Product ReviewsTourist Trophy (Sony PlayStation 2, 2006)

Tourist Trophy: It's Gran Turismo 4 on bikes

The Gran Turismo creaters at Polophony Digital have been focused on the cars for years. Gran Turismo games 1-4 were great games and were all claimed as "The Real Driving Simulator". By 2006, Polophony now creates their latest Gran Turismo game using only bikes and scooters and called it Tourist Trophy: The Real Riding Simulator.

Based mostly on the Gran Turismo 4 game, 34 of 51 courses that are found in GT4 can be found in Tourist Trophy (which has 35 courses), Test Course cannot be raced, but is in a few tests in "licence school" mode. One track that's different to GT4 though, is the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain, a popular course in the MotoGP Championship.

Gran Turismo 4 gave you 721 cars (GT4's game box says over 650), most can be customised with wheels and a wing. Tourist Trophy only gives you 135 of the most famous bikes and scooters, but also give you the opportunity to customize the rider with changing the riding style, height of the rider, and the racing or street uniform it wears.

The graphics are taken directly off GT4 with most Gran Turismo 4 car brands removed from the course, yet Fiji Raceway 2005 does still have the Toyota and TRD logos, Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca still has Mazda stuff on the bridges, and Twin Ring Motegi-Super Speedway still has Chevrolet logo on the course (now there are a set of "easter eggs" in the game for you).
The Bikes are great looking with excellent precision to detail on all the bikes. Also, Tourist Trophy is the first racing game from Polophony to have a view of the cockpit of the vehicle (Bike), which actually makes GT5 on the PS3 second to have this feature!

Some things I noticed was with most Race-Custom superbikes above 600cc can be given Wheelies and Endos (front wheelies done while braking) when given the right tweaks. However, Race-Custom models over 900cc can do these with no tweaks at all! Also, you can fall off the bikes if you push the bike too far inside or while you are off the road, so be careful.

With all the factors despite lack of some extra courses and extra bikes, I would give this game a 8 out of 10. It has the fun you expect in the Gran Turismo series. If you are a fan of bike racing games, yet do not have Tourist Trophy, I recommend that you give this great game a shot.Read full review...

Challenging to say the least.....Good game overall

I love the realism this game has but, it gets tiresome after awhile. There are those moments when you just want to ride like the wind without flying over the bars or laying the bike down. This game will keep you entertained for awhile though. I managed to ride a wheelie up to 185mph down Nürburgring's straight.

Game AI is pretty good, graphics are also pretty good seeing as how it's from Polyphony Digital Inc. Gameplay is pretty straight foward, only taking a couple of minutes to get used to. Licenses are easy to aquire and you can expand your garage of motorbikes rather easily, just got to beat the AI you're racing against. Also, there is little to no room for errors in this game. You will lay the bike down once you run off the track. Once you get the braking points down, you should do well on any track. When I first started playing, the one problem I had was the braking points. I'd run off the track every time.

I would have liked to see a little more tweaking going on with setups, aftermarket parts etc. I was also a little disappointed with the exhaust tones didn't sound authentic--that would have scored major points in my book.Read full review...

The REAL riding simulator!

This may just be Gran Turismo on two wheels but it's still as good of a motorcycle racing game you can buy. If you didn't like the Gran Turismo series before, you won't like this incarnation.

This game offers a pretty expansive array of motorcycles to choose from. Mostly Japanese companies like Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. But offers some BMW's, Ducati's and Triumphs as well. Bike size range from 125cc to bikes over 1,000cc's. All the bikes have a distinct sound, look, and feel. The bike renderings look great, as much detail as Gran turismo. One of the only downfalls to Tourist Trophy is that while you can tune your motorcycle you cannot buy new parts for it. You can only win bigger and faster bikes by completing racing. There is no money component in this game. So if your motorcycle turns poorly or isn't fast enough, it'll stay that way. The odd thing is that you can customize your rider more than you can your bike. Different Helmets, suits etc... from companies like Arai, Shoei and Alpine Star.

The course graphics are great, as they are right out of Gran Turismo. Which is both good and bad. The tracks are familiar and well suited to motorcycle racing, but there isn't anything new to really challenge you. The replay mode is as good as you'd expect from Gran tourismo. The racing physics are great, as are the controls and sounds. Replay value is about a 7 I'd say. Learning curve is about a half hour. Yes, there are still license tests, but this time they are WAY easier. So you should fly right through them. You can only race against three other computer controlled opponents, who aren't very difficult. On-line isn't a part of this game, but if you don't play games online (like me), you won't care.

