Do you remember the time when the most important factor in a racing game was fun? It was long before the wannabe realism of Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport or the vast and lifeless environments of Burnout Paradise or Need for Speed Undercover; racing games aimed to be simple, concise and, above all, fun.

GTI Club+ is a remake of Konami’s 1996 arcade game, GTI Club, and it very much holds on to the ideas and mindset of a racing game from some 13 years hence. There is only one area in which to race (around the titular French Riviera region), although it features a veritable labyrinth of twisting roads and routes to explore, encouraging experimentation to find the best and fastest path. You have a choice of only five cars (a line-up of famous super-minis; see Mean Machines), but in truth the difference between them is negligible, and each can be fully customised with stickers and decals earnt from racing.

The game boasts an unrivalled sense of immediacy and accessibility. The handling is wonderfully responsive and you will rarely need the brakes in the early races, while you find you feet, as it were. Each race takes place against seven AI rivals, and even at the easy level they’re adequately positioned to keep you on your toes and punish mistakes. While entertaining, the offline races really act as a training of sorts, as with no local multiplayer and only a few courses to race across it can soon become exhausted.

However, it is online where GTI Club+ really shines. You can compete on each of the three variations of the racetrack with up to seven opponents. You can review people’s stats whilst waiting in the lobby, and games can be locked as invite-only if you host it. Connections are generally very good and the adequate online community is friendly and sporting, bar the odd rare occassion - at least you have the option to mute people if you wish and, if you’re hosting the race, to eject any delinquents.

Bombtag is without doubt the game’s most enjoyable aspect - played online with two to eight players in one of three arenas, one of the players is given the bomb at random and he or she has to ‘pass it on’ by hitting other cars, and whoever has the bomb when the timer hits zero loses. It’s a simple concept but a compulsive and immersive one - gaming on the internet provides few moments of elation like passing on the bomb after a frantic chase when it’s seconds from destruction, and watching your prey helpless as they go up in flames.

In terms of style and presentation, GTI Club+ has very much kept its 1990s arcade cabinet aesthetic. The graphics have been given a HD lick of paint and the music and voiceovers are all incessantly chirpy and definitely sporting the feel of an arcade game. It runs at 60fps ensuring a smooth ride and there are no technical issues to speak of. It may not be a technical tour-de-force, but graphical muscle and aesthetic prowess has been traded for a smooth and seamless ride - both online and off - which seems like an utterly agreeable trade-off. The game also includes Trophy support and the capability to steer with the Sixaxis controller, although this was a little awkward to get used to and we felt it brought no real benefits over using the more natural analogue sticks.

GTI Club+ is a gem of a game. In the current racing landscape littered with big-budget and hugely hyped titles, this is a refreshing sunbeam which stands out by trimming all the unnecessary fat. There’s not a huge amount of content here but it has been built with online play at its centre, and at just ten pounds complaints about brevity are a little unfair. What you have here is a wonderfully entertaining and accessible racer which will perfectly compliment a PSN collection alongside the likes of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Wipeout HD, and a game that stands out as one of the most enjoyable PSN additions to date.