User blog:SPARTAN-984/My Review of Gran Turismo (PSP)

Recently I got Gran Turismo for the PSP. I had to update first... *sigh*. Either way, GT contains an update like every other PSP UMD so it isn't exactly inconvenient. I used a black Rock Band Unplugged entertainment pack PSP-3000, or "Slim and Lite with microphone" and I am now on Version 5.55... and loving every second of my Saleen S7 rocketing down the stretch on the Test Course.

Enough of the technical stuff, the game is awesome. First off, the races. Everything is open ended-everything you do ties into the game, the credit system, and the cars. There are the usual race types-Time Trials, Single Races vs. three other cars (you win credits regardless of your position, prizes depend on number of laps and length and difficulty of racetrack), and the new Drift Trial (haven't tried it at review time, but it apparently has sections squared off where you win points by drifting. I suspect this would be easy on off-road courses). There are a lot of tracks-one new-and there's no unlocking: every one is available at the start. However, a few memorable tracks that people might really like *cough* George V Paris *hack* *wheeze* were nixed from the game. The cars are also realistic, but I'll get to that later. It's a bit easy to win, but this is Gran Turismo. As PTOM put it, it's Pokémon for car addicts. "You gotta catch 'em all... with your hard-earned race earnings."

Multiplayer allows you to Ad Hoc race against up to three other humans, or perform stuff with your cars... you can copy car collections, trade cars, or share cars (which means giving someone a car without losing it yourself). Cars are marked whether they are shareable or tradeable... or not. It's welcome, though I live in a small town and nobody else I know has it.

Dealerships are weird-ass: there's only four at once, and they swap every two days. This means that the dream cars you may want will be gone by the time you grab enough Credits to buy them, but you'll find love soon, as I did with my Lancer and Saleen. There are three new dealerships, though what I've seen is kinda lacking: Ferrari (Enzo and F1), Lamborghini (Countach, either LP400 or 25th Anniversary), and Bugatti (Veyron).

Driving Challenges replace the License Tests: you can do a lot of things for trophies, and better trophies mean more Credits, though they do get more anal as you pass through (I am still stuck on the final part of the World Circuit Corners challenges, and I decided to screw those Challenges anyways).

Finally, the Status Report screen allows you to keep track of recent events and look at the cars you have. The pretty pretty cars. Although not exactly PS2 grade, they're still distinctive anyways.

Verdict:

Pros-Racing line makes racing easy, tracks are easier to learn than others, it's a tad too easy to win (also a con)

Cons-Cars aren't as detailed, tracks aren't as detailed, open-worldness means unwise players will get stuck, it's a tad too easy to win (also a pro)

Meh-New dealerships, but the car selection for them is meh, Driving Challenges give players something to strive for, but the difficulty goes up so far it surpasses Mount Everest near the end

Final Verdict: 8/10. It may not be GT5, but it's Gran Turismo and it's kick-ass. And it'll keep me busy along with GT4 until I get a PS3 and patiently tap my foot waiting for GT5 to come out while I drive circles around a Zonda with my Ford GT.