It is becoming increasingly apparent that automotive games do not belong on the Wii. Aside from obvious exception Mario Kart, there are plenty of examples of poor racing games on the console, and it seems that all of these racing games have the same problem: control. Although Moto GP refrains from the tired “use the Wii-mote as a steering wheel” trap, it nonetheless manages to be yet another example of a poor racing game on the Wii.

For those unfamiliar with the Moto GP series, it has been around for quite awhile, and its latest iteration for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 was fairly good. The series focuses on the world of professional motorcycle racing and has been notable for its precision control scheme. Much like the Forza series, Moto GP is all about accuracy, and whether you love it or hate it, the Moto GP experience is all about hitting those turns just right.

So, you may be wondering how does a series that prides itself on precision work on the Wii? Well, unfortunately, it doesn’t. The Wii’s motion controls just aren’t up to the task, and the thumbstick controls are too vague for real success in the game, but more on that later. Even though the control is bad, there is plenty more to dislike about MotoGP for the Wii.

One thing that was initially impressive to me about this title was the vast number of modes and ways to play. There is a career mode, time trials, training, and an exhibition mode. However, upon entering all of these modes, I noticed something rather precarious: they all seemed to be the same. While the HUD changes during these different modes, highlighting checkpoints in the “challenge” mode or showing you your time status during time trial, the modes all feature the same tracks, and the gameplay doesn’t change at all. Though it can be argued that most automotive games suffer from little to no variation, Moto GP takes this weakness to new heights, and playing through each different mode is painfully boring.

Modes aside, another big problem with MotoGP is the visuals. Pretty much everything about this game’s look screams last-gen, from the blocky-looking bikes to the virtually empty track landscapes. The one passable area of the visuals is the animations, but these are just not enough to make up for all of this game’s more obvious visual shortcomings.

The audio in this title isn’t half bad, and the half that isn’t bad happens to be the music. The game opens with some rockin’ tunes, and the menu music is actually pretty good. However, the problem is that outside of the beginning of the game and during the actual racing modes, all you can hear is the sound effects, which happen to be awful. From the plunking transmission to the monotonous sounds of the engine, the effects in this title are grating to listen to.