TOCA Race Driver 2 claims to be the ultimate racing simulator. This is an enormous claim to make and would put it ahead of all other racing games.

Unlike many games that falsely label themselves as being the greatest in their genre, Toca Race Driver 2 is actually right.

The game spans over eight seasons where gamers progress from being a rookie to taking part in the Masters Grand Prix, which is essentially Formula One.

Toca covers an impressive 15 motor sports seeing gamers race in 1950s hotrods, rally cross, formula ford cars and a whole host of other motoring delights.

The storyline progresses after each championship with amazing animation that is as realistic as that seen in LMA Manager, another top title from Codemasters.

TOCA Race Driver 2 is a dream to play. Cars handle extremely smoothly and the graphics are as realistic as the likes of Gran Turismo.

Interestingly there are no TOCA touring cars any more but the diverse range of cars available more than makes up for this.

Collisions and damage are still as apparent as ever. This means you can quite happily ram into other vehicles that aggravate you and leave a nice satisfying dent in the side of their car.

In terms of multiplayer capabilities, up to eight people can play at any one time online. This can lead to some very intense frantic races that are much closer than merely playing against the computer.

For a start there is always a lot more ramming and barging when playing online.

TOCA Race Driver 2 is an essential purchase for racing fans everywhere and is one of these games that just has to be in your collection.

It would seem that racing could not get any better than this, but Gran Turismo 4 is round the corner so let's keep our fingers crossed that it can.

Michael Wilson

PRICE: £39.99

AGE RATING: 12+

GENRE: Racing

FORMAT: PS2/PC

GRAPHICS: 19/20

SOUND: 17/20

GAMEPLAY: 23/25

LIFESPAN: 20/25

ORIGINALITY: 8/10

OVERALL: 87%

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