Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo games have
always offered plenty of depth and the PSP edition is no exception.
Looking at the individual bullet-point list of features included in the
PSP edition Gran Turismo can be an intimidating task, from its extensive
list of manufacturers, vehicles, tracks and options, it almost seems like
there's too much under the hood. Start with the courses you'll be running
on. There are 35 of them in all, with course variations included, there
are actually about 60 unique races in all. These consist of a variety of
well known licensed tracks such as Nurburgring, Laguna Seca, Suzuka
Raceway, and others. Several city tracks are also here including street
courses that will take players through New York, Seattle, Tokyo and
London. A number of off-road courses traverse well-known locales such as
the Grand Canyon and Tahiti are also included. Add in a few fantasy
courses through mountains, canyons and water and you have a huge variety
of tracks to master, with surfaces ranging from standard concrete, to
off-road dirt and mud and combinations of these that create a completely
challenging set of courses to master. You can choose which type of race to
focus on initially, but true mastery in GT requires you to perform on each
of these effectively. While this might seem like an difficult game to pull
of, the game doesn't make you do this all at once and instead divides its
tasks up into smaller portions that make it easier to get through. Instead
of forcing you to take it all in at once, or locking you into a rigid
progression model, the game starts with a fairly open-ended structure that
lets you go through things largely at your own pace.
While you can take off large pieces of
the game if you want, Gran Turismo PSP offers several different play modes
that give you the options of doing a little at a time. You can jump right
in with a single race, where you can choose your vehicle, track and get
right on the course - everything you've unlocked is immediately available.
These races offer you the opportunity to earn credits at the finish line,
which you can then use to purchase vehicles. Rewards in the earlier tracks
are a bit low, and you'll have to win several races if you want to get a
decent car. Later stages and higher difficulty levels add to the credits
you can earn. Players who want to compete against themselves for the
fastest lap times will probably like the time attack mode, which puts you
alone on the course and lets you try and shave seconds off your time. If
you have a hard time learning the off-road techniques, you can go into the
drift trial mode, where you can earn more credits by performing these
moves.
One of the trademark GT elements has
always been impressive is the License test. While it takes a slightly
different from this time, in the Driver Challenge mode. Structured as a
series of mini-games and grades, these courses require you to perform a
quick task, such as driving through challenging chicanes and turns before
the timer runs out. The requirements are stringent, and you can go through
these sections several times before you get the allotted medal and
credits. The upside to these is that once you complete these challenges,
you'll be rewarded with piles of credits. Additionally, completing all the
challenges in a certain level unlocks that driver level for you to use in
other modes. Later levels also unlock other added features such as the
ability to play MP3's during the race or giving you access to
higher-powered vehicles. While the console License tests were somewhat
annoying, they make more sense on a handheld thanks to their short length
and quick gameplay. These also have the added benefit of helping to
improve your driving skills. Finally, GT includes an ad-hoc wireless mode,
that lets you play with up to three other nearby players in head-to-head
matches, while also letting you trade vehicles or share them with others.
These modes are fairly easy to understand and the game's straightforward
menu system makes switching fairly easy. Unfortunately, the biggest
detraction from the gameplay is its lack of a true career mode. Instead of
gradually building up your skills through driving and license tests as in
other games, you're basically given a much simpler path with a limited
garage that makes the game feel a bit limited. The addition of car sharing
and wi-fi play is great, but the lack of a traditional career mode makes
the game feel a little less robust than it should.
While the number of gameplay modes in
the game is impressive, Gran Turismo's depth adds to its authenticity, and
makes this highly tuned simulation even more comprehensive. The game
features dozens of authentic vehicles and manufacturers including the
expected Japanese contingent consisting of Honda, Mazda, Toyota,
Mitsubishi, Nissan and Suzuki to name a few. Companies from other regions
are also here with Ford, Lancer, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Maserati, Alpha
Romeo, Lambroghini, and many more included. Famous exotic models including
Corvette's ZR-1 and the Bugatti Veyron M4 are also here to use. Racing
with these more exotic sportscars requires a different set of skills, with
the main goal being to limit your reflexive desire to push down on the
accelerator and floor it. These vehicles have sensitive handling, and have
a way of swerving around the track fitfully if you don't know how to drive
them. There's no shortage of variety with 800 vehicles in all to collect.
All of the vehicles are tuned to respond and drive similarly to their real
counterparts, which player controllable tuning and paint jobs, creating
your own custom vehicle is a simple task. The sheer amount of detail is
even more impressive when you consider all the classes ranging from
classic vehicles, standard models, modified street racers, sports cars,
concepts, limited editions, off-road, formula racing and rally vehicles
included in the game. Its quite an impressive selection and the sheer
amount of variety this offers means that there's plenty of replay value in
Gran Turismo. Since you can play a single race, try to beat the driving
challenge modes or go after your own laps, the game is well-suited to
short-burst portable play, and also for extended sessions if you so
choose.
These
vehicles are more than just different skins and paint-jobs, since the
controls and handling of each vehicle makes a huge difference in how each
race unfolds, making it essential for you to master all their nuances.
