Not Perfect, But The Best Gameplay Out There For Bike Racing
First off, main updates from MotoGP 3 include all the racers and bikes from the 125cc and 250cc classes, as well as updated 2004 season bikes and teams in the MotoGP class, which allows you to have access to all the 4-stroke 990cc machines, whereas MotoGP 3 was still mostly 2-stroke 500cc bikes. The games release was also delayed FOREVER for the addition of online gameplay.
First and foremost this game is a bike racing SIMULATION. If you want to crash 16 times and still win the race, or do burnouts, or jumps or smash into the surrounding scenery go buy Burnout, or Midnight Club.
The physics are the most realistic I've found of any motorcycle game. I own Tourist Trophy, TT Superbikes, MotoGP 2 and 3, as well as RS Riding Spirits and MotoGP 4 takes the cake. If you cook the throttle too much in the corner, you'll spin the tire up and high-side yourself to oblivion. If you go into the corner too hot on the brakes, you'll tuck the front, and low-side into the gravel. The gameplay is realistic too - crash and kiss the race-win goodbye, pull-out a couple tenths per lap and you'll have a couple tenths per-lap lead, no stupid catch-up where you're clearly faster but the AI is still right behind you no matter what your laptime is. Another cool feature is if you're on pace, you'll run lap times right in the vicinity of what the actual bikes made on the actual circuits back in '04. The gameplay is much better then Tourist Trophy where the whole time I felt like I was playing Grand Turismo, just my car looked like a bike - the physics were almost identical.
The controls are fully customizable so you can change the brake and throttle controls from the buttons to the joysticks which is the ONLY WAY to master this game, because if you leave it to the buttons it's all-or-nothing and you'll just crash constantly, because you need partial throttle/brake in order to really compete. For instance if you get the partial throttle down you can light up the tire just right and powerslide the rear all the way through the corner - really fun to do.
The graphics and sound effects haven't improved much from MotoGP 3. This is slightly dissapointing seeing us how in Toursit Trophy the bikes look fantastic - They really set the bar. Graphics in 4 are slightly better then 3, but not much.
The best part is the game has the potential for HOURS of gameplay. With three difficulty settings and a host of realism options like manually shifting the weight of ur rider front or back, brake assist, etc. There's a challenge mode with over 100 unlockable challenges as well. What's more is if you go hardcore with the game and do Full-Simulation in career mode you start off your career with a 125cc bike and do a 16 round championship. For each round you can choose to do the actual race distance which is anywhere from 20-30 laps and takes about 45 minutes a race. So if you have 3 bike classes x 16 rounds per season x 45 minutes a race - You do the math - that's a lot of gameplay.
This is getting lengthy so in short - if you're looking for realism in a motorcycle racing game look no further. If you don't have the patience and want an arcade style game, keep looking - because you'll get pissed off at the realism and call the game what the reviewers above did. If you're a fan of MotoGP you won't be dissapointed, the gameplay isn't anything drastically different from 3, but if you're like me you'll want the game just for the updated bikes/teams/riders (although "updated" is just that - as the teams are still 2 years old at this point) My choice for best motorcycle race game for PS2 hands down