Tourist Trophy

"A Physics Engine in a Box"

When I first heard of a racing motorcycle game coming to the market which is not an arcade racer, I must admit I was pretty excited. When I learned that this game was from the makers of Gran Turismo, I was proverbially floored. Prior to this, I had been subsisting off MotoGP (original, no less), and had many high expectations coming into this game.

Introduction
Tourist Trophy (TT) will certainly please any fan of motorcycle racing. It boasts robust physics, responsive handling, and impressive aerodynamic simulation. Unfortunately, while it does get so many things right, it seems to fall so critically short of the Gran Turismo series.

Gameplay
I'm going to have to separate this into two different parts: in-race and other (including customization, "purchasing", etc).

In Race
The in race gameplay is simply what one would expect from the makers of Gran Turismo: incredible physics and simulation. Your motorcycle performs as realistically as any could expect from a GT game: you lean into corners, hoping that the changes to your riding form increase your speed and lessen your aerodynamic drag; you tuck your body to increase your speed; you carefully apply your rear brake only to grab just a little more control as you careen around the edge of the corner. Apply the brake wrong, and you just may slide right off your bike. Not only does the race seem real, the inclusion of an "in cockpit" view (over the handlebars would be more appropriate) drastically adds to the realism.

The aerodynamic forces are well done this time around, and your aforementioned form really comes into play. Each bike certainly does feel different with different responses to the track and your rider form. Aerodynamics play such a critical role in TT, that you can customize how you sit on your bike (your form, discussed later), as well as being able to tuck down to reduce your drag. Furthermore, when careening along at 170 mph, the jittering of your bike in the massive wind resistance is certainly entertaining, assuming you don't overapply your forward brake and become one with the pavement.

Controls have some high spots and low spots. They are very responsive, and thankfully the game isn't so real that it will let you simply tilt your bike over from moving the analog stick too far. There are a variety of control options, including a pro mode which sperates the front and rear breaks into two totally sperate buttons.

Unfortunately, there are a few strikes to this high batting average. Now, the control responses are perfect: it's the layout that's the problem. You have your standard two button shifting, but also included are a tuck button and a rear-brake button; all for the shoulder buttons (assuming non-Pro configuration). When you're trying to tuck through a corner, downshift, and apply only a rear brake all at the same time, it's quite difficult to hold onto the controller. Those of you whom use two fingers per hand for the shoulder buttons will find a bit less of a problem. Some may also suffer from control overload, and simply forget to actually turn because you're trying to press, hold, and control so many things at once *grin*.

Another problem is that the game only allows four opponents. I'm assuming this is a limitation of the PS2 not having enough overhead for more AI racers plus additional physics. Furthermore, the AI is standard GT: if you're in their line, they'll bump you out of the way which can very well knock both of you off your cycles.

The final issue is the lack of new tracks. Since the game is heavily based on the GT4 engine, you have all your prior tracks, and that's about it. No revamps, nothing really new. A few new licensed tracks would be an excellent inclusion, or even new fantasy tracks designed with a motorcycle in mind would certainly have been more than welcome.

Other
This is where my dreams were shattered. First of all, credits were eliminated entirely. Yep: no more purchasing upgrades or new motorcycles. Instead, you're automatically given all "upgrades" per se, and are allowed to customize them as you see fit. Since you can no longer purchase any parts, it actually gives you a lot less to work for. The purchasing system has been a critical cornerstone of GT for a long while, and the exclusion of the purchasing system is a major letdown. No longer can you save money to purchase a motorcycle: you have to earn it.

To envision the earning system, imagine a licensing test, only versus another motorcycle of the same make and specs. You complete the test, you get the motorcycle instead of a license. Now imagine this repeated 133 times for every motorcycle. Welcome to the replacement to the purchasing system. While this would be interesting, it becomes dull and monotonous very quickly. Higher on, the AI drives very close to perfect lines. You'll have to drive better to earn a motorcycle that is actually worthy of competing in the competition you're aiming to compete.

Customization wise, the options are decent but not as robust as GT4. You're limited to basic gearing, suspension, braking, tires, and a few other tuning options. You can also customize your riding form (stature on the motorcycle), which affects performance as well thanks to the robust aerodynamics engine. With a good number of options ranging from how far you put your arms and legs out to how far back you sit on the seat, this really does help the lack of upgrades. They also include a default preset, as well as three customizable sets so you can adjust one for say, cornering, speed, and overall.

One nice feature for those that like to take screenshots is the new "best photo" feature. It will automatically re-run the replay in the background while taking screenshots from pre-defined positions on the track. This is an excellent feature that I use often, as it saves the time from having from having to re-run the entire course on a 1:1 replay while waiting for a photo op.

Graphics
Graphics are your standard GT4 fair. The motorcycles are all of GT4 car quality, except the new over the bars view. It adds to the realism, but the textures are horribly low resolution. Mirrors do not work, and are frankly a jaggy mass. This view was added on only as an afterthought. The artists had to render the handlebars view anyway, since you can't enclose the rider like you can in a car. So, might as well add that over the bars view that GT fans have been craving, eh? Unfortunately, it's only a camera option: very little thought went into the actual aesthetics of a close-up over the handlebars view (the guages do halfway work, so that is a plus). Riders are also fairly poorly done: the suits are fairly low resolution, and the riders are made up of only a handful of polygons. Some additional decal-type options would have been nice (ala Forza). Thankfully, the motorcycles all look great, and since the tracks are copy and pastes from GT4, they haven't suffered. All in all, if you sacrifice realism and stay away from the over the bars view, you won't really notice the poor poly count and textures of the riders.

Sound/Music
Sounds are well done, though nothing horribly special. If you don't have a trained ear, you probably won't be able to distinguish the differences in the whines of the motorcycles. There aren't any noticalbe "crashing" sounds if you fall of your motorcycle, and some sounds feel copied from GT4. Musically, it's pretty standard fair from GT3 and 4. Nothing really all that exciting or new. The wind effects are more pronounced than in prior GT games, and this is a welcome addition. The rush of the wind over a surround sound system certainly sucks you in. It's too bad that the wind is essentially the most defining sound you'll hear.

Replay
Another sin: no multiplayer yet again. Of course, since this game is based on the GT4 core engine, that's to be expected. There are fewer races this time around, and no special events or make events. Overall, replay value is limited to when you want to pick up and do a quick race. There's no winnings to buy parts, so no real need to keep playing to upgrade everything. Once you have all the cycles and their variants and beat the races, you're done. While that may very well keep you busy for a while, you really only need a handfull to beat all the races.

Overall
TT is a significant disappointment. I really expected more from the makers of the great GT series. But their removal of the purchasing system was a cardinal sin, as well as blatantly lazy. Frankly, TT looks like one of their programmers made a good motorcycle physics engine as a personal side project. The suits got ahold of it, quickly rendered a few motorcycles, then copy and pasted the physics and motorcycle models into GT4. It seems they wanted to rush it out the door given the scant motorcycle sim market to make money, and skimped on actual races and upgrades. Overall, a good physics engine which happened to be dropped into a half-done Gran Turismo game and then released way before it should have been. Rent this one unless you're desperate for a motorcycle fix.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/06