When Gran Turismo debuted, it was an amazing achievement of graphics and driving physics for the hardware available at the time. Weak race AI and the lack of vehicle damage were easy to overlook because we’d never seen anything of this caliber on a console. Each generation has seen great strides in graphics and driving, but the race AI and vehicle damage stay the same. It’s not as easy to overlook now, though the AI doesn’t slam into you NON-STOP to stay on its racing line in this version, but that’s about all that’s changed. Vehicle damage is understandably missing from the handheld version.

Where this game does stand out is in the actual races. The driving physics and PSP controls work well to deliver a very solid racing experience that feels authentically like earlier games and looks pretty darned good to boot. The tracks and cars are attractive and there are the ever-present replays that you can watch and show off to your buddies. Speaking of which, you can also race your friends in ad-hoc mode, though it’s all single event. Also available is the ability to trade cars between friends which, admittedly, makes car collecting easier as you never know what you’re going to get. You can also, in theory, transfer your garage to GT5 when it’s released, but you have to make the call on whether to jumpstart your GT5 experience and whether it’s worth the pain to get there.

Gran Turismo PSP falls short of delivering a full experience. Polyphony Digital did an amazing job on the technical side of this game, but the glaring omission of a real career and the lack of car upgrades sinks what could have been a great title.