Review by S. D. Johnson:

I love motorcycle racing and wanted a good bike game for my PS2. All the professional reviews I had read said that Tourist Trophy (TT) was good, but way too hard, so I never tried it. I’m not a particularly skilled PS2 player, so the “hard” label put me off.

After reading a few reviews here that said it wasn’t so difficult, for a racing game, I decided to give it a try and am I ever glad I did! The controls aren’t nearly as hard as implied. If you have even a little speed you can lean way over without falling and braking in turns isn’t always going to cause you to crash. Like any other racing game, the key is to be smooth, which comes with experience.

Unlike Gran Tourismo 4 (GT4), where I lack a majority of the upper level licenses, I’ve cruised through three of the four license levels in short order and am winning bikes by racing and by Challenge.

Those familiar with GT4 will recognize the same basic menu design and the same high quality of bike presentation and race tracks. Many of the tracks are the same as on GT4, which helps veterans of that game.

There are over 90 bikes, ranging from Scooters to 1100cc Cruisers to 125cc 2-stroke racers to the custom Superbike racers. The oldest bikes are from the 70s and there are some noticable holes in the catalog, but it is only 90 bikes. I’d like to see the next version expand to include more historic bikes, like how GT4 improved over GT3.

Like GT4 you must complete license tests, which are like interactive tutorials. The first two license classes will show the best line on the track, with blue where you should accelerate, red where you should brake, and white where you should idle. It is a great way of learning how to negotiate the various turns and learning what to look for in the best racing lines.

Ironically, the most difficult of the license tests is the third one in the novice class, where you must ride a scooter around a perfect circle within a specific time, without straying outside and hitting any of the cones. I couldn’t have passed this one without the advice given in the Prima Strategy guide, which for those few license tips alone is worth the price.

The strategy guide also shows all the bikes you win for various races or licenses, as well as gives the basic bike stats and serves as a nice guide to see what your opposition is capable of when lining up for a race.

For the third and fourth license levels, you are on your own as far as figuring the best lines. The fourth license level is a timed lap on various tracks with various bikes, so you’ll get used to some of the basic tracks by completing this level.

Like GT4, you earn bikes by winning races or race series. If you get gold in a license test, you will also win a bike. The other way to get bikes is in Challenges. With these, you look in the catalog for a bike you want and select it.

To win the bike you must race it against another bike, which is in the lead. You must pass it and lead for 10 seconds or must cross the finish line first. This is easier on some bikes than others even within the same class, because the opponent varies from bike to bike.

For example, to win a street racer in the 1000cc class you have 4 major bikes worth getting, the Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki. To win the Honda, Kawasaki or Yamaha, you must race one of these four bikes. But to win the Suzuki, you go up against the Ducati, which is 20+ hp less and about 10 kg more, and thus is easier to beat.

Unlike GT4. there is no money and the “add-ons” are limited to exhaust upgrades, which come with the bike. You can make a few mods to the suspension, gearing and braking, but the options are much more limited than in GT4. This is a good thing though, as it is way too easy to get lost in GT4 and not so here in TT.

This is another area where the Prima guide comes in handy, as it has 7 pages of sound advice on the various tuning options, which you should mess with and how, and which you should leave alone. Another selling point for the guide are the track maps, which show typical slowest speeds on selected corners. The Prima Guide is a “must have” for this game, IMO.

Like GT4, there are a number of different race classes, which allow you to use a majority of the bikes you will collect from racing wins. There are classes based on engine size, engine type, the year the bike was released, and for specific models. There are a total of 23 racing series/classes, with 3-7 races each.

TT supports replays and “photos” similar to how GT4 handles them. The game supports the use of a USB flash drive plugged into one of the PS2′s USB ports and can store the jpgs output by the photo session, as well as the replays, which can be quite large. The game also supports printing of “photos” directly to USB photo printer.

Photos can be generated automatically from the replay menu. The game scans the replay and makes a series of photos as it finds things worth keeping. Some are good, some are not so good. You can save individual ones to the memory card or a USB flash drive. When saved to a flash drive, they are saved as jpgs, which can be read by your PC (not tested yet as I lack a flash drive).

Overall, I find the game easier to approach and play than GT4, which was easy enough to become a best seller. It looks and feels real enough, without being impossibly hard. Once you learn the basics and get used to it, you will find yourself winning bikes and races and getting faster and faster as you learn the tracks.

My wish is that Polyphony Digital will do for dirt bike racing what they’ve done for auto racing and now for motorcycle road racing.

If you are at all into motorcycle road racing and have a PS2, get this game and the Prima Strategy guide. You won’t be sorry!

Review by Jalen Anthony Krupa:

I can’t believe I’m the first person to write a review for this game! Let me first start out by saying that this is by far the best sport bike riding video game on the market. Nothing comes close. The MotoGP series is good… but Tourist Trophy is even better!

Now on to the review! The visuals within the “cockpit” view are fantastic, and this (for me) was the sole reason to purchase this game. I myself own a Yamaha YZF600 which is similar to the cockpit of the Yamaha R6. I haven’t been able to ride due to the winter season, so I’ve been searching for a game that gives me that realistic riding experience. Tourist Trophy gives you that feeling, and you get that because you’re looking at an actual snapshot of the cockpit to whichever bike you choose. It’s dead on! So, to keep myself from going insane from not being able to ride right now, I just pop in Tourist Trophy, select the R6, choose the cockpit view, and I just ride! It’s fantastic!

The graphics are stunning. If you’ve ever played Gran Turismo 4 then the graphics will be no surprise to you. If you’re new to the whole Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy games, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The scenery, the tracks, the bikes… everything just looks great! I find myself watching the replays a lot, which I usually hate, but the game just looks so good… it’s hard not to watch the replays!

The sound from the bikes… way cool! They all sound like the real thing, so if you’re ever curious to what a GSXR sounds like at a 150 miles per hour, get the game and found out for yourself. The music is descent, however when playing in the arcade mode, I have found the music to repeat certain tracks too frequently. There’s a huge play-list of songs that you can access through the menu, but I haven’t heard a good 90% of the songs. What gives? In any case the music is good.

There are a few modes to choose from. One on one, Arcade, Campaign, and head to head. I can’t write much about the campaign (Tourist Trophy Mode), as I have just received my novice license in the game, which allows you to enter some of the rookie races. If it’s anything like Gran Turismo 4, then its safe to say that the campaign mode in Tourist Trophy is solid. Arcade mode is fun, although I can’t get the R1 in Arcade mode. Do I have to unlock this? Head to Head is fun, and time trial is of course racing against yourself… which is what racing is all about.

No online play, which would have been nice. Arcade mode doesn’t have a difficulty select option, (easy, normal, hard). Besides that, this is a great game. There is a learning curve with this game so prepare yourself. Practice, practice, practice… There is nothing worse than playing a racing game, and not being able to keep your vehicle on the track. Go through the training courses and read all the briefings before you ride. They will help you to stay off the grass, and moreover… from crashing!

Tourist Trophy is a great game. Going in and out of shadows and whipping past trees at 200 miles per hour is a pretty cool feeling, and Tourist Trophy does a great job of capturing the “speed rush” you get from riding a crotch rocket in real life. Take it from a fellow rider, Tourist Trophy is a great riding simulator and is pretty darn close to the real thing.