Tourist Trophy (video game)

Modes

The "Riding Form" option is available in both Arcade Mode (AM) and TT Mode (TTM).

Arcade mode

Before the race, the user can choose among four Riding Form presets: "Lean Body", "Neutral", "Lean Bike" and "Motard/Dirt". Lean Body focuses on quick cornering, Neutral focuses on handling, and Lean Bike is about slow cornering. The particular Motard form with the leg off is the Dirt position dedicated to Enduro and Naked bike riding; however, the user is free to use it on all bikes. This mode is named after the mode in related series Gran Turismo of the same name.

TT mode

The user can enter the Garage Riding Form settings with up to four fully customizable forms to record. They are saved as "Form A", "Form B", "Form C" and "Motard/Dirt". Each one has eleven unique parameters and four presets: "Neutral", "Lean Body", "Lean Bike" and "Motard/Dirt" from which to choose. Fully adjustable parameters are "Head Roll Angle", "Head Pitch Angle", "Torso Roll Angle", "Torso Yaw Angle", "Body Lean (Full Bank)", "Arm Angle", "Seat Position (Forward/Back)", "Lateral Slide", "Vertical Slide", "Leg Angle" and "Body Lean (Upright)".

Tourist Trophy's default setting is "Normal". Using the Normal setting, the player can perform maneuvers such as the "wheelie" and the "stoppie" on powerful bikes. These possibilities are disabled with the "Professional" setting. Enabling the Professional feature will enhance the simulation aspect as well as the difficulty level, over the arcade-oriented Normal. Professional riding is supposed to allow a more realistic experience with autonomous upper body control (as the "Tuck" manual function is enabled), and a separated front/rear brake control is added over the rear+front brake default system.

Semi-pro mode

The Semi-Pro Mode is an exclusive feature of the North American edition. Other options enhancing difficulty are the "Strict Judgment"—a 10-second slow down penalty as seen in Gran Turismo 4—and the famous "Best Line" optional display.

Photo mode/best shot

Unedited screenshots can be taken from a race replay and saved on a memory card or connected USB flash drives, like in Gran Turismo 4. This function is known in the game as "Best Shot". Using various replay angles as a digital camera, the game is able to produce a selection of screenshots with variable compression rate (Normal/Fine/SuperFine) and size (up to 1280x960/72 dpi). The user can choose to save or print with an Epson compatible USB printer, or display it on TV using the Musical Diaporama feature. Saved game screenshots can be exchanged with friends or made public on the Internet. Unlike Best Shot, the "Photo Mode"'s parameters are fully adjustable and it gives the user the opportunity to entirely set photographs. The user can tune various parameters such as camera angle or course section. Formatting the USB device in Photo Mode/Best Shot will create the "DCIM/100PDITT" folder/subfolder allowing Tourist Trophy to store, upload and download game picture files generated under the form "IMG_00X.JPG". Standard USB 2.0 flash drives (including MP3 players, mobile phones and pendrives) can be used to manage game JPEG files instead of the official I-O Data model.

Replay/ghost

The USB flash drive can host Tourist Trophy Replay/Ghost files downloaded from either the official game website or a fan site. It can also be used to exchange files with a friend's USB device. Once the files are in the flash drive, the user can upload them from within the game in order to compete with a Ghost ("Time Attack") or to watch a Replay ("Theater"). Each file can be used as Replay or as Ghost. The first Replay/Ghost files released on the Japanese site featured a Famitsu journalist, Japanese pro rider and Tourist Trophy test rider Satoshi Tsujimoto, and Tourist Trophy producer Kazunori Yamauchi. Formatting the USB device from Theater Mode will create the "PDI" folder allowing Tourist Trophy to store, upload and download files generated under the form "replay.dat". Standard third-party USB devices are also compatible with "REPLAY.DAT" files.

Challenge mode/race event

Unlike Gran Turismo games, Tourist Trophy doesn't contain any money system. The player has to obtain licenses ("License School") in order to complete various missions ("Challenge Mode") and obtain bikes that will be used and tuned to compete in the Championships series ("Race Event").

