SBK'07 - Superbike World Championship Updated Hands-On

Since we got our first look at SBK'07 a couple of months back, much of the game has now been finished. Whereas many of the menus or even track textures were placeholders before, they're now done, so we took to the road with an updated build of the PlayStation Portable version of the game to see how it's shaping up.

Generally speaking, playing SBK'07 on the PSP is close to the experience of playing it on the PlayStation 2, and having gained some experience with the driving model on the PS2, we decided to jump straight into a season.

The game is designed to cater to a whole range of racers and is split into two overall racing categories: arcade and simulation. The former is for anyone and incorporates a number of driving aids to give even complete beginners a decent experience of bike racing. It incorporates three levels of difficulty, from rookie to professional. The latter is really intended for more experienced gamers and will pose a significant challenge on the higher settings.

We decided to play the game in the arcade mode and on the professional difficulty level. This gives you a fighting chance of a podium place as long as you're familiar with the circuits and understand the way racing bikes take corners: You need to lean into the apex until your knee virtually touches the ground.

There are a limited number of riders who are available for selection when you first boot up the game, but you'll unlock some of the better bike and rider combinations as you win races and progress through the various game modes. One driver who is currently available from the off is Australian former world champion Troy Corser, who rides a Yamaha, so we selected him and got the season underway.

Each race event is split into a number of different stages, including several practice sessions and two actual races. You'll probably opt to jump straight into the races, but the other sessions are a useful way of getting to know the tracks. That knowledge will also be vital if you want to compete at all in the simulation mode.

There are some fairly extensive bike setup options, which enable you to tweak various elements of your ride's performance, as well as make crucial decisions on tyre compounds and weight distribution. Getting to grips with these options isn't crucial to do well in the basic arcade mode, but if you are more serious, you'll probably want to do a fair bit of meddling and find a good setup for each type of track.

Before each race, there's a warm-up lap that you can choose to watch if you prefer, and then it's straight into the action. The first corner is crucial, as in real life, and it pays to be careful. Depending on your difficulty level, the game's racing model will be more or less forgiving of gentle nudges against your opponents, but if you go in too hard, you'll end up unseated. Getting up and back on your bike is swift, and in easy races, you can soon catch up to the pack, but you'll need to avoid getting unseated in harder races because it will likely cost you any chance of a podium.

Another aspect of the game that's scalable is the way that the bikes handle. The simplest racing model will help you with accelerating and braking. It will even feather the throttle for you around fast corners, which is great if you're new to two-wheel racing. On the other end of the scale is the completely unassisted format, where leaning back while on the gas will result in a wheelie or hunching forward under braking could see you go over the handlebars. With traction control turned off, you have to be very careful of corners, and even looking at the grass the wrong way can send you spinning off with very little effort. And that's in the dry. If you try the realistic settings in the wet, you'll be challenged just to stay on the bike--let alone in the race.

After several races, we found we had begun to get into the rhythm of racing bikes: swaying first one way for one corner, then the other way for the next corner, straightening up for the faster sections, and putting the brakes on hard for a hairpin. It's satisfying when you string a consistent lap together, and taking the right line throughout the course is the vital aspect in winning races.

Playing the PSP does feel quite different from the home console edition especially because you have no analogue controls for speeding up or slowing down. After a few races, we found that our left thumb, which controls the bike's direction, was beginning to ache. But that's really down to the PSP's design rather than something you can blame on any individual game. We also found that some of the harder simulation settings were nearly impossible on the PSP because assistance on such things as speed is needed more on the handheld.

That aside, the two editions seem to play out almost identically, although we didn't get to try out the PSP's ad hoc wireless multiplayer mode, which could turn out to be a lot of fun. Based on our experience, a race weekend could take anywhere from 20 minutes upward to complete and depends on how many of the various practice sessions you take part in, but if your PSP gaming session doesn't stretch to that, there are also plenty of quicker modes to play. A time attack can last just a few minutes, which is perfect for short trips on the bus. While taking up a lap that's been paused midway might throw you off course a bit, it's not a big problem to try to pause, but only when you're on a straight. So far, the handheld version of the game mirrors the PS2 edition in that it's accessible and fun. The game's nearly ready to ship and will be released later this month, so check back later for a full review of the game.