This game confounds me.

For a racing title obviously well thought out – an enormous array of available cars, cool minigames, awesome customization, an abundance of tracks, solid graphics and sound, nice in-game menus, etc. - somehow the most obvious of prerequisites escaped its programmers at Black Box. In short: ‘Need for Speed Prostreet (NFSP) controls like sh*t. This single flaw is a kiss of death for any racing title, let alone one with three predecessors on the same console.

To elaborate, every damn vehicle – from basic Nissan tuner to glorious Shelby classic - has the exact same road feel. By ‘road feel,’ I am referring to uncontrolled drifting from side-to-side, horrific in-turn handling, and zero sense of suspension. Regardless of track and/or vehicle selected, every race and/or mode in NFSP immediately degenerates into steering drunk paper airplanes on wheels.

Your competition certainly doesn’t help the cause. For starters, they travel in side-to-side packs of three, taking up the entire road in the process. Yes, the same configuration oblivious jackasses at airports adopt, forcing hundreds aiming to catch connecting flights into body contortion simply to pass. Passing cars in NFSP isn’t any easier, as it requires damaging jostling to break the infamous Steadfast Line of Auto Three.

Moreover, this same competition line is continuously emitting peculiar and disorienting waves behind them. Being pragmatic, I’m assuming Black Box thought this effect simultaneously visually cool while exhibiting a sense of road speed.

Try again. There’s nothing enjoyable about a car seemingly controlling itself, let alone stuck behind competition emitting the vehicular equivalent of reefer disorientation.

I would likely have more sympathy for NFSP is not for an already robust array of strong racing titles on the PSP. ‘Wipeout Pure,’ ‘Ridge Racer,’ ‘Sega Rally,’ EA’s own ‘Burnout Legends,’ and sadly any of the previous three titles in the ‘Need for Speed’ PSP series. (Yes, you read that last part correctly.)

SUMMARY: ‘Need for Speed Prostreet’ is easily the worst of the PSP series, a controlling mess where concept did not transition to actual gameplay. There are far too many stronger portable racing alternatives to justify even renting this title.

CONCLUSION: 3.5 [VEHICULAR REEFER DISORENTATIONS] OUT OF 10.