kerrak

User Score
9.2

Presentation - 9.5
Gameplay - 9.5
Value - 9.0

I'll try to give arguments to those disappointed by some reviews with a handheld gamer point of view.

GT is massively packed with content, has top notch graphics, nice sound, classic gameplay, puts great attention to detail and implements a rather light system to complete your game.

Content - Cars:

800 cars from old classics to newer models. From simple street cars to competition powerhorses. From mainstream car makers to more obscure ones. You’ll want to buy LOTS of them. If you like cars, this is classic Gran Turismo heaven. Newer models are not so present in the game. The list shares a lot of models with Gran Turismo 4 list. Some highlights: Ferrari Enzo, Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Countach. I can’t tell exactly how many unique models there are in the game but with what i’ve seen as a sample, i would say there are easily 600 unique models. I’ve seen some similar models but not that much.

Content - Tracks:

35 unique tracks. City, Circiut, World tracks (fictional) and Snow/Dirt tracks. Some of those can be played inverted, so you have total 60 circuits. This variety makes for much more than you would expect from a handheld game. There is place for all types of driving contexts, and you always have many tracks really suited for each car in the game.

Graphics:

Not much to say. You have to see it to really appreciate it. Suffice to say that it works at 60 fps, silk smooth. You have 4 views: if you want to see other cars in maximum detail use bumper view. If you want to see your car of course use third person camera. If you want to feel more immersion use cockpit view. Even if the cockpit is just a black shade, this is my prefered, because it gives much more sense of speed, acceleration and braking. The other view, from the top, is bad as the car doesn’t move.

Environments are more than good, depending on tracks, tarmac is a bit dull, but cars look awesome. Perfect models with light reflection, suspension and car movement make it look “really real”. There are some occasional small glitches that may distract you but they are not frequent, nor massive and they only appear on some tracks and some views.

Replays are surprisingly spectacular. There are two cameras (bumper and TV) and you can follow any car. There are beautiful far away pans, close-ups and everything in the middle. They are really fun to view.

Sound: More than correct, as engines, screeching and other environmental effects really help you to feel the race. There is variation in engine sounds and well, it adds to the game instead of detracting. Music selection is mostly electronica with good selections both on replays or menus. If you like you can turn on music while driving, but this is something i usually turn off.

Gameplay:

If you have played Gran Turismo before, you already know how it plays. Completing a lap is easy, optimizing your times is very hard to master. Superior levels of difficulty are really difficult, as AI enemies won’t give up easily. AI seems to me not so dumb.

The control scheme works fine. It can be customized 100%, allowing the mapping of each button.

Game modes:

Every review covers this so i won’t explain here. Just let me say that there is a massive amount of cars costing a lot of money that you will want to unlock. In order to get money you have to win races. The longer the races and the higher the difficulty settings the more money you get. It’s car farming at it’s best. There is a small stats panel where you know the number of cars you have and the tracks mastered. So you know that when you have all of the cars in the game and mastered S rank for every track and variation you have finished the game. It’s not a structured mode but it perfectly suits the portable nature of the psp.

Attention to detail:

Every car comes with a description depicting it’s history, it’s context or technical features. It is really informative and nice to know. I bought more than one car after reading some of these stories. You feel more connected to the car, and it’s great when there are so many cars.

You cannot change pieces of your car but you can fine tune it for specific tracks.

Conclusion:

Gran Turismo PSP is a nice addition to the GT franchise, plays well, looks spectacular and has great replay value. What else do you expect from a psp game?

Well, i know many of you are thinking “a career mode”, and while i don’t agree that it’s needed, i’m a bit surprised why they didn’t implement some more structure in the game. This would have definitely made this game a 10 on everybody’s book.