Riding Spirits

Format PlayStation 2

Developer

Publisher Bam! Entertainment

Genre Racing / Driving

No, it's not a game about headless horsemen. That'd be cool, though.

Fire this baby up and the first thing you'll think is: 'Hey, this looks a little bit like Gran Turismo. Only, uh, with bikes instead of cars.'

No shinola, Sherlock. Because although the two series are unconnected, Riding Spirits could do the same thing for bikes that the venerable driving series did for four-wheeled vehicles. Maybe.
You'll need to complete races with your bike to get money to soup it up, and to get a much better machine. Eventually, you'll be able to get your hands on some really super-fast speedbeasts but, as is always the way, you'll start off on something not much faster than a lowly moped.

This sort of thing requires a good few bike manufacturers to give it that realistic feel, so it's good to see there's more than 200 bikes in here, from famous names like Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki (yes, Riding Spirits hails from Japan in case you haven't guessed). You even have to buy your own leathers and helmet before you can start on your big race.

As you'd expect from a hard-assed biking simulation, the handling's not easy. Try to turn 180Ţ while travelling at less than 20 miles an hour, and you'll hilariously fall over. Play in Quick Race mode, though, and you'll get a bit of help thanks to the driving assistance options. If straightforward racing isn't enough for you, there's also Gran Turismo 3-style safety tests to check your driving skills with pinpoint accuracy. As you can see, the graphics may not be the flashiest in the world, but they're certainly smooth and authentic.

We'll deliver you a review as soon as a finished version skids up to our door.

Joff Brown