Is it time for another go then? THQ certainly thought as much, and have released a sequel to the often-overlooked Xbox original in the form of Moto GP 2. The original was of a very high standard, so making improvements was always going to be a difficult task. Whilst a few niggles present in the original title are still on the starting grid here, improvements have certainly been achieved.

Like Moto GP 3 on PS2, Moto GP 2 is based on the 2002 racing season, covering the 16 circuits (up from the previous 10) and 22 riders who competed that year. The season saw changes made to the bikes that allowed 980cc four stroke engines to compete with, and largely dominate, the previous season’s 500cc 2-stroke machines. What this means for the gamer is a greater selection of metal and tarmac to race on.

Booting the game leads you to the sign-in screen, prompting you for your Live persona; this is to help the online integration of the game. Should you not have one, you can sign in as a single player, and from here you have the choice to either go multiplayer or start the solo action, and this is where the review will concentrate.

Most of the game modes from the previous game have made it back into the sequel (time trial, quick race and career mode; which includes season championship and training challenges), with the notable exception of the arcade championship. In its place is the all-new stunt challenge racing. For the duration of a single lap of your chosen track, you’re required to perform wheelies, burnouts, power slides, donuts and endos (a term THQ still haven’t got right, they’re called stoppies, dammit!) that earn you rather a lot of points - not to be confused with career mode rewards.

You’re also awarded points for overtaking other riders or knocking them off their mounts, completing sections of the track without leaving the grey stuff, and your overall finishing position. The points you accumulate on each circuit lead eventually to the unlocking of the fast boys, including (for a cool million) the Doctor himself: Rossi. Sound easy? You can just do a burnout for the entire length of the circuit right? Wrong. A strict time limit is imposed, meaning as well as performing tricky stunts, you’ve got to get a shifty on too.

For the time trial and quick races, the number of available circuits is initially limited to the first three of the championship; progressing through the career or stunt modes gives you access the others. Quick lap times in time trial (note - quick means blistering) will see you unlocking reversed, mirrored and reverse mirrored tracks, eventually giving you sixty odd circuits to play with.

The format of the challenges is a little different from the earlier game, being held against each of the tracks that form the championship season (ergo, there are more of them). These cover various areas, such as using the correct racing line, following the leader or course slaloms, some of which are particularly tricky. Each completed challenge gives you a point to add to one of your rider skills (cornering, braking, top speed and acceleration). Points are also award against your finishing position in the championships races, the value of which increases the higher the skill level you are playing on. The more points you have against a skill, the better you are as a rider.

A splendid extra accompanies race victories in the career mode, namely the unlocking of real highlights of the GP from the same track. This is no lightweight extra, as the videos cover start grid to post-race interviews, lasting a good five minutes each. Other great Easter eggs are hidden away in the game, such as the ability to change the scream of the bikes to the scream of kids pretending to be bikes. If you’ve ever seen the intro to the sublime 70’s motorcycle film “On Any Sunday”, you’ll know exactly what this sounds like. There are plenty of other unlockable features for you to find, which won’t be spoiled for you here.

To be very picky, race victory will see your rider celebrate by pulling wheelies, performing burnouts and standing up on the bike raising his hands in the air as the bike accelerates up the track, brakes into the first corner and dives round it. Fantastic: cruise control on a GP bike! Okay, so this is a very minor glitch, but for an aficionado it is an irritating one - a motorcycle simply cannot accelerate or corner without the rider’s hands on the bars.

Of greater irritation is the way you are penalised for going off the circuit during season mode, whether this is in qualifying or the race proper. The feature has been introduced to stop riders taking shortcuts when playing online, a noble aim, sadly poorly implemented. In real GP racing a rider will be punished with a stop-go penalty if a short cut gives an advantage. In Moto GP 2, the length for which you depart the tarmac is added to your lap time, regardless of whether it gives you an advantage or not. This can mean being penalised twice for a mistake, or hardly penalised at all for blatant chicane crossing cheating, so long as you manage to keep the speed up.

Enhancements have been made to the aural experience; the different styles of bikes have different exhaust notes, and the crashes that tinkled in the first now crunch in a “you’re not going to walk away from this one” scraping racket. They look painfully realistic too. Tunes-wise, the same generic rock tracks tease the eardrums and once again you’re given the ripped music option should these not appeal.

Rider and bike animation is quite simply superb. Chain and suspension components can be seen working on the bike, your rider clicks the gear shifter as you move up and down the box, and angrily shakes his fist at your competitors if you scrape fairings. Wet racing is very well implemented; you almost believe you’re getting a soaking from the huge sprays caused by the wet weather tyres on your opponent’s machines, and unlike a certain other Moto GP series, it is not impossible to race in.

The mechanism for controlling the bike remains the same, mainly because it didn’t need to be changed. As before the left stick controls the rider’s position on the bike, and the right stick the acceleration and braking. For the enthusiast, the superbly executed separate front/rear braking system controlled with the right and left triggers is present and correct. It is well worth the effort of learning to use this properly.

The handling of the bike can be tweaked with the newly included setup options. Alterations can be made to transmission ratios, tyre compound choice, front and rear suspension firmness, and wheelbase length. Changes made here are noticeable when riding, particularly those made to wheelbase length. Just as would be expected in the real world, shortening this attribute results in a bike that turns-in much faster, with the compromise of some stability. It’s still not nearly enough though. Moto GP 3 should include fuel loads and mappings, ride height, compression and rebound damping for the shocks, changeable wheel sizes and replaceable front and rear sprocket sets (please).

AI, which was criticised by some gamers last time, has been improved a little. You can still find yourself being taken out by a rider slamming into the side of you, especially with the simulation percentage turned up high (or “fall off easier” percentage as it should be titled - it appears to have little other effect). This is a bit frustrating, as you normally come off worse though, overall, AI racers are challenging rather than annoying.

There are aspects that simply aren’t realistic, such as the motorcycle whipping round 180 degrees rather than high-siding when you give it too much gas. You never feel like you’re being cosseted by the game mechanics though, as the balance between simulation and arcade is well judged; of all the motorcycle racing games around, this series on the Xbox gives you the greatest impression that this is how you would actually ride a bike, and gives the title a great deal of appeal.

Overall, the improvements are marginal from the first Moto GP game; at least, from a single player point of view, it’s clear that the emphasis for this game was put into the online aspect and integration with Live. That’s not to say it isn’t an accomplished single player racing game: it is the cream of the paddock, but the refinements over the original need to be considered if you’re buying this game purely for solo play.