Archive - Nov 2007

On Tuesday, the final MotoGP test of the 2007 season will start at Jerez before the long winter test ban sets in. And the Spanish track will see some of the most significant pieces of the 2008 season puzzle make their debut, and giving MotoGP fans a first taste of what next year is likely to hold.

The MTV show about Nicky Hayden's 2006 and 2007 season, The Kentucky Kid, generated a lot of interest throughout the world, but so far, viewers outside the US were out of luck. Now, MTV have put the show on their website, so that international viewers can see it as well.

Watch The Kentucky Kid over at MTV.com

Thanks Jupiter Lovejoy

This will likely appear to be a paid commercial for a video game. Sorry for that, but I assure you, it isn't. Rather, I beg your indulgence to consider one of the best ways to keep your mind racing while the sport is on its long hiatus. As I sit to write this, the game is at least a year-and-a-half old, and it was probably considered outdated when I started playing it just under a year ago. I insist that you trust me: this is much more than simply a video game with which you can avoid reality and otherwise escape being productive.

Tourist Trophy was a product developed, in conjunction with the last generation of Gran Turismo for the PlayStation 2 platform. GT4, like its predecessors, was the best vehicle dynamics simulation available (prior to PS3 and GT5) without a race team contract or a manufacturer's super-computer. This point alone, could be labored over for an entire column, and certainly has been elsewhere, so I will not do that here. Suffice to say, Tourist Trophy picks up in the GT4 world with a physical model for motorcycles that hasn't existed anywhere in the public. Said another way: to be any good at this, you must actually know how to ride and race at a rather cerebral level.

If you are already familiar with Gran Turismo, then I don't have to sell you any more than this. Better yet, if you are familiar with GT4, then you are already prepared for much of the circuits you will see in Tourist Trophy. And, if you are already a veteran - or even a novice - of TT, please read on and consider if there isn't more to do.