Gran Turismo PSP, out October 1st, is probably my most anticipated game this year. To prepare I’ve been playing stacks of PSP games (there’s some absolute classics in the PSP library) non-stop for the last few months and although I won’t be picking up a PSPgo at launch I’m really excited for what this means for the little portable arm of the PlayStation brand. Hopefully lots more publishers will see how companies like Polyphony Digital are happy to get on board the PSP bandwagon now and with luck the fortunes of the PSP will turn around.

In the meantime, Kazunori Yamauchi is hard at work putting the finishing touches to his masterpiece, and in an interview with Famitsu (link below) he discusses the game, the development process and a few new cars and tracks which we’ve added to our gallery. He talks about the PSP’s small memory being an issue when trying to squeeze in Gran Turismo, the Lamborghini brand coming to the series for the first time and the new Challenge Mission mode. He also confirms that rally courses will feature four cars, rather than the two in previous GT games.

My Japanese is sketchy so I’m not going to ruin anything by posting terrible translations, but it does appear from the last paragraph of the interview that you’ll be able to use an automatic driver AI too, and jump into the drivers seat at any point should you so wish. This mode has appeared in previous Gran Turismo games, but this, alongside the full cockpit view, sixty frames a second frame rate and masses of cars and tracks will surely make Gran Turismo PSP the ultimate portable racing game, with only Codemasters’ DiRT 2 for company over the next couple of months.

Via Famitsu.