System: Sony PlayStation 3

Publisher: Sony

Reviewer’s rating: **1/2

ESRB rating: Everyone

Game type: Racing

Kind of like: “Forza Motorsport 2”

Best feature: 16-player online races.

Worst feature: The menu music sounds like something they’d play on the Weather Channel … in hell.

The bottom line: In case you haven’t heard, “Prologue” is a mere appetizer, just a little taste of the real “Gran Turismo 5,” which is supposed to show up later this year. In other words, it’s a stripped-down, incomplete work-in-progress. In modern game industry parlance, this is referred to as a “demo,” and it’s typically made available to you as a free download.

“Gran Turismo,” being the granddaddy of racing realism, charges $40 for the privilege of taking what amounts to a test drive. In modern criminal parlance, this is referred to as a “rip-off.”

Putting aside our principles, “Prologue” certainly impresses with the same exacting technical mastery you’ve come to expect from the franchise. It’s telling that the developers refer to it as a “driving simulator” rather than a racing game. Each of the 70 or so licensed cars (out of roughly 700 that are planned for the full game) handles just like its real-world counterpart. A front-wheel-drive car won’t feel the same as a rear-wheel-drive one; a midengine will corner differently from a front engine.

Speaking of engines, gearheads beware: All the in-the-garage tuning options have been stripped from “Prologue.” Sorry.

State-of-the-art visuals and online action pump up the value of what might otherwise seem barely different from “GT4.” But, even so, it’s probably best to avoid this shameless money-grab unless you simply can’t wait for the real deal.