No race fixing, no political in-fighting and definitely no sex scandals – F1 2009 is all about the adrenaline-pumping g-force action on the track.

It was 2006 when the last Formula 1 game appeared on PSP so a new version has been long overdue.

Since the last game there have been countless rule changes, a bunch of new countries joining the F1 circus and more negative stories rocking the sport than Michael Schumacher had grand prix wins.

We’ve even had two new British world champions.

Despite all the turmoil the core of the sport remains the same.

It’s still about driving fast. Really fast.

It’s still all abut teams striving to put out the best cars for the best drivers in the world to race at super fast speeds around twisty-turny tracks in glamorous locations such as Monte Carlo, Monza and Sao Paulo.

It’s still the pinnacle of motorsport.

Your Local Guardian: F1 2009

The last F1 outing on the PSP was the work of developer SCE Studios Liverpool and publisher Sony. It’s all-change this time, with Sumo Digital behind the development wheel and Codemasters the publishing crew.

The new team have done a very commendable job of capturing the speed and thrill of F1 racing, although I feel they haven’t quite perfected the formula.

Being an official licence F1 2009 contains all the cars, drivers and tracks from the real-world 2009 season. Cramming all of this authenticity into the game is a great accomplishment but it provides the game’s biggest problem.

Coming out at the end of what has undeniably been a superb F1 season means the game is immediately out-of-date.

Already in the last few days the Brawn team have been taken over by Mercedes and Jenson Button has moved to McLaren.

I would have preferred to see the game get released early next year to coincide with the 2010 season which would at least give players a few months to mirror the sport in its contemporaneous format.

Your Local Guardian: F1 2009

F1 2009 includes several modes of play. You can jump straight into a one-off race on a track of your choice or you can play through a grand prix weekend. You can race solo in time trial laps or work your way through 75 skills challenges.

In the two most extensive modes you can play an entire F1 championship or forge a career over three seasons.

There is also wireless multiplayer should you want it.

It’s an impressive amount of content, but what really matters of course is how the game drives once you eventually pull away from the start grid.

In the game you can race in any of the 20 cars but whichever one you choose controlling it will take some trial and error.

It’s not that the controls themselves are hard to grasp. It’s simply X for accelerate, square for brake and circle for KERS. For steering it’s the analogue stick or d-pad buttons – I’ve found the d-pad to be slightly more precise. Other buttons are used for camera, glancing behind and changing gear, depending if you go for automatic or manual.

What takes the trial and error is figuring out the best car handling configuration for your skills.

There are various driving aids which can be switched on or off, such as racing line, predictive braking, steering assistance, anti skid and anti wheel spin.

I found the default settings, where most of the aids are active, was far too simplistic. It almost felt like the car was on auto-pilot.

But when I turned the supports off, the handling got very twitchy and I started sliding all over the track, and off it.

I’m still working on finding my own happy medium, and finding yours is likely to take quite some perseverance. Don’t be put off though, because once you start to tame the car handling F1 2009 starts to be a very rewarding experience.

Your Local Guardian: F1 2009

True to life, the racing is very high-pressure and intense, though the computer drivers unfortunately don’t display much intelligence or personality.

This is also a very technical racing game, as the real sport is, with accurate cornering, effective use of the KERS power function and tyre/fuel wear all playing their part in whether you storm to the front of the pack or get left behind as a tail-ender.

You can make multiple adjustments to your car’s settings to try and shave off all-important fractions of seconds from your lap times.

You can also decide whether to switch on numerous settings such as car damage, component failure, penalties and variable weather should you choose to really immerse yourself in the F1 world.

Obviously a video game is never going to reproduce the physical demands of F1 racing but in some ways at least this game does offer a realistic simulation.

Getting to grips with the finer points of the game takes some patience but, as with the handling options before, it’s worth sticking with.

Your Local Guardian: F1 2009

Graphically, F1 2009 is good but not incredible. The visuals don’t have the wow factor.

The graphics don’t look particularly enhanced from the previous F1 game on the platform, which I’m sure says more for the PSP’s limitations than the effort put into designing the game.

The cars look decent, the tracks are very nice looking and the game provides an impressive sense of speed. But conversely there are moments when the graphics look a little blocky or pixelated, and there is also the occasional frame-rate blip especially when there are multiple cars on screen.

Everything about the visuals is perfectly adequate, there is just nothing which blows me away. One let-down in the graphics department is the way your car behaves in a collision either with another car or a barrier. A wheel may buckle or a bit of bodywork may pop off, but it’s a very feeble representation of a high-speed smash.

The on-screen interface during races isn’t as polished as it could be, with some of the important telemetry being too small and difficult to read when concentrating on driving.

Audio in the game is OK but nothing special. The cars give a respectable deep throaty growl when going slowly but this builds to a slightly annoying squeaky whir by the time you reach top speed. There is no race commentary, the only voice you occasionally hear is your race engineer over the radio.

Your Local Guardian: F1 2009

Pre and post race there isn’t much pomp and ceremony. The game doesn’t communicate the glamour and prestige of the real sport very well. The racing action is very good but the overall presentation is uninspiring and lacks refinement. Think of the glitzy showy style in which F1 is presented on TV – this game lacks that sophistication.

While there aren’t really any out-and-out motor racing games on the PSP to rival the depth and detail of F1 2009, there have been a lot of other driving games released recently which provide tough competition for players’ attention.

If you’re not a massive F1 fan then this is unlikely to convert you, and you may be better off sticking to Gran Turismo or Need For Speed Shift.

However, if you prefer race cars to road cars then this is the game for you. It’s fast, fun and a fine rendition of the F1 format for handheld gaming.

Verdict: 8 out of 10 – Probably about as accurate as motor racing could be on Sony’s portable games device, F1 2009 is an impressively fast and satisfyingly deep game.