question about git and remote repositories

Hi,

If I want to start working on a project that uses git (and I want to use 
git also), I first need to clone the project's repo. That is very slow 
(using the git:// protocol). Are there alternatives? For example, as far 
as I understand, if all I want is to get the latest commit in HEAD, 
branch from it and start working, then all git really needs to have is 
all objects referenced from that commit (commit, trees, blobs) and 
that's it, right? (as long as I don't expect to see full log of past 
operations)

Thanks,
Ittay

-- 
Ittay Dror [off-list ref]
Tikal <http://www.tikalk.com>
Tikal Project <http://tikal.sourceforge.net>