I'm a big fan of driving games, so I bought GT5P at the weekend as my PS3 collection was a bit limited, and having Prologue would no doubt be beneficial when GT5 gets released properly (no pain-in-the-arse licence tests, probably).

For the uninitiated, Polyphony Digital are about as good at getting GT games released on time as 3D Realms are with Duke Nukem Forever, so for the last couple of games they've released a "prologue", a cut-price teaser game featuring a portion of the full game to give the fans (like me) their GT fix and an idea of what the full game will be like. Kind of like an extended demo, the sort of thing you'd finish in a weekend's solid play (a bit like Halo, then).

I've almost finished it now, so here's scall's quick capsule review:

They've ruined it.

Allow me to explain. The main bulk of the game (the offline events) is great, GT as it should be. It even has a scaled down version of the main GT mode (buy cars, race, earn money, buy better cars, etc). The online mode is good too, It has a few anti-cheat mechanisms, such as a big collision with opponents or barriers or short cuts result in a time penalty, where your car is stuck in first gear for a few seconds. This was also in the rally events in GT4, but this game also noclips your car so you can't block people behind you. It also noclips your car if you connection is a bit iffy and you have a spin, basically so you don't accidentally collect everyone behind. This is all pretty agreeable for me, but it's also where the problem starts ...

When you complete the three offline classes, you are presented with a bonus class for the more powerful cars. These events now contain the penalties mentioned above, Fair enough, but you are penalised for next to nothing. Even the most innoccuous of knocks sees you losing about five places as you are stuck in first, desperately scrambling to regain grip but you can't 'cos you can't spin the wheels fast enough. Meawhile the cars behind casually drive through you because you are noclipped for the duration. I even got penalised for going WIDE on a corner. WTF??

But, do the AI cars get penalised for shunting YOU up the bacK? I think you can guess the answer.

If this is what is in store in the later stages of the full game, I'll be reluctant to part with my hard-earned. At least until Datel get their act together.

The physics are classic GT, but a bit more refined and a bit more forgiving too. I'm a bit of a Mistubishi Evo fan, so the old opposite lock routine is still fun to do. Don't get me wrong, it's as great a game as it always was, and the AI cars do appear to have more of a personality than before, battling with each other for position as they do, but it's just let down by a frankly unnecessary feature that has never worked properly in any game I've seen it in, let alone GT.

The Ferrari that I've driven, the F430, is a handful, especially with the TC and ASM off (as it should be ). It's like nothing else in the game so far, but there is a real sense of satisfaction when you nail your first powerslide. Not to mention how good it is to finally see the old Prancing Horse in the game after 10 years (bloody hell, has it been that long?).

I've never been a fan of the GT series, but I will check out GT5 Prologue as soon as it comes out in the US.  I'm pretty sure it's not going to launch until next Thursday when the new Playstation store becomes available here.