Gran Turismo – Essentials (PSP)

Gran Turismo is the first installment of the Gran Turismo series on Sony’s PlayStation Portable.

The Real Driving Simulator features a robust amount of content all fit on one UMD disc. GT includes over 800 licensed vehicles from popular automakers such as Ford and Chevrolet and also introduces for the first time in the series cars such as the Lamborghini and Bugatti. In addition, 35 tracks are available from the start, which if added with the different variations for those tracks bumps up the number of to 70.

GT from the get-go provides you with one random car as a present and 100,000 credits to use to buy new cars or upgrade your existing ones. New credits can be gotten by playing the games single player modes. Choose between Time Trial Mode, where you must race against the clock to finish the track with new lap records; Single Race, where you race against 3 CPU cars on a track to be the winner; and Drift Trial, where you slide your car across a track to rack up points, and finally Ad-hoc Mode, where you gather with a group of your friends to race and trade your cars with each other. All but Time Trial provide you with credits.

For those who feel they need help with their driving, GT includes a mode made to help improve your techniques. The “Driving Challenge” mode provides you with a series of challenges and missions used to increase your skill level. Depending on your performance on the missions, you will receive either a gold, silver, or bronze prize, along with some more credits. Aiming for the more harder routes and doing the challenges quickly may result in a gold prize and more prize credits.

Cars from GT can also be exported to Gran Turismo 5, giving you the edge on your competition.