Not only best in the series, but best in the genre.

User Rating: 9.7 | GTR 2 PC
By abergfeld | Review Date:
Racing sims are in short supply these days. For those of us who don't want to run from the cops, defeat a rival gang or add neon to our cars, there's precious little to choose from. I own TOCA 3, GTR and now GTR2 and GTR2 is far and away the best of the bunch. IMHO, TOCA is an arcade game by comparison. GTR's race weekends with practice and qualifying simply offer more than either the ladder progression (without qualifying) or the 3-5 lap class races of TOCA. Graphics are superb, as is sound. The menu can be gawdawful confusing and it takes a couple of hours to settle in on how you want your game set up (view, driving assists, video options, force feedback, etc.), but once you get there, it is the most lifelike racing experience I've had on a PC. I've driven a fair amount of autocross and the physics in GRT 2 are spot on in my experience. Key features for me: 1) GTR 2 has lots of "custom championships" with just a few events so you can compete in an evening instead of a month. It also has full championships so you can compete for a month if you want to. 2) Once you find the right level of driving assists (for me it's semi-pro with auto trans, leaving antilocks and traction control on, but everything else off), you can tune your car AND your competition. The AI can be tuned in percentage points. for example, I am not a gearhead so I load the default setup and reduce the AI so that I am competitive - around 96 or 97% seems to work for me. That may not help online, but in the single player it makes your experience not-too-easy and not-too-hard. 3) Amazing replays. This is the only game that I've ever watched replays on. You feel like you're really watching a race - and the screenshots! Great wallpaper material.

The only knock on gameplay (and maybe it's my lack of setup skill) is qualifying. I consistently qualify low - or last , yet when it's race time, I'm usually on the podium if I don't crash out. There is a default setup - perhaps a default qualifying setup would help. Bottom line: this sim will keep you busy a very long time. Multiple championships, multiple classes, multiple cars and online racing. All this for the princely sum of $20. An absolute no brainer for any sim racing fan.

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