Although I get what you're trying to say I doubt that's the reason, people who randomly shoot in the streets aren't in general being regarded as offering a positive contribution to society either yet doing it in a videogame (GTA for example) is attracting a huge audience.
Hmm, I'm not sure I really meant it like that (although I've actually forgotten precisely what I did mean). It's something to do with biking games not being popular in and of themselves, and that bikers in general aren't "popular" either, so there's no incentive for ("serious") biking games to
become popular.
On the other hand, shooters already are popular (via some mechanism that I was never really witness to), as are car games (ditto). In both of those genres, though, there is the sense of the "core" group (bickering over and failing to agree upon yet still) dictating the "necessary" features and tone of the game, with some portion of the "casual" group aspiring to that in some way - hence the current clamour for absolute realism in every racing game, whether it's relevant or not. Obviously, the more successful games are those that give the
impression that you're hardcore without you having to invest much time or effort to actually "achieve" that (hence trophies / achievements etc. as "recognition"), because that experience is valuable to the vast majority of players. But that's a different matter...
Anyway, that "aspiration" is missing in the general gaming populace for motorbikes, for whatever reason - part of it might be that casual players just don't aspire to like bikes like bikers do. Maybe it's just not very cool, I don't know. But I fail to see how that should be an inherent function of the bikes themselves and not simply a reflection of the cultures at play, and cultures, of course, are far from fixed.
Then there's the matter of tone of the game; Road Rash was a resounding and popular success, and is probably to the likes of a bike sim what a Duke Nukem is to a military sim, or GTA is to one of those city driving almost-games. The fact that you have to take it seriously, to some extent, implies a kind of respect for the subject matter, rather than being "just" a setting for unique and interesting possibilities - although a playable parody like GTA blurs the lines there a bit (not that all players would necessarily notice that.)
I don't think Road Rash demanded respect for bikers or for road safety etc., and neither did Carmageddon for cars or pedestrian safety, because they were just silly, deliberately provocative fantasies, as is GTA (and I love them all dearly for it). To use the popularity of Carmageddon as a barometer for the general public's attitudes towards road safety might be less than wise, of course, so we are agreed on that.
However, this is where GT was so successful, in that it combined a respect for the subject matter with this kind of playful gameyness (that is possibly less apparent in recent iterations than it used to be) and kind of continued the birth of the semi-sim car driving game, and bridging the "coolness gap" to the sims which are so in demand now. Adding bikes to GT, as a separate add-on (with some actual visibility this time), could well do the same for bikes.
Additionally, whilst TT was no real
commercial success (it was seemingly never really treated by PD as though it was expected, or even required to be), the fact that those who played it thought very much that it was something to be expanded upon must speak volumes. After all, it seems to me that it's those games that offer truly compelling gameplay that cause the "core" group to reform their expectations, which then filter down to other groups as above.
For instance, being a PC sim racer at the time, I didn't think much of GT when it came out; that is until I actually played it (and the lack of any real "sim" driving aspects weren't really that important in light of the overall concept of the game, which was so fresh - of course, I'd still prefer that "concept" in a sim framework.)
Arguably, in that sense, bikes deserve more attention than cars, since, if we're to believe GT's detractors, it has become stale in recent years.
), and cultivate an ecosystem of interdisciplinary gamers instead. Thankfully, it seems Kaz has a bit of sway when it comes to money matters, and he's only ever seemed keen on pursuing bikes further. A game like Gran Turismo is perfectly placed to start that transcension of the disciplinary schism, and finally bring peace to the world. Maybe.
