... So, if you are looking at this product, you are probably wondering if this thing is worth a couple hundred bucks, or if it is going to end up sitting in your garage collecting dust along with that old Nordictrak skier and assorted other gear. I can't answer you that one over the long term (yet), but I can vouch for the fact that after 6 weeks, I am still enjoying this product and I enjoy jumping on the bike and racing for 30 minutes or so.
I've owned plenty of exercise equipment over the years. Heck, I even have a recumbant stationary bike set up in another room, which, I NEVER use. Why? Because its not fun. I don't particularly enjoy exercise... maybe some people love going out for a run, or jumping on the treadmill or something, but thats not me. Too boring. On the other hand, I also have zero desire to join a gym. Why would I want to spend a bunch of money on something that I don't want to do in the first place. If I had to work out I'd much rather do it in the time that it would take me to drive down to the gym and back again. At home, I can finish my exercise in the time that I would spend in my car... what sense does it make to spend twice as much time to do something that I don't really want to do in the first place, and to spend extra money on it to boot? Anyway, I've always enjoyed gaming, and this looked like it might bring a little bit of fun to something that I don't particularly enjoy.
So I took the plunge and ordered the Gamebike, which I've been thinking about getting for a long time. After muddling through the Eng-rish directions and getting the thing set up, I popped in a game and jumped on. I quickly learned that the original Gran Turismo might not be the best game to start out with on the bike as I was oversteering and fishtailling all over the track. After learning how to make the steering a bit less sensitve on the bike, I did quite a bit better. Before I knew it, I had spent 30 mins racing.
The fact is, the Gamebike is fun, and the best part is variety is just a used 5-10 dollar Playstation game away. There are tons of used games on Amazon for super cheap, and you can spend hours on any given game. The two games that I've spent the most time with so far are Need for Speed: High Stakes (PS1), and Splashdown (PS2).
A couple of Tips that I discovered to help you choose good games:
- Games with longer courses/races are much more enjoyable than those with short/fast races. You want to spend most of your time on the track, not in menus/options.
- Don't try to play PS1 games in your PS2 using the gamebike... the controls get "wonky". If you want to play PS1 games, pull out your old PS1 or buy a used one and the Gamebike will work just fine. I have not spend a ton of time verifying this, but it was true for a couple of games I tried it with.
- Racing games that require precision controlling probably aren't your best choice. Its a lot harder to pedal like mad and negotiate a precision corner with the handlebars than it was to sit on a beanbag, hit the x button and feather the stick.
So, is the gamebike perfect? No. Improvements could certainly be made imo, like putting L1, L2, R1 and R2 where they belong (they are small buttons on the face of the attached controller, very non-intuitive), and/or adding in the rumble feature to the handlebars... but all in all, I think buying it was money well spent. You could spend half as much for a magnatrainer + PC cable, but then you get no steering and nowhere near the amount of fun games to play. I like Warcraft as much as the next guy, but "running" around the world using "pedal power" doesn't exactly strike me as incredibly fun. The Gamebike just makes more sense to me, it brings you into the game. The first time you overtake an opponent at the finish line, you'll know why this was worth the cash. ...
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