Polyphony Digital proudly use the tagline “The Real Driving Simulator” with Gran Turismo, and who can argue with them? Their car physics are virtually unsurpassed; I think you’d really struggle to find a videogame that feels more like driving a high-performance racecar than Gran Turismo. Anyway, we all know how fantastic Gran Turismo is, so now the developer has switched four wheels to two in their attempt to nail riding a motorbike.

The genre isn’t anywhere near as popular as car driving or racing, although there is competition such as Climax’s Moto GP series and Namco’s game, also called Moto GP. They both simulate riding to some degree, but neither feel quite as good as you’d hope. The Climax game almost feels like an attempt at an arcade racer at times, letting you make your bike power slide around corners by braking then accelerating hard – almost like the now ancient Cyber Cycles and Super Hang-On. But then the game suddenly stops you from power sliding and more often than not chucks you off your bike because the realism factor kicks in; it’s gotta be one or the other, surely?

In comes Tourist Trophy.

So here we are, with a new game from the makers of Gran Turismo boys and girls, with an all new game structure, some new tracks, license tests, and a few of the new features such as Photo Mode, directly lifted from Gran Turismo 4.

For starters, yes you have to complete license tests to engage in the main game mode, and yes they are just like before, but now of course they are directed towards riding a motorbike instead of driving a car. However the rest of the main “Tourist Trophy” mode has its own system. There is no in-game currency, and there is no bike tuning. Instead, you have ‘Challenge Mode’, where you win bikes of varying performance by completing challenges. If you complete the challenge, you win the bike you were riding (that you chose before you started the event). With a newly acquired machine, you can enter a series of races in a mode cunningly called ‘Race Events’.

The beautifully built tracks in the game are mostly taken right out of Gran Turismo 4, with such fictional classics as Grand Valley, Deep Forest, Trial Mountain, and Autumn Ring. There are many real stages too, such as Laguna Seca, Suzuka (3 versions), Motegi (4 versions), and of course the Nordschleife. New tracks include real Moto GP venu Valencia.

As for motorbikes, there is of course a huge selection to choose from; Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, Ducati, Aprillia, and Yamaha to name a few, all with a varying range of scooters, street bikes and full-on race machines, but did we really expect anything less from the company that puts over 700 cars in their driving game?

Handling then, well firstly let me explain that I have never ridden a motorbike before, and even if I did I wouldn’t be able to nail it around racetracks. However, just like Gran Turismo, I know what feels right in my hands in my brain, and Tourist Trophy feels right. You lean in and out of corners and you can feel the weight and position of the rider actually affecting the way the bike is acting, the way the bike reacts to bumps and undulation in the road and over rumble strips feels great, and if you ride using either the behind-bars or headlight camera, you tilt heavily through corners and the sensation is incredible. The bikes understeer and oversteer, and if you don’t dip your rider through corners when you’re supposed to the bike simply won't corner very well. The feeling of speed is scary along the straights and through fast corners – take a race bike out on the Nurburgring and tell me you aren’t a little scared!

Of course, the game looks and sounds stunning, with the racetracks lifted directly out of Gran Turismo 4, and the quality of the bike and its rider (and their animation) is just like GT too. Presentation is again professional and slick; its such a lovely package that you can’t help but admire. It stands so high above all the rushed and badly running titles out there and really shows what you can do not only with an aging games console, but also with video games in general.

If you’re a huge fan of motorbikes, Gran Turismo, or motor sport in general I really recommend picking up Tourist Trophy, I reckon you’ll love it!