There isn't bike damage in this game, but if you crash into a wall you will fly off your bike. You get right back on your bike and don't loose much time. Which is pretty stupid if you ask me. In real life if you dump your bike @ 140mph, you aren't getting right back on.

All in all it's a pretty good game, if you like bikes and you like Gran Turismo. I'd say it's worth it new price tag of $39.99. Tourist Trophy is the best Motorcycle simulator out there!!!!Read full review...

Finally some competition for MotoGP

Since the release of the PS2 the only superbike simulation worth getting was MotoGP, and what a great superbike simulation series that was, and still is. It was hard to imagine any other bike simulator could compete, or would even want to try and compete with what seemed like the greatest bike simulation series ever made. Yet the makers of Gran Turismo have gone and done just that. First of all there is no need to wait for a PC port of the console game to have things like a driving test and camera angle changes and more settings. Tourist Trophy does it all and then some more. You can change your colors, your gear, go to the garage, tune up, buy parts and compete just like the Gran Turismo series does. In terms of graphics I would say that it is currently on par with the MotoGP series, with the MotoGP series possibly slightly ahead in having a more realistic replay, but that is not to say that TT can't pull a few tricks out of its sleeve, and it does, in aces, because this is Gran Turismo, with bikes, producing some street racing modes like its big brother car version - Gran Turismo 4. It would be better if you could actually race with cars on the roads! I would highly recommend that all MotoGP lovers get this. It is a real surprise deal and as we all know, the superbike simulators are some the best racing sims around.Read full review...

Tourist Trophy PS2

I think the game has life like caracteristics and the graphics are great! The game is similar to GT3 except you cannot modify your bike. The tricks are fun if you remember that you're on a bike and it's easy to lay it over! Worth checking out...Be careful also because when you're coming into the turns the screen doesn't make it seem like you're really doing 120 and you might take the turn too wide.Read full review...

Good game

The game shipped in a timely manner, and I loved playing it all the way through. Since getting more into motorcycles, this was a great game to for me to experience some great newer and older motorcycles.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: wonderbooks

Tourist Trophy for PS2

This review is for the Tourist Trophy PS2 motorcycle game from the makers of the Gran Turismo games. What I like is the many different Motorcycles it has. The bikes handle pretty good as well. What I don't like is that you have to win the bikes as well as the parts needed to upgrade them unlike with the Gran Turismo Series in which you can buy the cars and parts that you want. I also don't like that each race begins with your opponent or opponents having a 10 second or more head start instead of everyone starting at the start line. This would have been a much better game if they would have kept the gameplay format of Gran Turismo.(If it ain't broke don't fix it.)Other than not being able to buy the bikes and parts and not starting at the same time as your opponents it's a fun game.Read full review...

Fantastic game!!

A fantastic game with a huge selection of bikes and tracks. It's the motorcycle version of Gran Turismo so if you loved GT you'll love this.5 Stars!!

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: kesc.rup

Great game

I just recently bought the game for $8.60 (used, delivered). It has beautifully rendered production motorcycles, and race versions of a number of these bikes too. Many beautiful race tracks and many tracks are from the Gran Turismo series. The control is good. I cannot get the back end of the bike to slide by slamming on the rear brake or by downshifting into a low gear, but whatever, I’m nitpicking here. If u like motorcycles and racing, then you’ll like this game.

One problem I am having is that under Arcade Mode, if I go to select the Nurburgring race track (under Time Trial or 2-Player Battle), the game freezes/crashes. I don’t know if the cause is on the hardware or software side of things. BTW, my disk has no scratches on it. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing? Please let me know.

Edit: It is possible to get the back-end of the bike to slide out. Just needed to go to options screen and select "pro" control style.Read full review...

Tourist Trophy

This game was developed by the same studio that gave us the joy of the Gran Turismo series (1 through 4 for PS1 and PS2) and it presents the same basics with outstanding physics, challenging circuits, state-of-art CGI technology, perfect simulation of controls and increadible looks (and sounding) for each bike. If you want a real motorcycle game, this is the one. I really loved the new way to get the bikes (different from GT where you have to buy the cars with money, in TT you have to participate in a challenge and winning it you receive the bike you used as a prize). There are just 2 details that I believe Polyphony will have to improve (probably in the sequence): 1) There should be more circuits used in the superbike and MotoGP championships; 2) There should be more races that we could use the sport bikes (as they are way more than the racing ones) once there are few races for sport bikes and a lot of for racing bikes. But these 2 items are minor details that do not reduce the joy to play this game. I do highly recommend it.Read full review...