Gran Turismo PSP Review

Speaking a little less subjectively, the AI is devoid of both nuance and competitiveness: other drivers form symmetrical little convoys in order of engine power, coasting unfazedly back into formation after you body-slam them sideways on the corners. Motorstorm’s racers may be stupid, but at least they’re up for a fight.

Challenges will help perfect your sense of the road.

You could argue that testing opposition has never been the point of GT, that the fruits of the game lie in memorising a course, picking a set of wheels, tweaking its udders (camber angle, suspension, weight, etc) and whittling away endlessly at your shortest time. You’d be right to an extent, and the nature and structure of the single player offerings – split between the core trio of Time Trial, Drift Trial and Single Race and a package of short-burn, skill-and-track-segment-specific challenges – reward that kind of perfectionism, albeit less fulsomely than previous games (it’s all about filling your garage, basically).

That thin blue line is the secret to the shortest time.

But the lack of Infrastructure multiplayer – there’s only four-strong Ad Hoc – and an attendant mob of wily petrol-heads throws the AI’s faults into sharp relief. Online leaderboards are absent, too, despite the developer’s predilection for statistics.

The game's garage features are solid but hardly breath-taking.

Bolt the above together and you’ve got a classic on-the-go slow-burner, a hundred-hour productivity dump for the armchair Clarksonite, but not a game you’ll absolutely itch to resume playing. It’s a graceful, carefully contained experience, heavy on finesse and features but oddly short on competitive spirit.