Along with the long delays simulation-driving fans endured for the
release of Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2, there were varying levels of disappointment with the exclusion of online
and motorcycle-racing modes. Well, GT fans will probably have to wait until 2007 for
the next Gran Turismo (which will likely be
online by then), but cycle fans won't have to wait much more as Tourist Trophy, Polyphony Digital's Real
Riding Simulator, will be making its way to Japanese storefronts and PS2s by the end of the year (currently
projected for New Year's Eve in Japan, though no U.S. date has so far been announced).
Featured bikes hail from such esteemed manufacturers as Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki, but that's just a partial
list. IGN states: "The final selection will include a small
number of motorcycles from the 80s, although 70% will be from the 90s to the present. Although the above makers are all
Japanese, the final game will feature European bikes as well." So what, no love for the American motorcycle makers? We
probably won't miss Harleys in a moto-type game, but if the visuals in Tourist Trophy's trailer are to be
believed, Polyphony will have an easy time taking the graphics crown (at least, on the console side) from perennial
favorite Moto
GP. The riding-realism competition should be hotly
contested, however.
[UPDATE: Official teaser web site now online; via
GameSpot.]
Engadget
TUAW