But nonetheless, the game really sucks you in. All the official tracks of the 2008 calendar are recreated here to give the shivers of the original championship. The tracks are more realistic than the predecessor version, taking in account all the bumps and slopes, featuring animated crowds, detailed surroundings (buildings, grandstands, lawns, sand traps, vibrators, etc) and the first night race on Losail circuit. Rain has not been forgotten and comes with a new graphical style, much visible than in MotoGP 07. You can now easily locate every water patch on the road, but only as a visual effect. Unlike Gotham Racing series, here water has no effect in the handling or in the physics system. This time your view will not be distorted anymore by showers of water from the riders in front of you (although it was a realistic effect in MotoGP 07), giving you a clearer view while racing in the rain.

But what sense have all these without a good A.I.. MotoGP series have never shined in this field, featuring an extremely scripted A.I. which always followed the perfect line like a train. In MotoGP 08 the A.I. becomes aggressive using different overtake maneuvers including physical contacts with other opponents or with you. You actually feel that the A.I. is fighting for its position on the grid. The A.I. difficulty is scalable in four levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Champion. The only difference between them is the speed of the opponents, but their behavior is the same in all the four levels. This means that for an unexperienced player even the Medium level can be too much.

Besides the Career mode, Challenges and Multiplayer mode are the ones that can increase the playability of the game. In Challenges you have to unlock exclusive photos by completing special tasks: achieve the fastest lap time with a specific bike, race against a specific rider, win the race in three laps, achieve the fast qualifying time with weak brakes, etc. Multiplayer mode goes through the Gamespy third party application, delivering the same configuration problems as always. But at least after you pass the validation (or subscribe) step, the game runs smoothly with no major delays. Like in Singleplayer, in Multiplayer you have no option to create your own custom rider. So either you choose a default one or race with the one used in your career. But the last option is available only if the server allows you this option.

MotoGP 08 brings back the veridical touch of the series based on the 125cc and 250cc and MotoGP classes and on a more realistic approach regarding physics and handling. Though I'm not sure if this game can be truly considered a simulation, although the gameplay delivers a high amount of realism.