren't especially difficult to win. A rare crash will cost you hardly any time at all. What Tourist Trophy does right are its bikes, which all feel and sound different from one another. The scooters are surprisingly fun, the big 1000cc monsters can be unwieldy, and the 125cc-250cc bikes are just right. The graphics also hold up well, even as we're a couple of years into the new generation of hardware. I hope Tourist Trophy has life as a series on the PS3; it seems like one of those games that will be great in its sequel(s), if it's lucky enough to get that far. If you're into motorcycle racing games, you know that quantity has taken over quality on store shelves the past few years. Tourist Trophy's variety of rides and familiar tracks make it a worthy choice. Just don't expect quite the refinement of the Gran Turismo series.

Best Motorcycle Sim out there
the folks behind Gran Tourismo really got the motorcycle genre right in this one. It's a challenging trip through lots of modern and a few classic bikes from all the major japanese manufacturers and a few european ones. some fairly significant models seem to be missing, but there are some fascinating choices for what they did include. great graphics, great play engine, good 2-player mode, lots of good tracks.

A great game with one drawback.
Being right-handed, I wish the option to steer with the right analog stick and throttle/brake with the left analog stick was available. Alas, it's not. Yes, I'm well aware the throttle is on the right in the real world. Even so, I'd gladly trade a more realistic controller layout for greater steering precision.

Great Riding Game
I have not ridden many motorcycles, but with my limited experience, I can say that this game will get you a great feel for how street and sports bikes perform. This is a great game, with a simple, well designed interface. The only thing I want to see in it yet is Road America, but that's minor.

Easier than I was led to believe
I love motorcycle racing and wanted a good bike game for my PS2. All the professional reviews I had read said that Tourist Trophy (TT) was good, but way too hard, so I never tried it. I'm not a particularly skilled PS2 player, so the "hard" label put me off.

After reading a few reviews here that said it wasn't so difficult, for a racing game, I decided to give it a try and am I ever glad I did! The controls aren't nearly as hard as implied. If you have even a little speed you can lean way over without falling and braking in turns isn't always going to cause you to crash. Like any other racing game, the key is to be smooth, which comes with experience.

Unlike Gran Tourismo 4 (GT4), where I lack a majority of the upper level licenses, I've cruised through three of the four license levels in short order and am winning bikes by racing and by Challenge.

Those familiar with GT4 will recognize the same basic menu design and the same high quality of bike presentation and race tracks. Many of the tracks are the same as on GT4, which helps veterans of that game.

There are over 90 bikes, ranging from Scooters to 1100cc Cruisers to 125cc 2-stroke racers to the custom Superbike racers. The oldest bikes are from the 70s and there are some noticable holes in the catalog, but it is only 90 bikes. I'd like to see the next version expand to include more historic bikes, like how GT4 improved over GT3.

Like GT4 you must complete license tests, which are like interactive tutorials. The first two license classes will show the best line on the track, with blue where you should accelerate, red where you should brake, and white where you should idle. It is a great way of learning how to negotiate the various turns and learning what to look for in the best racing lines.

Ironically, the most difficult of the license tests is the third one in the novice class, where you must ride a scooter around a perfect circle within a specific time, without straying outside and hitting any of the cones. I couldn't have passed this one without the advice given in the Prima Strategy guide, which for those few license tips alone is worth the price.

The strategy guide also shows all the bikes you win for various races or licenses, as well as gives the basic bike stats and serves as a nice guide to see what your opposition is capable of when lining up for a race.

For the third and fourth license levels, you are on your own as far as figuring the best lines. The fourth license level is a timed lap on various tracks with various bikes, so you'll get used to some of the basic tracks by completing this level.

Like GT4, you earn bikes by winning races or race series. If you get gold in a license test, you will also win a bike. The other way to get bikes is in Challenges. With these, you look in the catalog for a bike you want and select it.

To win the bike you must race it against another bike, which is in the lead. You must pass it and lead for 10 seconds or must cross the finish line first. This is easier on some bikes than others even within the same class, because the opponent varies from bike to bike.

For example, to win a street racer in the 1000cc class you have 4 major bikes worth getting, the Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki. To win the Honda, Kawasaki or Yamaha, you must race one of these four bikes. But to win the Suzuki, you go up against the Ducati, which is 20+ hp less and about 10 kg more, and thus is easier to beat.

Unlike GT4. there is no money and the "add-ons" are limited to exhaust upgrades, which come with the bike. You can make a few mods to the suspension, gearing and braking, but the options are much more limited than in GT4. This is a good thing though, as it is way too easy to get lost in GT4 and not so here in TT.

This is another area where the Prima guide comes in handy, as it has 7 pages of sound advice on the various tuning options, which you should mess with and how, and which you should leave alone. Another selling point for the guide are the track maps, which show typical slowest speeds on selected corners. The Prima Guide is a "must have" for this game, IMO.

Like GT4, there are a number of different race classes, which allow you to use a majority of the bikes you will collect from racing wins. There are classes based on engine size, engine type, the year the bike was released, and for specific models. There are a total of 23 racing series/classes, with 3-7 races each.

TT supports replays and "photos" similar to how GT4 handles them. The game supports the use of a USB flash drive plugged into one of the PS2's USB ports and can store the jpgs output by the photo session, as well as the replays, which can be quite large. The game also supports printing of "photos" directly to USB photo printer.

Photos can be generated automatically from the replay menu. The game scans the replay and makes a series of photos as it finds things worth keeping. Some are good, some are not so good. You can save individual ones to the memory card or a USB flash drive. When saved to a flash drive, they are saved as jpgs, which can be read by your PC (not tested yet as I lack a flash drive).

Overall, I find the game easier to approach and play than GT4, which was easy enough to become a best seller. It looks and feels real enough, without being impossibly hard. Once you learn the basics and get used to it, you will find yourself winning bikes and races and getting faster and faster as you learn the tracks.

My wish is that Polyphony Digital will do for dirt bike racing what they've done for auto racing and now for motorcycle road racing.

If you are at all into motorcycle road racing and have a PS2, get this game and the Prima Strategy guide. You won't be sorry!