Gran Turismo on PSP (for now) in my opinion is the best game in the series, they polished a lot the formula, and thanks to its more arcade aspect it also acomplish with what the slogan promises. But first of all, before starting with this more or less ranty and egocentric review like always, let me tell you a little funny story, ok? Ok. I never was a fan of the Gran Turismo series. I tried multiple times to get into it and never understanded its love. Its not one of those series like Pokemon where i think its heavily overrated and i think all of those games were bad minus some stellar exceptions, but totally seen why people like the series in the first place, but with Gran Turismo i just dont see the case. It seems that its one of those old series where if you didnt like it in the first place you would never like it. I respect games like the first game, because despite being highly unpolished, with one of the most fake slogans even for its time and being sometimes a bit dull, it paved the way for modern gaming... for the better or for worse. Gran Turismo 1 was one of the first old games that feels modern on its presentation and incredible technical aspects, and thats something i respect, regardless of my personal preferences. The thing is, with 2 and 3 in those cases thats were the series began to downfall quickly for me, because the better presentation could never ever compensate for me the lack of a proper progression system and even more repetitive gameplay. The first Gran Turismo was by no means perfect but it had a very nice balanced progression where you feel like you are slowly adquiring better cars over time, something it really was lost in the second entry. I think you could argue that its impossible to perfectly balance a game like this with more than 500 cars but then again, why did you bother to be overambitious? The first GT had almost 200 cars which is enough to be very impressive. Adquiring one of the best cars in the game in just an hour is not a good progression system. GT2 and 3 feel very unbalanced and dull at as result, not helped by other major issues with the gameplay i commented in my other reviews. And later GT4 which i wasnt really interesting but just replaying it by the sake of doing it i really was right. They fixed moat of the issues with the core gameplay of previous games but with the even more realistic aproach and still the same issues with the AI it feels more arcade than the other ones even the first game because that game at leats feels more consistently arcade, while GT4 is inconsistently realistic which for me ironically makes it less realistic than the former. But what it killed the series for me at this point is that they went overboard beyond belief with the content. GT4 is honestly one of the most boring games i ever played. I had to at times do 1 or 2 events per day because i couldnt just play it without dying of boredom.
Here is when my little story with the series ends and when my experience with GT on PSP starts, granted, i only played this game because i had a PSP and it was just a curiosity; if the game ended up being bad then it wouldnt really matter for me, the series just wasnt for me at this point. But after what i though it would be just 30 minutes of gameplay it ended up being more than 20 hours. This is the game that isnt allowed to be talked about on the franchise? This is the sin no one is allowed to try? I would be honest with you guys, this is exactly what i wanted the GT series to be... in the first place: a proper semi realistic consistent experience with a lot of content without feeling padded and a fair difficult and polished gameplay, that was hard to ask? But lets start step by step. First of all the graphics, good lord, the graphics are AMAZING, easily the best looking game on the PSP along with God Of War, it looks like a PS3 game, although the cars lacks any kind of reflection, but they have so many detail both the enviroment and the cars so it gets a pass. Also the incredible amount of cars, you have more or less like 800 cars. Why im sound like an idiot if the previous games also have it? Well, here is the thing, this is all PORTABLE, and since its made from a PSP screen in mind means that doesnt need a compositive cable, and even with a compositive cable it still looks more smooth and crisp than the PS2 titles. My final real positive point is the focus on the arcade aspect. Previous games in the series were more realistic, although the realism was never very polished, and to be honest, simulation games are just..... frsutrating and boring... Gran Turismo on the PSP was more like an arcade racing game, but a very good one, and much more polished than its previous entries, now the focus is in collecting all the cars in the game, rather than winning all of the trophies. Along with the much more fair AI and licenses (and not more obligatory!!! Yeah!!!), this doesnt force you to be so perfect at the beginning of the game like many other previous Gran Turismo, and now the control is much better. The developers removed completely the oversteer, and while the stiff control is still there, is now a smooth stiff control, the car smoothly turns when breaking, and no like previous games where it tends to drift even at low speed or makes a spin. And it has something that future racing games of the seventh generation-today misses.... customizing your own races.... this is something i love it since games like Need For Speed 3 (for example), and you are rewarding the more laps, longer track or ai difficult you are racing.... Your race, your rules. This is amazing, and considering than all of the cars are very impressive looking and the driving is stiff but smooth, it gives you a lot of reward feeling (and that in a videogame is one of the most important things, very few videogames do this right). Now at this point many people would probably be really salty, but to those people i answer, you dont believe me? Then watch. Yeah, this game has its flaws, like for example some of the best cars are very expensive and you need literally hours and hours of grinding to get them, the handling while a huge improvement it still is very finicky at times and you really need those assistances activated and the real car specs in the shop menu may as well not exist. Of course if you are a GT fan you could point at 100 different things that this game did wrong, but speaking from a very neutral standpoint this game is what i want and i wanted the series to be. It may not have the tons of events of replay value of previous entries... but those things werent really good to begin with it, and they would clash with the idea of the game being playable from the get go, because oh my god, i couldnt imagine if i had to do a 24 hour race here... Look, if you dislike this game and prefer the others, then fair enough, there is nothing wrong with that. I guess this review just represents what happens when you are you againt the entire world, but thats what would always happen with personal tastes i guess.
