The Big Race

Gamers are used to waiting, it's a fact of life. Big name games are so complex now that they can take years to develop. Well, when we say years, we sort of mean one or two. Maybe even three if it's a particularly tricky project.

Gran Turismo on the PSP has been in development for more than five (count 'em!) years years. It was first announced way back in May 2004 and a series of delays and a trickle of information has kept us all thoroughly frustrated ever since. It better be good after all that development time. We'll come back to the question of whether or not it's any good in a moment, first let's take a look at exactly what you'll be getting for your money.

Disk or Download?

The game is available as both a UMD release and a download for the new PSP Go. It features an enormous amount of gameplay for a title that's been squeezed into a little over a gigabyte of memory. That said, it's not quite the full GT experience that players of previous console versions might be expecting as it's been significantly retooled to fit on the portable.

One thing's for sure, GT PSP is every inch the real driving simulator that Gran Turismo is supposed to be. At its heart, the series has always been about enabling players to climb inside the cockpit of hundreds of stunning sports cars and 'feel' exactly what it's like to drive them, and that is totally true of this version of the game. There are a staggering 800 vehicles featured, which is all the more surprising when you take into account that they all handle realistically and in their own unique way. Also, supercar fans will be particularly pleased as the roster includes vehicles from top marques Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bugatti.

35 Course Feast

GT PSP is no slouch when it comes to challenges either. Somehow developer Polyphonal Digital has managed to crowbarred in 35 courses, all of them playable in reverse providing a total of 70 tracks. Even on the PSP this remains a big, big game.

One of the reasons given for the long development time was the difficulty the developers had in getting everything into such a small space, memory-wise. And indeed, when you're dealing with a driving game that's more of a simulator than an arcade racer, it's easy to imagine the scale of the problem.

So something had to give. First off there's no damage model so trashing cars is not a pleasure you'll be able to experience. More importantly, though, there's no career mode. Instead, players simply choose a car, choose a track, decide how many laps they want to race and pick a mode (whether it's Time Trial, Drift or Single Race). In this way the player accrues money and can buy additional vehicles for his garage. If you're not expecting it, this could be a big disappointment, as it doesn't provide any real progression or structured rewards system. But if you treat this not so much as a game, but a comprehensive race simulator, then you're much more likely to appreciate the considerable bang you get for your bucks.

GAME's Verdict

• Enormous number of vehicles
• Loads of tracks
• Realistic handling

• No career mode

Review by: Simon 'Which one's the clutch?' Kirrane
Version Tested: PSP
Review Published: 02.10.09