Why I think Gran Turismo 2 is the best racing game ever
Since its launch in 1999, Gran Turismo 2 has been considered as one of the best racing games ever created. I try to explain...
In 1999, Polyphony Digital launched what became considered one of the best racing games ever sold. Released as a sequence of the Gran Turismo 1 (Which was the bestselling game for Playstation), the game sold a total of 9.37 million copies, making one of the biggest hits for Playstation. Although it sold less than the previous game, Gran Turismo 2 was more complete, offering more cars (around 650), more tracks (with rally stages), more licenses and more championships.
I consider the best racing game first of all because it was simple and complete. Think that in 1999, a game with those capabilities meant a lot. You could racing modify a car, modify its transmission, aerodynamic, braking settings. Gran Turismo 3 and 4 didnt have many of Gran Turismo 2 resources, like the racing modification. Cars didnt have ESC and TCS as standard, so when you bought yourself a Dodge Viper, it really felt like the beast we became used to. If Gran Turismo evolved this game, instead of creating new stuff like the photo mode, I believe we would have a better Gran Turismo than today.
Here are some of the things I love about the Gran Turismo 2:
Racing Modification was unlocked after installing Weight Reduction Stage 3. It was the most expensive item and it transformed the exterior of the car into a racing spec. The Taurus received the same livery from the NASCAR Taurus. Europeans sedans usually received the BTCC livery.
The menus were simple and the game focused racing, and racing only. There weren’t useless photo or B-Spec modes. The soundtrack was also gave the game a very good atmosphere, the intro had the hit “My Favourite Game” by The Cardigans.
Cars didn’t have ESC and TCS as standard, they were sold as upgrades for cars. This made driving a lot more challenging than the future games. Also, although it had only 5 AI players, they seem to be more challenging than the ones found in future games.
The two player mode was good and simple. You could load the garage of the simulation mode from the inserted memory card, so you would have more options than the cars available from the arcade mode. Also, there was a score after each race, you could gather your friends and make your own championship.
There were lots of cars from the 90’s that never appeared again in a Gran Turismo game. This cars are one of the reasons people still play Gran Turismo 2 and think about the 90’s nostalgia that will come in the next few years.
Images from IGCD, the best source to know which car appear in the games you play…
Comments
Too bad that back then I was something like twelve so I didn’t appreciate this as much as I should’ve.
No love for the suzuki pikes peak Hill climber?
Lots, I think was the Escudo (Vitara for America), I wanted to see the twin engine turbo Swift mk2 previous to the Escudo, both driven by Monster Nobuhiro Tajima
Buy a tvr cerbera: decimate all. Best game ever.
Played gt1 most of my tween years and remember winning championship, selling dameo and repeat till you could afford the mitsubushi gto twin turbo, and tune it to 996bhp
I demand an explonation why the newer gt’s do not have any of the cars as mentioned
I also wanted to hear about that
This was the first proper racing game I ever played. I had the yellow Nismo Skyline from the GT1 category ( not sure if really GT1 ).
Dat body roll on the Mondeo tho! Lol, but in all seriousness, I love GT2, for all the reasons listed. My old PS2 slim is actually sitting on top of my PS4 with GT2 in it.
Personally i think the two best racing games are nfs porsche unleashed and forza 4
Finally someone who loved Porsche Unleashed too. I spent years of my life playing that one. Is there any way to run that on Win10?
And it had a Car List that mattered. Nowadays they removed many fun cars, like the Pulsar GTi-R, Fiat Punto GT Mk1, some of Tommy Kaira models…
The other GTs I finished them and never played again but GT1 and GT2 I regularly throw them in the PS3 just to remember how fun gaming used to be without HD graphics.
Another point: the game didnt force you to spend real cash if you wanted a car like a ford gt 40 because it costs an insane amount of game credits (20 million) and you make 50.000 each race.