Here is when my little story with the series ends and when my experience with GT on PSP starts, granted, i only played this game because i had a PSP and it was just a curiosity; if the game ended up being bad then it wouldnt really matter for me, the series just wasnt for me at this point. But after what i though it would be just 30 minutes of gameplay it ended up being more than 20 hours. This is the game that isnt allowed to be talked about on the franchise? This is the sin no one is allowed to try? I would be honest with you guys, this is exactly what i wanted the GT series to be... in the first place: a proper semi realistic consistent experience with a lot of content without feeling padded and a fair difficult and polished gameplay, that was hard to ask? But lets start step by step. First of all the graphics, good lord, the graphics are AMAZING, easily the best looking game on the PSP along with God Of War, it looks like a PS3 game, although the cars lacks any kind of reflection, but they have so many detail both the enviroment and the cars so it gets a pass. Also the incredible amount of cars, you have more or less like 800 cars. Why im sound like an idiot if the previous games also have it? Well, here is the thing, this is all PORTABLE, and since its made from a PSP screen in mind means that doesnt need a compositive cable, and even with a compositive cable it still looks more smooth and crisp than the PS2 titles. My final real positive point is the focus on the arcade aspect. Previous games in the series were more realistic, although the realism was never very polished, and to be honest, simulation games are just..... frsutrating and boring... Gran Turismo on the PSP was more like an arcade racing game, but a very good one, and much more polished than its previous entries, now the focus is in collecting all the cars in the game, rather than winning all of the trophies. Along with the much more fair AI and licenses (and not more obligatory!!! Yeah!!!), this doesnt force you to be so perfect at the beginning of the game like many other previous Gran Turismo, and now the control is much better. The developers removed completely the oversteer, and while the stiff control is still there, is now a smooth stiff control, the car smoothly turns when breaking, and no like previous games where it tends to drift even at low speed or makes a spin. And it has something that future racing games of the seventh generation-today misses.... customizing your own races.... this is something i love it since games like Need For Speed 3 (for example), and you are rewarding the more laps, longer track or ai difficult you are racing.... Your race, your rules. This is amazing, and considering than all of the cars are very impressive looking and the driving is stiff but smooth, it gives you a lot of reward feeling (and that in a videogame is one of the most important things, very few videogames do this right). Now at this point many people would probably be really salty, but to those people i answer, you dont believe me? Then watch. Yeah, this game has its flaws, like for example some of the best cars are very expensive and you need literally hours and hours of grinding to get them, the handling while a huge improvement it still is very finicky at times and you really need those assistances activated and the real car specs in the shop menu may as well not exist. Of course if you are a GT fan you could point at 100 different things that this game did wrong, but speaking from a very neutral standpoint this game is what i want and i wanted the series to be. It may not have the tons of events of replay value of previous entries... but those things werent really good to begin with it, and they would clash with the idea of the game being playable from the get go, because oh my god, i couldnt imagine if i had to do a 24 hour race here... Look, if you dislike this game and prefer the others, then fair enough, there is nothing wrong with that. I guess this review just represents what happens when you are you againt the entire world, but thats what would always happen with personal tastes i guess.
