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Unlike the licenses, though, there is no room for error in a Challenge. The slightest deviation off of the track will result in an immediate failure, as will a crash or causing your rival to take a spill. Again, this will try the patience of all but the most skilled and talented racers, especially as the horsepower increases and the technical requirements become more important.
Quite simply, many of the challenges become exercises in memorization and mechanical efficiency, often requiring dozens – or more – of attempts until the right racing lines, acceleration/deceleration points, and braking spots are embedded in the recesses of the brain. Just as in the license exercises, though, the successful execution of a challenge brings with it a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment rarely found in the gaming culture. The challenges are not impossible – not in the least – but they will require intense concentration, skill, and the kind of dedication that not all gamers may be willing to exude.
Racin' with the wind
The third major leg of the game – race series – is likely the most enjoyable and unlocks the best bikes the game has to offer. It's not so much that the races are easier to win than the challenges (sometimes they are, often they are not), but it's that the margin of error is significantly larger than other areas of the game. Your races will take place against up to three other riders, a surprisingly small amount considering the wide expanses of many of the tracks. This is quite a disappointment, as it seems like there should be more racers around to mix it up with.
Unlike challenges, a crash in a race is not an automatic failure, rather a slight bump in the road. Upon crashing, your racer will quickly bounce up and hardly lose a mile-per-hour. It's not clear why the “simulation” factor was ratcheted down in the races in this regard, but a hypothesis is that it was done to allow at least one area of the game to be less punitive of mistakes. Speaking of crashes, the animations leave a little to be desired. When you smash up your ride – which will happen a lot - the rag-doll physics of the rider, while present, seem almost halfway done and don't match up with the tremendous speed at which they normally occur. The result is something less than satisfactory for the morbidly curious of us out there.
Between the licenses, challenges, and races, there is a rarely matched level of depth of gameplay, provided you're an avid collector of Japanese (and the occasional European) bikes. The total selection of motorcycles is well over a hundred, all real-life licensed machines. Not only can you make it your life's obsession to obtain each and every one of them, but you can upgrade and tune them to your heart's content. Granted, while the amount of tinkering doesn't go to the level of Gran Turismo, there is a lot of room to monkey with each aspect of every bike you own to get it to just the right feel – assuming you know what you're doing. Adjusting the suspension, brakes, gears, and so on is of little importance in the early going, but becomes critical to success as you move up into the big time.
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