Gran Turismo HD is nothing more than a great glimpse of what's to come.
Once you've downloaded the game from the PlayStation Network, you'll notice that Gran Turismo HD isn't as in-depth as you might think. So for being free, it's not bad at all. You will however find that fans of the series will feel right at home with it's gameplay, and Gran Turismo HD offers two games modes time trial, and drifting. With the time trial as with any racer you're given a specific time to complete the lap, once you finish your lap if you fail to meet the requirements you can continue around another lap or as many as you wish until you meet the criteria. After your races you're ranked accordingly with other players. You get ranked in class depending on what car you're driving, the traction, reverse or forward course, you'll be able to check your online ranking via Rankings section in the options menu Overall you'll unlock 10 cars, spanning to 20 when you're all done(but mostly are just beefed-up versions of the cars you've already unlocked). Once you've finished the time-trial mode you'll have several new things unlocked, such as being able to drive the course you drove on earlier in reverse, and drifting mode will become available. Gran Turismo's drifting style differs heavily from those from other racers, and depending on your time with the franchise you probably won't be too crazy about it. You'll have a drift meter on the screen and the further you fill it up the higher you're score will come to as you drift around the corners.
As with any Gran Turismo game, you can save your best laps, or just for show via HDD, which most fan's will really appreciate since Gran Turismo HD is such a fantastic looking game. It's just a surprise why Polyphony Digital didn't have any photo-taking features like Gran Turismo 4. Overall it would be a cool feature to have, but since it's a free game you can't complain all too much. The settings are pretty in-depth as you can toggle with the game's resolution, opening cinemas, assign buttons to adjust the control, and adjust other settings. To say the least the games pretty easy to navigate and the menu is done rather well, and more in-depth compared to other downloadable games available.
The car's featured in the game are all grouped up and all have different levels of performance. You'll notice that the Mitsubishi Lancer's are formidable and fast vehicles, but make a better car on the dirt-road. The Ferrari is also quick in acceleration and has some interesting handling characteristics. Overall the tweaking options in Gran Turismo HD aren't anything you can really sink your teeth into much like as the full-featured games in the series, but you'll be able to change your tire-traction, grip level etc. It's rather shallow, but some of the tuning options can really help out on the track.
If you've gawked over the look of screenshots, you truly can't appreciate it until you really see the game in motion. Gran Turismo HD is a fine looking game, and for Polyphony Digital to put so much effort into a downloadable game is no surprise. The game is drop-dead gorgeous. The game's car's are very well detailed, and no apparent jaggies seem to exist. Also the look of the track is spectacular as you'll see photo-realistic shots of the sky, and mountains. If you sit further way from it, you probably wouldn't be able to really notice whether it's a game, or real car driving on a course. You'll also notice the people around the track's are very realistic. There however isn't too much animation over all with spectators but nonetheless look spectacular. The best part of it's graphics are indulging into your saved replays, which look really spectacular. It's disappointing that there's no vehicle deformation but could be included down the road. It's easily thus far the best looking game to date from the Gran Turismo franchise. While it doesn't serve nothing more than a concept for future Gran Turismo iterations down the road, it's a definitely a fine looking game.
The sound is also a welcome home as the ambient background piano like music is something all too familiar for fans. The sound of car engines revving up is also done well, too your car shifting, the friction from the wheels to the pavement is spectacularly done or driving a bit off the pavement occurs different noise effects, and to no surprise since Polyphony's been doing this for awhile now. There isn't a soundtrack to the game, but you'll be treated to a exhilarating tune when you watch your replays.
Gran Turismo HD is nothing more than a great glimpse of what's to come. The game as aforementioned before is rather shallow, but when you can download it for free on the PlayStation Network, it's easily recommendable to any car enthusiast. Even if you haven't previously played Gran Turismo or don't have a penchant for cars, it's still worth a look. But if you're really not a huge fan of real-like driving psychics you'll probably wonder what all the fuss is about, since Polyphony hasn't made any major differences to it's old formula.