SBK08

The Superbike World Championship is a bit like the motorcycle equivalent of World Touring Cars. The bikes are tuned-up versions of models available to Joe Public, as opposed to the Formula One-style purpose-built two-wheelers used in the MotoGP series. The other similarity is that we Brits are actually rather good at it, although the sport’s popularity is still fairly modest here.

SBK makes its debut on the 360 following last year’s successful PS2 outing; like it’s predecessor, 08 provides a solid combination of arcade racing with sim-style tweaking. With 12 authentic tracks such as Monza and Donington you can jump straight into a quick race, but you might want to start with one of the tutorials to get you up to speed. While not exactly instructive, once you figure out that the right trigger gets you going and the left one brakes, you’ll be able to attempt certain scenarios like riding in the wet, or pipping the race leader to the post on the last lap. Racing itself is simple, but fun, and apart from steering the analogue stick shifts your riders weight to the front or back of the bike – crucial for that all-important wheelie on the winning lap. Presentation-wise, the game does enough to get by, although we did experience the occasional long load time. SBK’s graphics are more functional than exciting, and interesting environments are sacrificed to convey a real sense of speed while maintaining a decent frame rate. Sound is much as you’d expect from a load of superbikes, and the opponent AI varies from cautious to aggressive, providing quite a challenge, even on the lower difficulty settings. Once you get to race weekends you’ll want to tweak your bike to suit your riding style – the wealth of options will satisfy even the biggest of petrol-heads, but if you’re not sure what to adjust, your engineer is on hand to dish out advice. For a real challenge you can race using the first-person perspective. You’ll get used to seeing some of the spectacular crash animations, as the violently tilting landscape is almost impossible to navigate – but for enthusiasts it could be just the thing.