Any racing game fan will no doubt have owned at least one of the previous 4 incarnations of the GT franchise. Since the first release in 1998 on the original PlayStation they have single-handedly created a new genre of game, the “CarPG” or car-collector’s racing sim. The original GT boasted a previously unthinkable number of 178 fully licensed cars and 11 tracks. This most recent version on Sony’s hand-held PSP has an unbelievable 800 (yes, that’s right I said 800!) of the most popular and exotic cars in the world. The game also features 35 tracks raced forward and in reverse boosting it to 70. These are amazing numbers when compared to the previous versions on home consoles and really shows the work Polyphony have put into GT PSP to make it a real sequel rather than just a PSP port of an old game. It has also been promised that you can export the cars you buy in this version to the PS3 game that is due to come out soon, again giving you a lot of incentive to really put the time into this game. With enough effort you could have a massive garage of cars ready for GT5 before it even comes out. Originally planned for a 2005 release GT has a lot of expectation upon it to deliver a true Gran Turismo experience on the go.

There is also a Driver Challenge mode consisting of 54 challenges spread over 9 categories ranging from the 'basics of driving' to the far more difficult 'advanced overtaking' challenges. Each of these challenges has 3 medals to attain bronze, silver and gold each being awarded for completing the challenge in a set time. Some of these are really difficult and will require you to use all your driving skill to get the gold. These carry huge financial rewards so it’s definitely worth doing to enable you to buy the more exotic cars the game has to offer.

Now for the good stuff... I will start with graphics. All the cars in GT are beautifully recreated and are an exact likeness of their real life counterparts, as are each of the 35 tracks with 20 of the tracks being real tracks used in motor sport and the majority of the rest being set in real locations. The most impressive of these tracks is the full 12.95 miles of the Nürburgring Nordschleife brilliantly recreated. The game runs at a very smooth 60 frames per second. GT PSP uses the same engine as the upcoming PS3 game Gran Turismo 5 and was also developed by the same team at Polyphony, showing how seriously they took this version of the game.

A lot has been made in the gaming press about the lack of a career mode in GT PSP but if you ask me I don’t think this version really needs one. I know I never play my PSP for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time on the bus, the train, my lunch break, or dare I say it on the toilet, so I think the inclusion of a full career would have been a bit of a waste as I would never complete it. This way it allows you to pick up and play for short periods but still gives you the full racing experience.

All in all it’s a great game for the PSP; it rates amongst the best racers on Sony’s hand-held machine. Not only is it a great PSP game but it takes its place proudly alongside its bigger brothers on the home consoles and really whets the appetite for the upcoming PS3 title. Despite its slight flaws it stays true to the essence of what we have come to expect from a Gran Turismo game, real cars on real tracks with real car physics. Long standing fans of the series will not be disappointed.

I give Gran Turismo an awesome 9/10. It stays true to the original series and delivers a great racing experience on the go.