Almost disturbingly short and pretty frustrating at first, but a lot of fun anyway.
Before I talk about all the bad stuff about the game, let me reiterate this: THE GRAPHICS ARE AMAZING!!! This game has to have the best style of anything I think I've ever seen. The cars and tracks don't have the detail of Gran Turismo, but the look that makes playing feel like watching an anime is totally worth it.
But on to the bad stuff. First, the "Garage Life" mode is a lot of fun, but frighteningly short. Even I, a severly average gamer, finished it in around 5 hours. There are 6 levels with 1-6 races in each, of which you only have to finish 1-3. So it would be possible to beat this in something like 3 hours or so. Of course, there is a fair amount of replay value, but it's still too short.
The other bad part is in the control. It takes a long time to get the hang of the game. Also, why in the world will a game that wants you to drift a lot, punish you for drifting? Drifting slows you down almost instantly, while bouncing off a wall does not. Strange stuff. Anyway, once you get the hang of how to "sort of" drift, it's actually a very fun game. The tuing options are neat, although not very extensive. You can only get 2 of each part for a car. Except wheels. There are 108 wheels to choose from. That is very good. And then, for no apparent good reason, you can customive your garage. Weird, but entertaing for a few mintues.
In all, Auto Modellista is a fun, but flawed racer. However, any fan of initial D or any other racing anime should at least rent this. Though at its current price of $4.99 at EBGames, it may be cheaper to buy.