Adding to GT's impressive level of detail, each vehicle in the game is
given its own detailed pages where you can view its feature lists, a brief
history of its design and impact, and configure its style by selecting
different paint jobs. Players can unlock these by winning races and going
dealerships where they can select which one to purchase. Some of the more
advanced vehicles might seem out of reach at first, but you can use the
PSP's wifi connection to trade or share many of these vehicles with
friends. This allows you to accumulate a huge garage of vehicles much
quicker, though some of the more exotic vehicles can't be traded or
shared, which is annoying. Racing with average vehicles is somewhat dull,
but since you're racing against your own class, you won't find the
competition has an unfair advantage. Once you've built up a decent sized
garage, you'll be better able to gauge which vehicles are best suited to
specific tracks, though obviously a rally car won't be good on a speed
oval while a sports car won't be that effective on an off-road course like
Grand Canyon. Before each race, GT lets you adjust the cars' tires and
handling manually or use the auto-tune feature to create a good default
configuration. Once you're on the track with your vehicles, you'll see
that each one brings a unique handling and nuance with it. The opponents'
AI isn't as difficult as it could be in the earlier stages, and you can
cut a few corners here and there. You won't get penalized for this, and
bumping other vehicles makes things a bit too easy early on. As you might
expect from the series, there's no car damage model to speak of, so you
won't get penalized by bumping into walls or crashing into other cars
either. This is an annoying thing that Polyphony Studios hasn't yet
addressed in the series, but it looks like it might happen when GT 5
arrives next year.
Aside from these issues, the vehicular
physics model in Gran Turismo remains impressive in this scaled down
version. While its' not as flashy or destructive as some other racers, its
quite obvious the moment you begin, that the realistic handling and
performance of each vehicle remains the game's driving force and appeal.
GT's controls are fairly intuitive throughout, and players will find the
performance best by using the analog stick and face buttons, which allow
you to maximize the control you have over steering and drifting. You can
also use the standard d-pad, but this isn't recommended since it causes
you to over steer and lacks the precision analog provides. Learning when
to break ahead of curves, and when to accelerate when you leave them is a
process of getting the timing down and learning your vehicles' power and
acceleration. At the earlier stages, its useful to play it safe and go a
bit slower, but as you familiarize yourself with its power and
limitations, you'll be able to push the vehicle to its limits and go for
faster laps to shave those precious seconds off your times. Gran Turismo's
driving system and physics are remarkably nuanced and deep for a handheld
game and its realistic driving controls make for a surprisingly engrossing
game that delivers a solid driving experience throughout.
One of the most impressive aspects about
GT on the PSP are its visuals. While Polyphony could have compromised
their approach for the handheld edition, this isn't the case. Each car has
been rendered beautifully and they look very much as their real-world
counterparts do. You can see that a high level of detail has gone into
each vehicle model which gives the game quite a bit of eye candy. Several
camera angles are available throughout the races, with behind the car,
first person and cockpit views available. While the cockpit view is cool
in terms of presentation, it blocks your viewpoint and diminishes your
field of vision, which is doubly problematic on the small handheld screen.
Fortunately, the other views work fine and give you and excellent look at
the action. The static screens in this review might look great, but the
game's smooth frame rate and detailed tracks, complete with impressive
sidelines objects are quite detailed. You can see a high level of detail
in the various tracks ranging from city skyscrapers, to grandstands on the
sidelines and some truly breathtaking views in the Grand Canyon stage.
Gran Turismo shows an incredible degree of polish, but there are a few
imperfections on its surface. The most significant drawback to this
detailed approach is the fact that there are only ever four cars on the
screen at once, which makes the usually epic feel of GT races feel
somewhat diminished. The lack of damage is also annoying, but as stated
earlier, expected from the series. Otherwise, GT delivers a solid and
impressive aesthetic driving experience that brings an impressive level of
detail and precision to the system in effective fashion.
While there are a few issues that keep
the Gran Turismo PSP edition from perfection, looking at the bigger
picture shows a game that mostly offers a console-level experience on a
handheld system. It's extensive list of vehicles and modes gives the game
plenty of depth, though the limited customization and lack of a true
career mode are hugely disappointing. However, the ability to trade with
other PSP owners via wi-fi, and the bite-sized Driver Challenge modes do
compensate for these omissions to a large degree. The sheer number of
vehicles and courses is all the more impressive when you consider it's on
a UMD, not the usual DVD or Blu-Ray disc, which makes for an cool
technical accomplishment. However, it's the gameplay that matters most,
and this is very much the GT you know. It's technically challenging races
are complimented with simpler racing laps that deliver plenty of speed and
excitement without having to go to deeply into things. Its structured in a
way that takes advantage of the PSP, by offering the ability to pick up
and play a quick race on the run or go a bit deeper at home. Despite a few
flaws, the game definitely delivers on its promise for the most part. The
end result is that while it's been more than five years in the making,
Gran Turismo mostly delivers the high-quality, simulation level experience
players have come to expect from the console editions on a handheld to
create a satisfying and challenging racing experience with enough content
to keep players going for quite some time.
- Michael Palisano
