MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3

Many agree there’s nothing like having a powerful machine throbbing between your legs. Climax, the aptly named UK developer, seems to share this sentiment, as it gears up the latest instalment of MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3 (URT3).

URT3 is the third in a series of slick bike racing games that let you re-enact the death-defying, knee-down pleasures of MotoGP superbike racing. Like its predecessors, this instalment has the difficult task of combining a good level of realism with extreme speed – and the formula is successful.

Our first response to URT3 was one of exhilaration as we hurtled around the tracks at breakneck speeds. You’ll have to consider when to lean left or right to improve cornering, or lean forwards or backwards to reduce or increase drag.

You’ll even have to measure the use of front and rear brakes. Rely too heavily on the front brake and you’ll hurtle over the handlebars, use too much rear brake and you’ll slide.

If the uniquely unforgiving handling characteristics of a MotoGP bike are too demanding for you, the game also features an Extreme Mode. This may be considered blasphemous to hardcore MotoGP fans, but it provides inexperienced gamers with a more forgiving racing experience.

Here there’s no need to worry about which brake you’re applying, how far you’re leaning or whether going across the grass instead of the tarmac will leave you in a full body cast.

Bike racing games may seem like the poor cousin of car-based racers, but URT3 definitely deserves a look. It features all the bikes, characters and attention to detail you’d expect from an officially licensed game, and is a lot of fun to play.

System requirements
1GHz processor
128MB of Ram
Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
32MB video card with Transform & Lighting