Gunning it quickly from the starting grid, I begin to wheelie while trying to control the beast that screams with power beneath me. Hurtling down the track towards the first bend I notice I'm a little too close to the race leader; our tyres touch, I fly though the air like a trapeze artist, but sans grace and a safety net. My body hits the tarmac and my bike betrays me, speeding off into the distance alone. Here I am again, back in last place.

These are the sorts of thrills and spills that SBK-08 Superbike World Championship is going to put you through. Developed by Milestone Inc. and published by Black Bean, this addictive new racing game requires that you have your wits about you at all times, as you race through championships and tournaments in search of the podium. Adorned by scantily clad pit girls and realistic simulation physics, it is most certainly a game that all motorbike racing fans will enjoy.

SBK-08 is similar to the Forza games in many ways, not the least of which is its complex system for tuning every aspect of your machine to squeeze those extra few drops out of it to defeat your competitors. While this is most certainly an aspect that the hardcore will enjoy, it remains to be seen whether the casual gamer will really be able to - or want to - spend a long time making sure that their superbike is in the optimum configuration for victory. Fortunately, however, Milestone were smart enough to realise that not everyone will be interested in the tuning aspect of SNK-08 and so they've included an auto-tune option that takes care of the need for too much tinkering. Also for those who are unsure of the finer aspects of tuning, they've provided a mechanic who you can chat with, to get the low down on what everything does, making the process much more approachable for the masses.

The simulation aspects don't end there, either; the bike handling, AI and telemetry all lend an air of authenticity to a game that will please hardcore and casual players alike. The inclusion of choice between difficulty levels was another intelligent way of making the game more approachable to gamers of all different skills and ages - you can choose between Basic, Arcade, Advanced, Simulation, Extreme or even customising your own rules and options depending on how hard you want it to be. You can also choose the skill of your opponents, from Rookie to Realistic, but lower difficulty levels cause the abilities of the computer to be laughable and usually the race is over and decided before you've even taken the first corner. This is mainly due to the fact their vehicles max out at much slower speeds than yours, so you simply glide comfortably past them to win the affections of the pit girls while feeling pretty smug in the process.

You can try your hand at reaching the podium in multiple modes from race weekends to championships, but you're better off starting with instant action races to get into the swing of things, due to the pointless tutorial. It's apparent that Milestone hasn't grasped that a tutorial mode is supposed to be a helpful tool for gamers to learn the controls and get a feel for the game; they've provided a frustrating challenge-based scheme, asking you to jump through all sorts of hoops instead of slowly and reassuringly introducing you to the world of superbike racing. These tutorial tasks would be more at home within the Challenge mode, which is full of special scenarios such as having to accomplish a photo-finish where you win with a competitor just a few inches behind you. The only real point to these challenges, apart from adding to your gamerscore with an achievement, is to unlock playing cards that range from giving you real life videos of Superbike races to snapshots of the pit girls.

The attractiveness of the pit girls is unfortunately not carried over into the graphics of SBK-08, due to the lacklustre scenery that's rendered rather abysmally. 2D trees and an inadequate environment contrast with an otherwise well-designed track that looks worn and realistic. The bikes and riders look decent enough but at times they're blocky and stiff, lacking fluid animation. One unforgivable aspect of SBK-08 is that while including so many simulation aspects, the bikes do not get visibly damaged whatsoever - even when going straight into a wall (something I had quite a bit of experience with, I might add). Even worse is the cardboard cut out crowd, which reminds me of days gone by on much less advanced systems and totally ruins any believability. Though the inanimate crowd's cheering does little to rescue them from their ridiculous fate, the other sounds in SBK-08 are quite impressive. The realistic noises streaming from the bikes helps to create a tiny bit of immersion and make you feel bad ass as you switch through the gears, feeling the immense speed and power of the machines.

The speed of the bikes can definitely be felt in the different racing views available, even if there are too many of them. You have a choice of plenty of different views, including three first person views with the bike handles right up close or further back and higher than the bike looking down. The inclusion of these first person views is pretty ineffectual because you can barely see far enough to make sense of the track when you're so low down. Use one of these views and you'll most likely spend most of the race peeling your charred remains off the track after more than a few nasty crashes. My recommendation is to stay in the third person views, so you have a snowball's chance in hell of actually seeing the corner before you're covered in grass stains!

The handling of the bikes is very realistic, with every wobble and slide making skidmarks on the track as well as in your underpants, as you defy physics while tearing round each course. The feedback through controller vibration helps you to make better decisions when approaching corners and know if you're just a little bit over the edge. All in all you have to buckle yourself in tight to the couch and hold on in your quest for glory.

Once you're done destroying the AI racers and have finished spitting on them from atop the podium, you'll certainly find more of a challenge online. There's a good chance you'll encounter very skilled superbike aficionados who have spent a while accurately tuning their vehicles so they can leave you crying and spluttering in their dust. The lobby system does little to help those who aren't pro racers realise what they're in for, as no information is displayed telling you what settings the host has chosen. This means that sometimes you'll be racing on lower difficulty levels with plenty of help from the game and in others you'll be shaving your backside on the tarmac because it is set to extreme conditions. Whichever way you decide to get into the action, you'll suffer an annoying wait time due to load times, but something confusing is that the game usually saves itself even when you haven't done anything but change menu screen. The menus are also a cause for concern because they don't seem to have had much though put into them, being simple in look and not very appealing. Milestone could have done a much better job by employing the use of the nice graffiti style graphic you see upon loading the game; it's not a big deal, but the menu system does feel a bit basic.

Whilst SBK-08 Superbike World Championship will definitely appeal to fans of superbike racing due to its advanced options and simulator aspects, but it will probably end up leaving the more casual gamers behind because they'll easily be able to beat the game on the lower difficulty levels and then not bother tuning their bikes or playing harder settings. If racing at high speeds on a flimsy deathtrap is your thing then you won't be disappointed by SBK-08, but while it's a solid racer, it's not slick or well rounded enough to knock the established MotoGP series from pole position for two-wheel racing.

Reviewed by Andrew Howells for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).