He can't pick the best line and use the condition of the snow to his advantage because the machines mostly run through fresh powder in the virtual world.

But Pallin, who has raced for real full time since 2004, is on the cover of "Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge," a semi-realistic game released in March for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 by Valcon Games.

The sled reacts a bit different, too.

"You have a lot more control" on a real machine, Pallin said. "You turn a lot better. It's not like the game."

His brother, Kyle, has less of a problem with the virtual world. Both Pallins race throughout the winter with Ski-Doo as a sponsor, but Kyle is the video-game player in the house.

Not surprisingly, it was Kyle who figured out how to do the fancy jumps on the sno-cross tracks. It helped them towards the front as Kyle mostly won when the two brothers finally got together to play this month.

While Josh continually pointed out "it's not the same," he was impressed with the graphics.

"It's amazing what they do with the graphics to make it realistic, to make it look like you're right there," he said. "The snowmobiles are very similar to what they really would look like."

The Duluth, Minn., national race track was a little different than the real thing, he said.

No one told Josh he would be on the cover, which lent little hope to the prospect of getting any money for the honor.

"Nothing from it, unfortunately," he said with a smile.

Josh was looking around on eBay one day and happened upon the snowmobiling video game.

"I took a closer look and noticed it was me," he said. "I was shocked. I was pretty excited about it."

The picture is not his face. Rather it's him navigating a curve in Duluth two years ago. The same picture appeared in a Ski-Doo parts catalog.

Both Pallins continue to race for Ski-Doo. They plan to do the same this winter.

"Once September comes around, you get pretty anxious to ride snowmobiles again," Josh said, adding he plans to race "as long as the sponsors will keep sponsoring me and my body holds together."

It's a tough sport and he said he is always sore thanks to holes in the track and the hard landings.

The lack of pain is one advantage to the virtual races.

"It'd be cool to look back in 20 years and tell your kids, 'That's your Dad on the video game,'" Josh said.

Even if the virtual world wasn't his thing.

Editor's note: Juno had no problem winning the first race, beating Josh on a Duluth, Minn. track that didn't resemble what the Pallin brothers normally race on. After what Josh pegged as "beginner's luck," Juno had no more finishes higher than last place.