It took its time to come out, but TDU is a worthy racing game for the PSP, made better by the decent online element
I'd have to say that first impressions of the game are very good. It kicks off in exactly the same way as the 360 version, with your character boarding a plane to Oahu, renting a car to get you about, then going off to buy your first car/house. From there on, its a case of completing various different races to build up your Master Points (experience points basically), which will then unlock further races to take part in, and further cars/houses to buy.
Graphically, the game is very good. Ok, it doesn't compare with the gorgeous HD graphics of the 360 version, but then it was never going to. I'd recently been playing TOCA Race Driver 3 on the PSP, and TDU looks miles better. The lack of the in-car view is a shame, as this is one of the best features on the 360, but then I appreciate that the limitations of the PSP were never gonna make this view possible. The car models though are of a very good standard (for a handheld), and the draw distance is superb, particularly when you get up in the mountain roads.
The in-game sound is good too. Each car has a sufficiently distinctive engine/exhaust note (particularly if you're playing through earphones) and the soundtrack is basically the same as the 360's, with a host of different tunes, albeit mostly from largely unknown bands - good to hear 'Back Again' by Boy Kill Boy though :-)
As a whole, the racing in the game is good. You get the option to select the difficulty level for each race (something not possible on the 360 version), which will increase/decrease your potential winnings from the game, although most of the early races are still relatively straightforward on the 'Hard' setting. This makes it easy enough, albeit with a bit of repetition, to gain a decent amount of cash quickly, and then go and buy a few fancy cars. I've not played enough of the game to comment on the relative difficulty of some of the later races, but if its anything like the 360 then it shouldn't be too taxing.
There's hundreds of different races to take part in, and the structure of some of the races, particularly the club concept, is sufficiently different from the 360 version to hold your interest (I can't see that the dreaded Tantalus race features in the PSP game for instance...). It can become repetitive though in that you're just completing one race then driving to the next without anything to link one to another, but then recent racing games that feature too heavily on a "story" have been a bit naff, imo - the last few NFS games for instance.
One of the best features of the game is in the online racing. Exactly as with the 360 game, if you're hooked up online then you can cruise around and "meet" other online players who you can immediately challenge to a race, or just randomly drive about with. Its not quite as unlimited as it sounds in that the servers only allow a handful of players to be on screen together at any one time, but on the whole it works well and as the game becomes more popular then there'll be no shortage of real people to race against. To be honest, I'm amazed that they were able to incorporate this feature into the PSP version, and its perhaps this which sets it apart from the multitude of other racing games available on the PSP. My only concern is whether the PSP's WiFi connection can cope with it, my console was rather warm after just a couple of hour's online play...
I'm disappointed that there's no motorbikes in this game, as they provided a welcome change in the 360 version to the, admittedly quite repetitive, car racing. There's also no "mission" events in this one (Car Transport, Top Model, etc, if you're familiar with the 360 game) which is a shame as these were a good way of exploring the island and earning decent money. There's also no Ferraris or Maseratis in the PSP game, presumably something to do with Sony's licensing arrangements... :-(
In conclusion, this is without doubt one of the best racing games available for the PSP at the moment. It looks and sounds good, and has enough races to keep you immersed in it for months. The online element also adds further interest and longevity to the game, and should result in a similar community atmosphere to that of the 360 version. If you're into your racing games then this is definitely money well spent.