It may be GT Lite, but it's a winner

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

(Sony. PS3, G)

The good news:

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

heats up the tyres with all of the hottest cars as a teaser for the full GT5 version.

The bad news: reports suggest it could be more than a year before we see that full game. But this is something simulation racers have coped with before -

Gran Turismo 4: Prologue

came out for PS2 a full year before the final game was released in 2005.

Prologue has 71 cars including the Lotus Elise 111R, Aston Martin DB9 coupe, the Audi R8 4/2 FSI R Tronic and a Ferrari 599. You can roar down six tracks including a fun London city experience and the Daytona Speedway as well as the Suzuka circuit with narrow twists that demand your concentration and agile steering.

Check out the Ferrari view in the YouTube video at the bottom of the page.

We all know how legendary this series is - it's sold around 50 million games in its franchise and the original was the biggest selling game on the original console. One of my friends buys the newest PlayStation console only to play GT when it comes out.

Now we get a piece of the tasty pie with the driving grunt clearly demonstrated in 1080p glory on the PS3, complete with a new physics engine. Installation of this iconic game took 13 minutes and the update immediately after was 320 MB, so be sure you have a full gig free on your PS3 hard drive.

Now for the first time, up to 16 players can race against each other online, view the News menu option (to find port forwarding and other gems to better gameplay) and to keep abreast of updates.

GT-TV is a welcomed component furthering your experience into the racing world - maybe we'll see episodes of Initial-D anime available for viewing. PS3 still has some catching up to do to get to where Xbox live is but at least this is a start.

I've been playing it all weekend and apart from the Cappuccino and a few other not-so-hot cars gifted to me (that crank around the circuit at the pace of a 60-year-old's shopping trolley), it's been lots of fun. If your driving's reasonable you soon gather the cash to get the classic cars into your garage.

My favourite so far has not been a Ferrari or Merc but the Honda Integra Type R (DC5) perhaps because it feels more familiar. Some other common boy-racer cars mark their re-appearance with prototypical style such as the tuned Nissan Skyline GT-R, Subaru Impreza WRX, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and the Mazda RX8, all tweaked to perfection but costing 200,000 or more.

Don't get complacent owning a hot car though, it's not all a Sunday drive. Time trials get especially tough and overtaking that Mini Cooper-S in Class C ?beat the pack mode? around a lap of Daytona is enough to make you tear your hair out.

But take a few tips from

Top Gear

presenter Richard Hammond and you'll be more than able to compete with the new breed of prototype cars and this years? latest performance series.

There are some disappointments - there is no vehicle damage, and the picture perfect cars look just so through every section of track, even though they were bounced into Daytona's walls at 320 km/h and spun 720 degrees, bouncing around the track.

The 'Quick Tune' lets you have a quick performance tweak adjusting the power, tyres and suspension but the "my garage" feature is a personalised homepage, not a place you can go to mod your car. The music is standard and forgettable stuff.

I can't wait to see car damage on my gifted Daihatsu OFC-1 to make racing it just a bit more fun, of course, modding my Dodge Viper to boost power ratios in the full game.

Arcade, Online and 2-Player battles make this game a fully multiplayer title, and the experience is an enthusiasts? dream, racing the hottest cars with equally enthusiastic racers over the globe.

So it's hard not to see this lusty serving as a massive prologue demo for GT5 but who cares.

We can never get enough, and this time around the improved physics are sharp, the graphics have a PS3 HD shine and it's challenging - still making my thumbs sore after I put them through endless hours of driving torture. Those with a Logitech driving wheel will love not having this blistered feeling.

MadGamer rating: 9/10