That's a minor gripe, though. We can't knock the weather effects. If you think the game has a shallow learning curve, trying doing a championship in the rain and find out how near impossible it is to stay on your line. They may not bear much resemblance to the real world MX championship tracks, but the 14 circuits include sufficient technical obstacles. This accounts for the relative easiness of controlling the bike; the real learning curve is the ability to complete a circuit without a getoff. Each track has its own unique intricacies, like the tabletop just before the sharp left on Germany's circuit.

This game would be unbeatable if it had a holeshot contest option - the first rider out of the start gate and around the first corner. Getting a good start's all-important here and hooning it out of the start gate is as important in motocross as in a 100m sprint.

Something we found highly impressive about this sim was the attention to detail of the sound effects. Whereas far too many MX games have bikes that sound like a jar of angry wasps, Motocross GP's machines have the throaty warble of a two-stroke engine down pat. You can even hear the stutter during gear changes. The designers have even paid attention to the motocrosser and bike's ergonomics: the rider gets his leg out when taking slow corners, instead of leaning over improbably, and every rut and ripple on the track is hungrily swallowed up by the front suspension while the rider bobs about puppet-like. I think I've just had my first judder.