I've owned many motorcycle racing games over the years and few have really caught my attention. The first decent games were Superbikes 2k and 2001 and 500GP. These both had nice graphics and gameplay; GP500 also had 3rd party bikes and sounds to add on.

Then there was Riding Spirits, which had potential as a bike Gran Turismo, but the bike physics weren't great. The sounds were pretty authentic and there were simply tonnes of bike and upgradeable parts (exhausts, tuning etc). When Riding Spirits II came out I bought it straight away, excited to see what they'd done with it. They'd killed it! The bikes sounds were awful and the handling was ridiculous: the centre of gravity must've been at tank level and so the bike would weave from one side of the track to the other with the slightest correction; not good at all.

The next game I got was MotoGP 4. It's an ok game, I suppose; but is fairly limited. The graphics are great and the sounds is fair, although nothing like a… more »

I've owned many motorcycle racing games over the years and few have really caught my attention. The first decent games were Superbikes 2k and 2001 and 500GP. These both had nice graphics and gameplay; GP500 also had 3rd party bikes and sounds to add on.

Then there was Riding Spirits, which had potential as a bike Gran Turismo, but the bike physics weren't great. The sounds were pretty authentic and there were simply tonnes of bike and upgradeable parts (exhausts, tuning etc). When Riding Spirits II came out I bought it straight away, excited to see what they'd done with it. They'd killed it! The bikes sounds were awful and the handling was ridiculous: the centre of gravity must've been at tank level and so the bike would weave from one side of the track to the other with the slightest correction; not good at all.

The next game I got was MotoGP 4. It's an ok game, I suppose; but is fairly limited. The graphics are great and the sounds is fair, although nothing like a MotoGP bike.

My next purchase was TT Superbikes. I loved the idea of riding the full Manx TT course and Southern 100. I wasn't expecting much from a fairly cheap game, I have to say; but it turned out to be sensational. I still play it now.

The less said about Superbike Challenge the better; utter pile of crap.

Now to the matter at hand: Tourist Trophy! What a superb game. The bike models are perfect; the sound it wonderful and the handling realistic without being unmanageable. This really is Gran Turismo for bikes! I would have liked a few more models and a lot more tracks. It seems to me that this was a tester to see if people liked it. This is what Riding Spirits could have been, or should have been. I hope they stick with this like GT, because the foundations are solid. It just needs more tracks, bikes and I'd like to be able to do longer races and not have to start with a time delay and have to catch the other two (yeah, needs more there too) riders up. I'd also like to be able to buy the bikes, as well as winning them and to be able to customise (a la Gran T).

This is a winning game for bike fans. Lots of variety and I can't help trying to improve my lap time of the Nurburgring. I'd love to see Donnington, Brands Hatch, Philip Island etc too.