Just to add my .02; I just recieved my PPL a couple of weeks ago with 40.2 hours at the time of my checkride. But like others I did it very quickly flying 3-4 hours per day over a 15 day period. It seemed to work for me as I felt very comfortable and confident for the checkride, but I know I still have a lot of learning to do and that that type of training won't work for everyone.

It was a long time ago (1994) but I got my private pilot certificate at 21 hrs, which was double the requirement of 10hrs for the private pilot certificate.