Review: Gran Turismo PSP (PSP)

GT PSP is a game about choices. Before you even play the game, you have to choose which version to buy; will you opt for the more expensive, but faster loading download version, or will you go for the cheaper, but noisier UMD version. Once in the game, you get to choose from over 800 cars, and 35 tracks. Once you've selected the track and vehicle of choice, you'll then have to choose between a plethora of tweaks and changes to make in order to tune it to perfection. To get so much content into the game is an impressive feat, but all this choice comes at a cost.

GT PSP is a game that will unfortunately divide opinion. The box proudly displays the phrase "The Real Driving Simulator", and it strives to be just that. It has realistic physics (though incongruously, no damage), and looks stunning. Each car is bursting with detail, and handles uniquely. The original tracks are well-designed, and the real-life circuits are faithfully recreated. The petrol heads and car enthusiasts will have everything they could ask for. Except one thing... fun.
 
It appears that the focus in GT PSP is not the driving, but collecting all the vehicles the game has to offer. Winning races earns you money to buy the new cars, and this, in some respects,  just feels more like a means to an end, rather than the reason for playing. It's like a Pokémon pitstop, and to catch all the cars on offer will keep you occupied for an incredible amount of time. It's doubtful that your interest will last that long, however, and GT PSP soon becomes repetitive and monotonous. With only four opponents in any race, there's a lack of excitement, and once you're in the lead, the opposition won't put up much of a fight to win it back.

Winning a race on a particular track unlocks harder opponents, and with that, an increased prize fund. The problem is that, as you only ever race cars of a similar spec to the vehicle you choose to drive, there's no real incentive to buy better vehicles. As long as you master the track (and the game will show you, albeit optionally, the perfect racing line and when to brake), you will win the race, no matter what car you choose. The romantic in you may wish to buy vehicles that you've always wanted to own, or ensure your garage contains all the cars you've ever owned, but Gamestyle struggles to see why anyone would want to spend time in collecting all the cars on offer.
 
The game lacks structure, and this is unsettling. A lack of a career mode is not disastrous, but the game soon becomes a tick-box exercise, ensuring you've driven every track in every direction, and bought new cars as soon as they're available from the garages. After you've completed the fairly lengthy (and addicitively entertaining/frustratingly annoying) training mode, you're left to your own devices. There are three game modes (time trials, races, and drift competitions), and GT PSP soon becomes a matter of picking a track, picking a car, winning the race, and then repeat. Gamestyle opted for the UMD version, and the scratchy reading noise soon begins to grate. The load times aren't particularly long, but due to the repetitive nature of the game, you'll encounter periods of waiting far too often. The garage only ever contains four makes of car at one time, and the makes changed after every other race. This means you are constantly returning to the main menu to check the garage, enduring a lengthy save screen in the process, and having to load up the race tracks again when you're done browsing.

The game cries out for an online mode, which again is missing, and Gamestyle wonders how many people will actually play against friends via local wi-fi. Whilst you can set lap times, there's no ability to share these online. You can trade vehicles, but again, only locally. The drift competitions add some variety to the traditional races, but this is short-lived. GT PSP is best epitomised when you drive a Citroen 2CV around the Nurburgring; with a top speed of 60 mph, the time it takes to do just one lap of the 12 mile course feels like an eternity. It's not fun or entertaining in any way, and you must question why on Earth this option was ever included. Obviously, Polyphony have never heard of the adage "quality over quantity".

Gamestyle can't help wonder what Polyphony Digital have been doing for the last five years. The graphics and handling can't be faulted, and the game is one of the best looking titles on the PSP, but strangely, Gran Turismo PSP just feels rushed; a half-hearted attempt at perfection. The number of cars available is quite frankly ridiculous, and the same can be said about the tracks. Offering a decent amount of choice and variety is one thing, but there is a problem when it compromises the amount of fun that can be had while playing.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Chris Thornton