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The supermoto bikes require a very different control style.
I found that the bike will slide as long as the throttle is off, so you get used to braking only with the front wheel to avoid crashing all the time. You can brake quite hard right up to the apex. If you find the excessive sliding is slowing you down or causing you to run wide, apply a tiny amount of throttle - this can help get the rear to stay in line and complete the corner. This is especially true of the faster corners, meaning brake in a straight line and power through. Be aware this can cause clashes with the AI, who are absolute demons on the faster corners.
The delayed input at slow speeds is a real killer. If you go with the adjustable suspension, try adding rear preload / removing front preload. This sharpens up the steering and you can change direction quicker. With the standard suspension, you can get close with equivalent stiffness changes, but this affects corner speed and over- / understeer tendency as well. With the jumps and so on, take your time and make sure your line is accurate, the AI aren't so good at it - often maintaining a constant speed and picking your way through is better than stop-start, purely because of the controls.
Gearing changes are an absolute necessity - you want to be able to slide the bike under power in the lower gears to scrabble out of hairpins. Often it's better to gear so short as to be topping out on the rev limiter at the fastest part of the track, just to be able to accelerate quicker on the slower sections.
As for bike choice, I used the Aprilia. It's a twin, so it's a bit heavier and revs higher, but the handling is probably substantially different from the singles.
