Harder than it looks.
First off, it's important to mention that if you're going to get complete enjoyment out of this particular title, you're going to need to commit to it. This isn't an arcade-type racer that you can pick up and instantly play with friends, and you're not going to get a good experience out of it from jumping into a quick race and messing around on occasion. SBK-08 is more on the simulation side of things, and the bikes handle realistically, meaning that having some understanding of how to corner and such would probably come in handy. Of course, there are tutorials and tips to help out those who aren't as knowledgeable on the subject of superbike handling, and taking the time to really pay attention to these helpful parts of the game are important, because otherwise the experience will come off as twitchy and frustrating as you drive into the annoying 'grass-that-slows-you-down-ridiculously' because you went slightly off course, throwing you into last place once again.
Like any racing game, there are a number of modes for you to acquaint yourselves with, including the standard Championship mode which handles similarly to what it would in real-life competition, requiring you to qualify for important races and earn points throughout a season of racing to earn your rightful #1 position. This is easily the biggest part of the game, and is where you'll spend most of your time - especially if you have a passion for modifying your bike as much as humanly possible. The second main draw card to the game is the Challenges that are available, which offer a number of specific tasks which you must complete such as catching up and defeating a particular racer or successfully complete a part of the track in a difficult time limit. Combining these with your standard racing game modes like Quick Race, Time Trial and the like, there is a fair amount to keep you busy for a long period of time.
Smooth.
Back to the modification of your bike; there are plenty of options in SBK-08 to tune your vehicle to be the high-powered beast that you want it to be, allowing you to change all sorts of things from gears to tyres, and from steering options to brakes. There is a high level of customization here, and even though it'll be a little confusing at first for newcomers, anybody with an interest in tuning motorbikes (or even cars) in real life will be right at home playing with and adjusting the multiple areas required to really make the most out of every race. If you are going into this area without much pre-existing knowledge (and don't worry, you're not alone), your helpful on-screen engineer buddy will happily offer you tips and suggestions to help you along the way, which can be a blessing. Then, if you really don't care at all, you can just have the bike set itself up to a reasonable standard automatically, which saves you from bothering altogether.
SBK-08 is certainly not the most impressive visual or aural experience, but it does the job for the most part. Riders themselves look detailed, as do the bikes, and they animate realistically as you take corners, put on the brakes or stray off course. The tracks themselves don't vary much, but are realistic to their real-life counter-parts. That being said, this is a simulation experience and there's only so much you can do when most tracks consist of pavement, grass and dirt, but still it would have been nice to see some variety. The crowd is also fairly unimpressive, featuring the cardboard cut-out style crowd that we love to hate; so we're very thankful that at least when creating the game, they got the vehicles and racing animations spot on. The umbrella girls at the start of each race also look Children-of-the-Corn creepy and are barely life-like, but replays of each race are at least watchable due to the fact that only highlights are shown rather than the entire race from start to finish, which, let's face it, gets a little bit boring at the best of times in any racing game.
Get ready...
SBK-08: Superbike World Championship is not the kind of casual experience some people might be hoping for, but it does cater perfectly to a particular market who love their superbikes and everything about them. Even simulation racing fans in general will find something to like here, with a high level of simulation and plenty of modifications that can be made. Unfortunately, if you don't bother to take the tutorials and tips on offer and just jump straight into the racing experience, you'll find the game challenging - probably to the point of frustration, and many won't have the patience to properly learn the ins and outs of the experience. The game is challenging, and it certainly isn't the prettiest looking game on the market, despite being passable, so the biggest problem this game may find is that it's too realistic for most gamers, and potentially must less accessible. If you like superbikes though, this is probably one of the better options available on your current generation consoles.
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