Game Review: Gran Turismo 2

It's time to race on a higher level....

Polyphony Digital brings the Real Driving Simulator back for a second lap with Gran Turismo 2. With over 500 cars, more than doubling GT1's 160, 38 manufacturers tripling GT1's 11, and 6 licenses vs GT1's 3 buckle in it's gonna be a long ride.

GT1 showed you how to drive like a pro, GT2 is gonna see if you were paying attention!

Drivers education 2.0...

Lets go get our license to drive. First thing you'll notice is there are six licenses to acquire now B, A, IC, IB, IA & S. The tests are much the same as GT1, braking, cornering, S-turns, handling variances between FF/FR/4WD etc.

Lets go buy a car, GT2 Has four districts representing the four corners of the world and their respective manufacturers.

+=New Manufacturer

North City:

Aston Martin

+Audi

+BMW

+Jaguar

+Lister

+Lotus

+Mercedes Benz

+MG

+Mini

TVR

+Opel

+RUF

+Volkswagon

South City:

Acura

+Chrysler

Chevrolet

Dodge

+Ford

+Mercury

+Plymouth

+Shelby

+Vector

East City:

+Daihatsu

Honda

Mazda

Mitsubishi

Nissan

Subaru

+Suzuki

+Tommy Kaira

Toyota

West City:

+Alpha Romeo

+Citroen

+FIAT

+Lancia

+Peugeot

+Renault

+Venturi

Gran Turismo 2 adds 11 new race tracks to more than double the amount GT1 had!

+=new track

Autumn Ring

+Apricot Hill

Clubman Stage R5

Deep Forest

+Grindelwald

Grand Valley East

High Speed Ring

+Laguna Seca

+Midfield Raceway

+Red Rock Valley

+Rome Cicuit

+Rome ShortSpecial Stage R5

+Seattle Cicuit

+Seattle Short

Super Speedway

+Tahiti Road

Trial Mountain

+Test Course

GT2 offers four separate events, the GT league, Special Events, Endurance Races and Rally Events. GT2 takes the Races and Championships from GT1 and adds a plethora of new races, cups and challenges like the K-Cup, Luxury Sedan Cup, Convertible Car World, Compact Car World Muscle Car Cup, Historic Car Cup, Station Wagon Cup, Grand Touring Car Trophy

80's Car Cup, Gran Turismo All Stars, GT300 & 500 Championship.

Gran Turismo2 expands the Endurance Races from GT1 with the return of the Grand Valley 300km (60 laps), Apricot Hill 200 km, Seattle Circuit 100 miles, Laguna Seca 200 miles, Rome Circuit 2 hours, Trial Mountain 30 laps, and SS Route All Night.

Polyphony Digital added Rally Racing to GT2 and was toying with drag racing but opted not to include Drag Racing at the last minute. The Rally Events include Smokey Mountain North/South/reverse, Green Forest Roadway, Tahiti Maze, Tahiti Dirt R3/reverse, Pikes Peak Uphill/Down hill Challenge.

Grand Turismo improves on the original in every way, the graphics show improvement, the sheer number of new manufacturers and cars is astounding, the handling is vastly improved which says alot considering the first was revolutionary, the addition of Rally races expands the franchises influence but needs a bit of work on the way the cars handle off road....they handle too similarly to when they're on a track in my opinion. The inclusion of muscle cars of the 60's and 70's is a great addition and is cool pitting A Dodge Viper GTS against a 71' Dodge Charger!

GT2 is a fun ride!

9/10