Timed to launch alongside the befuddling download-only PSP Go, Gran Turismo (GT) for PlayStation Portable (PSP) is graciously available in classic UMD format as well as software direct via the PlayStation Network.

Though it's a compact and portable version of what is normally a huge console extravaganza, this PSP iteration nevertheless delivers a whopping 800 cars, 45 tracks and a whole lot of uncompromisingly applied physics.

That said, there are indications that this is the "smaller" game, one stripped of a few console essentials. There's no career mode, for example, few profile and driver's license trappings, and no online racing component whatsoever (though you can trade cars with networked friends). What's more, races are limited to just four cars at a time, you and three uncompromising opponents. So be it.

And while Gran Turismo's selection of cars is expansive, as mentioned, they're only offered incrementally. More vehicle purchase options come available the longer you play the game (winning and earning cash along the way), but you're offered new cars that you usually can't afford from a rotating carousel of just four randomly-appearing dealerships presenting just ten cars each, day by racing "day," like a tease that comes and goes. When your dream car eventually comes around again and you can actually afford it, however, the purchase feels all the more special.

Sill, Gran Turismo retains what is best about its console counterpart. It's a deep, deftly-executed and exacting driving simulator (as opposed to a zip bang arcade racer). And seeing as it's rife with the essentials, i.e. car content and those unmistakable driving simulation sensibilities, you can expect to often forget you're playing on a portable gaming device. Decent controls, smooth frame rate (at a slick 60fps, no less), great looking cars and serviceable environmental graphics, plus an appreciable degree of difficulty make it comparable to playing the famed console racing simulator where it counts.

Even in the earlier stages, where you're beleaguered with a less-than-stellar selection of cars, Gran Turismo challenges you to mind your speed, fight the corners, zoom through straightaways and exploit chicanes for overtaking. The tension, thrill and sense of panic characteristic of the Gran Turismo franchise translates perfectly to portable form.

That's not to say Gran Turismo on PSP is for the serious simulation buffs only. It's easy to pick-up-and-learn thanks to its elegant layout, just-drive sensibilities and a "challenge mode" where you can practice with each vehicle (and earn money when you get the hang of it).

While there's no online racing offered (for shame), Gran Turismo for PSP does support ad hoc networking, which means if you happened to have up to four friends, four PSPs and four copies of the game, you can all partake in one-off races or a series of them, "party" style with handicaps. That multiplayer aspect of GT on the PSP is excellent insofar as that it's more compelling to race against real people rather than obdurate A.I.

Gran Turismo for PSP may be only "appetizer-size" when compared to its console brethren (or the last couple of iterations, anyway), it's got the key ingredients to make it a great PSP racing sim in its own right.