One of the best psp racing games
Graphics:
The game is absolutely stunning and really illustrates what the psp can do. There are occasional frame rate issues but I mean incredibly occasional and when you are racing 4 other people and your car is flipping over as you try to make a corner on an icy road framerate hitches shouldn't be a major complaint.
Gameplay:
The game starts out incredibly easy but after an hour or so of playing you will get into racing where you will probably have to restart the race a couple times to win first. The best part about this game is that this never gets boring because you race in an open world meaning you can take any route you want during a race. Although checkpoint races will keep you in pretty narrow paths there are several other race types that allow you to get to where you need to be however you see fit. Another amazing thing about this game is the diversity of vehicles you have muscle cars, tuners, suv's, choppers and sports bikes. Each of these classes has a distinct feel while driving them and there are several abilities in game that are exclusive to certain classes.
These abilities give the game a more arcade feel and sadly your opponents don't have them so the game feels uneven at times. Although the fact that your opponents basically never crash helps to even out the playing field a little bit. As I already stated there are a plethora of cars and that makes this one of the most re-playable games for PSP that I own. I currently have a psp Go so i don't play the game anymore but since PSN is having a dryspell it is definitely one of the older games i am considering buying again
Bottom Line:
Unless you do not like arcade racers this is the game for you. It is fast paced and you get a great sense of speed even from the psp's little screen. You can customize almost everything in your car and the game is well worth the 15 dollars or 10 dollars you can find it for at a game store. If you have some change and a psp you can't go wrong here.
P.S. I forgot to mention that the load times for this game are pretty awful but because of the amazing gameplay and customization options it really doesn't matter.