Overall, I'm liking TT-IOM a lot, there's extremely good potential here, but there are some fundamental problems if it's supposed to be a simulation.
I just spent a whole day around TT-IOM. On and off, up and down, changing and testing things, over and over. It's very addictive, very challenging. Also very frustrating, in the way that it makes me feel like it got so close, yet completely missed the mark on important things.
First, there is no bike setup adjustment (at least, none that I can find), which is kind of missing a big point in this sort of racing, specifically with these machines.
The real racebikes featured in this sim/game are production based, sure, but even if IRL some things are limited (individual gear ratios are not allowed to be changed, nor the swing-arm pivot, correct me if I'm wrong), all these motorcycles allow immense adjustments overall.
But nope... not in the game.
This sim/game is really missing (and needs) setup adjustment for:
- Suspension settings (front and rear), not only spring/damping compression and rebound, but also F/R ride height (which also drastically affects weight distribution!).
- Final transmission ratios (various sprocket ratios, longer and shorter final transmission, to better adjust for different tracks/sections)
- Braking strength adjustment. Like IRL, some prefer the brakes to be abrupt/sensitive, others like them very smooth/progressive (achievable through different pads, discs and master-cilinders).
- Engine mapping. Even if not adjustable "on the go" (from the bike, on track, as these actually have in most cases now), at least make different power/torque curves available as choice for the rider, in the setup (a reality for many years now).
- Different tyre brands and compounds (Michelin, Dunlop, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Conti, Metz, etc), again, like IRL. Not only adding to realism, it would also create small variations on grip/behaviour, and differentiate things positively, as bike variety per class is limited.
As side note, not sure if tyre pressures are a necessity here, but could also be good to have.
Second, not sure if things are to be drastically changed physics-wise in future patches (hopefully will), but there are some really weird things going on:
-
The rear brake does not really work as intended. This is nothing like in reality, at all.
Although it can help balancing your braking, and is of very limited braking-power capabilities (like in real life), it has this problem in that, if you press the rear brake, it's also as if you pressed the clutch (?????).
(note, if in doubt, try accelerating, then lean back and give a quick "on/off" press on the rear brake = almost a pop-up wheelie!)
Which also reminds me... there is no clutch command/button.... Why not?
-
The engine braking seems way exaggerated, especially so for these racebikes.
All these motorcycles (note, even at standard road trim) include a slipper-clutch (also known as a
back-torque limiter), which is a specialised clutch made exactly to mitigate the effects of engine braking when riders decelerate.
In the game, if trying to decelerate from, say, 14.500 rpms on one of the SuperSport bikes, issues often arise. Worse even when downshifting to lower gears. But it's quite OK below, say, 10.000 rpms.
IMHO, it should naturally allow for downshifting from the highest revs (like IRL), and it doesn't - it wrongly locks, then spins(!) the rear like a car.
If it's a matter of creating an artificial difficulty, then please introduce optional damage, such as in the engine (on the gearing make gears "break", create engine wear by introducing engine temps, etc). I'm absolutely all for this. Then one can be (rightfully) punished for abusing high-revs and insane downshifting. But not like this, please.
All in all, I'm in love with the concept, the overall feeling, the tracks, the graphics, even the sounds, the sense of speed, the game modes (career mode is a must and yes it's there, etc, etc), but I'm unsure if TT-IOM will become one of these cult-game cases, for which there's a general allure that has to do with the challenging nature of the presented difficulty, and not so much with the absolute realism (which it hasn't, yet).
GPL had this issue on its inception, but at least people could create and share individual car setups to circumvent the unnatural (unrealistic) difficulty seen with the cars driving/behaviour.
With TT-IOM, unfortunately, you can not do this (change/adjust bike setups) and it should have been made possible.