Tourist Trophy's "Race Event" (TTM) core mode requires a license gained after completing riding lessons on a 250cc Yamaha TW225 off-road bike. Being successful on License School will unlock upper class "License Cards" (TTM), new bikes (AM/TTM), extra "Riding Gear" items (TTM), new tracks (AM), and extra makers (AM/TTM). Winning Challenge Mode will make new bikes available in the Garage (TTM). Beating Race Events will unlock a bonus 23rd Race Event, extra bikes (AM/TTM), new tracks (AM/TTM) and a classic bike (TTM). Completing the game will unlock the "Ending Movie" and add the "Clover Crown" ending theme in the "Music Theater" (AM/TTM).

Development

Polyphony Digital reused the physics engine, graphical user interface and all but one of the circuits found in Gran Turismo 4. However, the number of AI racers (computer-controlled opponents) has been reduced from five in the Gran Turismo series to only three. Tourist Trophy also uses the License School feature that was popularized by the Gran Turismo series, as well as the Photo Mode introduced in Gran Turismo 4. The B-spec mode, which appeared in Gran Turismo 4, was removed from Tourist Trophy.

The motorcycle selection covers a broad range of modern motorcycles, including scooters, Enduro, Motard, Sport bikes and Naked bikes, as well as versions modified for racing ("race modified"). The developers have recreated 135 motorcycles from 124 cc up to 1670 cc, including both road and race versions from the 1960s up to 2005. The racers are divided into categories: the semi-licensed, race-tuned versions ("race modified") and the official, fully licensed 2005 Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race bikes. Motorcycles from all major manufacturers are included as well as two specialized Japanese tuners, Moriwaki and Yoshimura, that appear in the list of manufacturers once "unlocked".

While wet, dirt and reverse classic GT4 racing conditions, and French tracks such as Circuit de la Sarthe have been removed; a unique course was specially created for Tourist Trophy. The Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo is an official track appearing in the Superbike World Championship and MotoGP. It is also used extensively as a test circuit during the off season. This track has appeared again in Gran Turismo Portable (as this track also appearing in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and World Touring Car Championship) but has been removed from Gran Turismo 5 (original info: Polyphony Digital originally planned to continue to add this track into GT5, but they decided to cancel this plan for unknown reasons).

A new concept appearing in Tourist Trophy is the "Riding Gear" (named "Closet" in the Asian editions). The player can earn ("unlock") and collect 186 different riding accessories for their character, including different helmets, gloves, boots or shoes, pants, one-piece racing suits and jackets commercially available from more than a dozen manufacturers (Simpson, Vanson Leathers, Alpinestars, Arai, Shoei, Kushitani, RS Taichi, Dainese, AGV, Lewis Leathers, Bell, SPIDI, and XPD). Up to four different combinations can be saved, including two racing leather suits and two casual outfits.

Original soundtrack

The Tourist Trophy original game soundtrack was released on March 15, 2006 by For Life Music Entertainment.

Track listing

1. "I against a speed" (Short Mix) – 3:14
2. "Discommunication" (Short Mix) – 3:32
3. "Who I am?" (Short Mix) – 3:46
4. "Forest" (Short Mix) – 8:00
5. "Fiber Optics" (Sun Paulo Remix) – 11:10
6. "Five Silver Rings" – 2:36
7. "Mystery" – 2:20
8. "Low Sky" – 2:30
9. "Mind Visions" – 2:31
10. "Introduction" – 2:34
11. "Far West" – 2:45
12. "Blue on Black" – 2:52
13. "Your Soul" – 2:23
14. "Take Your Soul" – 2:04
15. "Inside My Love" – 2:07
16. "Peaces of Mind" – 2:32
17. "OKINAWA WIND" – 3:00
18. "BRAZILIAN WIND" – 3:02
19. "CALIFORNIA WIND" – 3:32
20. "Digital Mononoke Beat PT.1" – 3:09
21. "Digital Mononoke Beat PT.2" – 2:49

Reception

In October 2003, Sony Computer Entertainment's announcement of a Polyphony Digital motorcycle racing game generated excitement among Gran Turismo fans, and the debut of Tourist Trophy at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show was met with good reviews.

The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of all four eights for a total of 32 out of 40.

The game won IGN's award for Best PS2 Simulation of 2006.

Remake/Sequel

In a recent interview, Kazunori Yamauchi admitted that he could make another Tourist Trophy game. However, with constant updates to the Gran Turismo series, a new project might not be possible as Yamauchi admitted the franchise is extremely time consuming. Although working on Gran Turismo 6, Polyphony Digital is also considering a new Tourist Trophy game for the PlayStation 4. As of date, no official announcements are made for this yet.