Similarly to GT, the game is broken down into career and arcade modes. In arcade all the different bikes in the game can be ridden across the 1-on-1 races (though only against three computer opponents), time trial or two-player battle modes.

The structure of the career part of the game, or Tourist Trophy mode as it is called, is somewhat different from its four-wheel counterpart. Rather than having to earn money and repeat the same race over and over before a new bike can be purchased, additional rides are gained from completing challenges or from winning races. It's a shame that the bikes won aren't sensibly thought out; why not give a prize that can be used in an alternative race series, much like Forza did with its championships?

To gain the bike, the player starts off in second place in a 1-on-1 race (or fourth place in higher difficulty challenges) and must overtake the AI. Such a pity then that these challenges can be infuriatingly difficult. One touch on the dirt or one tiny mistake means the challenge will be failed, which will surely lead to many a joypad being thrown in disgust. This is compounded by the the fact that the same capacity bike challenges are all run on the same circuit and play similarly. If you can't complete one of the 600cc challenges, winning any of them is unlikely. This comes down to one thing: feel.

Bikes simply do not feel right in Tourist Trophy. Despite being able to change the options in the game from Standard, to Semi-Pro to Pro, it makes for little difference, although does give a little extra control of rider and motorcycle. The bikes never feel as quick as they really are, and certainly don't behave as the should. A ZX-10R will get from 0 to 100 mph and back again in around eleven seconds. It doesn't happen in TT. Braking and acceleration are far too slow, and the whole game lacks a sensation of speed. This makes cornering particularly difficult as braking is required far earlier than would be necessary in reality.

When a bike has eventually been won, and it is imperative to gain them in the challenge mode for there to be any hope of being competitive, they can be entered in the race events. These are competed against up to three other riders, but it doesn't exactly make for fairing-to-fairing, white knuckle, adrenaline-rushing thrills; it's all rather pedestrian. It'd be helped greatly by having more riders on the track.

It is possible for games to be very challenging and at the same time rewarding, there's certainly scope for catering to the hardcore when the difficulty curve allows for players to learn the game (take the Moto GP series on Xbox or PS2 for example), but here that simply isn't the case. Even after a dozen or more hours the bike handling and track design doesn't get any better, but there is a certain amount of satisfaction when a particularly difficult challenge is cracked.

It really looks like there's been little thought for the track design of Tourist Trophy. Almost all of them have been lifted directly from Gran Turismo and begs the question: why include dirt and Motards when there are no suitable tracks for these bikes to take advantage of? This strikes a major issue for the game: many tracks simply do not work very well for motorcycles, and rather than create tarmac suited to scraping the knee, it's a case of make do. After all, it's cheaper to re-use assets right?

It's not all bad though. There are a lot of different motorcycles in the game to try, though they are mostly Japanese. Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, BMW, Ducati and others make the grade, including, bizarrely, a number of scooters; it's difficult to see why anyone into bikes would want ride a scooter in real life, let alone a virtual one on a high-speed track. They are all very nicely modelled, sound right, and in the cockpit view it's easy to pick out the detail. The game works reasonably well in this mode, avoiding the daft massive screen lean that many bike games seem to implement. It is rather strange that there are far more street bikes in the game than racers, yet only four of the twenty-odd championships allow the non-racing wheels to be used.

Like with Gran Tursimo, there are dozens of different adjustments that can be made to the motorcycles, from tyre compounds to end-gear ratios, and altering these can make considerable difference to the bike's characteristics. Changing the suspension settings for softer rebound, for example, will mean bumps are soaked up a lot easier, which is pretty realistic. It's actually a joy to play around with these to see what difference it will make, especially as doing this to a real bike can end up with handling that is a complete mess.

Also well-handled is the rider construction. There are so many different options for how the biker behaves in the saddle via the Riding Form editor. There are presets from Motard leg-out style to hanging off like a Moto GP God and getting the knee down. It's quite mindboggling. Adjustments can be made to head and torso angle and pitch, body lean, leg angle and much more, and what all of these adjustments do is shown visually. None of this actually makes a jot of difference to the handling (though actually it should), but it does mean it's possible to get the on-screen avatar to mimic pretty much any rider's style. This is perhaps the most fun available in the game, certainly more so than being on the track itself.

Along with the myriad of bikes come the enormous different choices of leathers and helmets. All the famous names such as Aria and Shoei are there, along with a nice streetwear selection. Or jeans for those people wanting gravel rash, which is a big feature of Tourist Trophy given how often the bikes end up down the road. Once again, this doesn't alter how the game behaves, but it is nice to have such a wide selection on offer.

Unfortunately this doesn't make up for the fact that Tourist Trophy is far from the real riding simulator it claims to be; it misses out on one of the most fundamental things of riding bikes: fun. There may be some hardcore racing fans out there that will get some satisfaction from this game, but for the majority it will be a very frustrating experience. Due to that, it's a difficult game to recommend parting with your money for.