Those accustomed to the franchise will know what to expect from this driving simulator series. It’s entirely different from the like of Ridge Racer and Motorstorm; whose arcade style controls were built for accessibility and the instant pick up and play factor.

GT 5 Prologue, like other GT games, is more for the connoisseur or racing enthusiast. Players are expected to understand the finer points of racing such as knowing when to brake, when to slow down and how to approach corners.

This is an important point to make because GT 5 Prologue is at times one of the best ‘proper’ racing games on the PS3, but only if you’re willing to put in the time. If you’re not, be warned, this is an extremely limited package.

For a start there only six tracks. And throughout the course of the game you’ll find yourself playing four of those over and over again, which is what you’re left to do in Arcade Mode.

Unfortunately, the tracks are largely uninspiring, and even a little boring. At times you feel like every track is the same apart from a few minor adjustments. And in many cases this is the truth because in order to provide a little more ‘variety’ some of the tracks are reversed.

This impacts hugely on the game as a whole. As usual, players are expected to work their way through events in the game, starting with the C Class race tournament up to A Class. But to complete the whole of the last set of races requires quite a bit of time investment, which would be OK if it wasn’t so repetitive.