The riding dynamic of bike games will never be able to match the fluidity of their four wheeled counterparts. I’m certainly no expert but I think its because its much easier to make a car look realistic when it only moves on one axis, than it is to make a bike a bike plus a rider look real when there is so much movement going on. To date the only game that really seemed to nail everything was the TT racing game from Jester. Now there is another game that will help your eyes go square and give you a headache. Moto GP08.
I have played all of the previous games in this series, they were all good, but nowhere near as lifelike as this version. It has every single circuit from the 2008 season, including Qatar under lights and Indianapolis. For the first time you can play as yourself rather than always being one of the racers, but why would you want to? To me these games are about escapism, pretending for a bit that, yes actually I am Casey Stoner, and I can drift a Moto GP bike if I want.
The set-up and adjustment of the bikes can be as detailed or as basic as you want to make it. I found Stoners bike to be a bit tail happy, after swapping the tyres and making a few small changes I got the bike to do what I wanted it to. Rossi’s bike handled differently, in fact all of the bikes display individual quirks that you can relate to the real bikes from real races.
The races are mega, all the useless riders that have struggled in real life get picked off easily, Melandri gets nerfed into the dirt, West gets the elbow easily as does Guintoli. It starts getting tougher when you spot the yellow and blue 52 of JT, once past him it gets harder and harder, but its not impossible. If its too easy change the level, if it’s too hard keep trying and you’ll get there. The capability to race online will appeal, but you might get annoyed with people on the other side of the world messing up your lap because they can, I did.
The acid test of any bike game for me is how realistic the bikes are to wheelie. Again this game scores a computer nerdy ten-out-of-ten. Coming out of some corners the bikes power wheelie, long low and fast with the bars shaking when the front comes down. Give it a tug in second and the front pops up, leaving you to feed gears, gas and body weight. You can come off the back but it doesn’t happen every time. The rider also pops his head round the side of the bike to get a better view of the road, a really simple touch that adds a bunch of realism.
You will fall off a bit while you get used to the handling, and if you play while mumbling “a real bike wouldn’t do that” then save up and buy yourself a used Moto GP bike for trackdays, because until you can afford one this is the closest we will ever get to riding a Moto GP bike.
The game costs £34.99 and is on PS3, Xbox, PC. Go to www.game.co.uk or you local highstreet game store.
