It's perhaps surprising, in a games market awash with four-wheel racers covering everything from Formula 1 to off-road and ‘street', that there have been so few games given over to motorised two-wheelers. Most of the time there's been a choice between MotoGP and... MotoGP, with SBK very much a late-comer. Now with Black Bean at the helm, SBK is launching for the first time on Xbox 360 and PS3 (as well as PS2, PSP and PC) and attempting to wrench the laurels away from its rivals.

All 12 of the World Superbike Championship circuits are represented (Phillip Island, Salt Lake City, Assen, Valencia, Monza, Donington, Magny-Cours, etc.) as well as the key riders such as Troy Bayliss and Carlos Checa and of course all the competing teams such as Honda, Ducati, Suzuki and Yamaha.

The emphasis in SBK 08 is firmly on riding skills more than just a straight arcade rumble, with plenty of options for (literally) fine-tuning your races. That's not to say there's nothing here for newcomers, as the six race modes include Instant Action, Quick Race and Time Attack (all self-explanatory) in addition to the full-on Race Weekend and Championship. There are also five tutorials to get you up to speed (and accuracy) which cover braking, correct racing lines and even how to distribute your weight. Word of warning here: the tutorials themselves are pretty demanding.

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Preparation for each race is key to your success and so the menu begins in a pit-stop garage where you have the option to make a range of bike setting alterations yourself to springs, gears, chains and tyres, or you can turn to a friendly engineer for advice. If, on the other hand, micromanagement is not your thing, then you can simply go into auto mode and use a suggested optimum setting.

The Championship mode involves several practice and qualifying laps before you try for those all important championship points, and you can set opponent difficulty levels from Amateur to Real. What will also extend the longevity of the game are an additional 20 challenges which could mean performing tricks like wheelies, skids and stoppies as well as riding with no brakes or in pouring rain, plus a 16-person online multiplayer facility.

While the bikes perform realistically enough with plenty of opportunities for skidding off, the graphics are more impressive on the bikes and backgrounds than the riders and fans. There's no customisation possible for bikes or riders, no realistic crash damage and little in the way of intelligent AI reaction from other riders if you start weaving in and out or threatening to bump.

While the music is adequately pounding, there's also a curious lack of atmosphere or sense of occasion for each race. Maybe these issues could be addressed in SBK 09...

SBK 08 is clearly aimed at the dedicated bike racing fan who enjoys endlessly adjusting the optimum levels of his machine, more than the casual observer, and while it accurately reflects the thrills and spills of the Superbike World Championship it needs its own tweaking when it comes to graphics and atmosphere.