Five years in the making and it still seems about ten years behind. Are they harsh words? Sure, but there’s not denying that when you play Gran Turismo for the PSP, that you’re in a time warp that was built with dated technology.

This all starts when you realize there isn’t a main campaign mode to the game. Instead, the game basically relies on you to create the game for yourself. You decide what cars to buy and what races to complete to get credits. From there, you can buy cars.

And that’s it. You don’t upgrade your cars, get different paint jobs or customize the way your car looks. On top of that, you can’t exactly choose which cars you want to buy.

Explanation: The game runs on a date/clock, where it chooses which cars and models are available for sale. This does prevent, in theory, for someone beating this game in a week or so, but it also severely limits what you can do daily in the game.

In ways, it makes sense on a portable: The “do once a day” model has worked really well in such portable games as Animal Crossing and Nintendogs. But Turismo fans were told they were getting the same console experience on a portable, and after waiting 5 years for this game, it seems like the wool is being pulled from their eyes.

Finally, there are the graphics. Normally a benchmark in the industry for its prestine graphics and smooth framerate, GT for PSP looks more akin to its PS1 counterparts than its PS2, which would have still looked dated, but slightly impressive. The results are a bunch of boxy looking cars driving in a low-res, low-detail track that looks almost cartoony in comparison.

Only the most diehard of GT fans should give this game a purchase. Otherwise, it’s best left in the garage.

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Kazunori Yamauchi says that he could give you the next real iteration of the Gran Turismo series if he really wanted to…he just won’t.

Speaking with Famitsu, as translated by 1UP, he says that “We could release it any time we want,” however he’s more interested in giving the game its classic GT style.

For those of you keeping score, it’s been over a year since we had Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and over 5 years since we had the last true iteration of the series, Gran Turismo 4. Aside from the just released (and collectively lackluster) PSP version, the competition has had more releases in the simulation racing game, including 3 Forza Motorsports games and the recently released Need for Speed: Shift.

Brad’s Take: I don’t know if this is just arrogance or just plain stupidity…but you are currently losing your crown, you know that Yamauchi? The competition keeps innovating (Shift with its sense of speed, Forza with its customization) and its taken you almost 6 years to do what you’ve always done…just in a shinier coat.

I used to love Gran Turismo (especially the PS2 iterations), but Forza has won my heart multiple times over. It’s going to take a lot to win over the people who had to wait so long for Turismo and have looked to Forza for their racing.

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