SBK X: Superbike World Championship

Simulation also has its own set of modes, including Championship and Race Weekend, but whereas the arcade Story Mode was a bit limp, Career Mode is the real deal. You create your own rider from a handful of premade faces and rider styles, before heading into a menu system built around a small office - presumably one that gets bigger as you win races. After signing with Race Junior for the Superstock 1000 in my case, it's off to Valencia for the first race of the season.

Milestone wants to create a career mode that doesn't get bogged down with superfluous staff management, sticking to the rider's perspective. During pre-race preparation you can set up the bike yourself, taking into consideration variables like steering rake angle and suspension preload, or if you love riding but aren't much of a gear head then you can have a Technical Meeting with your chief engineer.

This, it turns out, is a detailed multiple-choice conversation where you can discuss any issues after a few laps during a free practice session. So if you say, "the bike continues to weave and slide, especially while I'm braking," the engineer says, "I will decrease the rake and the trail in order to modify the front, I will also reduce the preload and make the shock-absorber softer and have a lighter load." You can test these changes to see whether they improve your lap telemetry data.

Weather can also change on the fly, with the possibility of traction being lost mid-race should it rain and the track conditions changing as the race progresses, so if all the bikes keep hitting the same sweet spot through a tight corner the rubber build-up will gradually become more noticeable. It's not clear yet how much this affects racing, but it will be interesting to see how much impact the system has on those who ride in full simulation.

For long-time World Superbike Championship devotees, the recently announced SBK X Special Edition will be of particular interest due to the additional Legends class. Pierfrancesco Chili is in there, along with last year's champion Ben Spies, and of course King Carl himself. Watching Carl Fogarty play a few laps of SBK X as his in-game persona - ironically enough on Philip Island - and then speaking to him afterwards, it's clear he's not much of a gamer. But we do believe him when he says how surprised he was at the authenticity of the game.

So far SBK X is shaping up to be a motorcycle game that pleases both sides of the fence without making any noticeable compromises. The Simulation experience is aimed at the loyal fanbase, taking another step forwards in the name of motorcycle racing realism in addition to a host of new features, whereas the new Arcade mode offers casual accessibility to a classically hardcore series.

One thing that is clear is that Capcom turned out a much more visually impressive game in MotoGP 09/10 than SBK X, which is functional but unremarkable. But the thing that strikes me throughout the day with SBK is how passionate Milestone is about what it does. The team may be relatively small, but the Italian studio isn't lacking in ambition behind the scenes, and seems to genuinely care about bringing the excitement of superbike racing to anyone who's prepared to try it. On this evidence, that may make all the difference.