Gran Turismo 2 (1999 Video Game) User Reviews

Brilliant racing game!

[jamiecostelo58 · 9/10 · 3 January 2007]

I love GT2 so much I play it nearly every day, even if it is a little dated than when first released in 1999. Graphics are very good, there are a couple of pop-up areas, but the wide range of cars is superb, and being a car fanatic myself, I was surprised to see a number of vehicles I've never even heard of! GT mode is just great; hundreds of races to choose from, strong licence tests and fun rally events all combine to make GT2 a legend in the car racing genre.

Arcade mode too is thrilling, and replays are just as satisfying. Choose to race a little Suzuki or Daihatsu, BMW 3-Series to the legendary Chevrolet Corvette, the choice is yours! GT2 is terrific, it's a game that still makes me smile even eight years later, and is there to be enjoyed by even gamers who don't like car racing. 9/10

The best car game of the 20th century.

[M4XB0X · 9/10 · 10 November 2023]

The graphics, the realism, the vastness of the machine park, never seen anything like it in a game, even surpassing its excellent predecessor. Truly a piece of history of the Sony console and racing games in general. So engaging and simulative that getting behind the wheel after playing was dangerous, you risked breaking away at every turn! Being able to modify the cars in their various components, improve their performance and challenge your opponents even with the split screen (the only resource of the time) was really fun. It changed the history of motorsport simulations without a doubt, creating a new standard for its time.

The greatest car game ever

[thebestal · 8/10 · 3 September 2000]

I think this is the best car racing game ever made the only thing on the whole game that I don't like is the way the cars reflect the sun because it stops you seeing the full detail of the car. I think that they should have put older cars on as well but hopefully they will for gran turismo for the play station 2.

Brilliant racing game!

[Eamonn_green · 13 August 2002]

This was the best racing game when it came out unsurprisingly and it has a combination of great graphics and gameplay. Someone mentioned pop ups, did they make the game less fun? No! Could there have anything with the power they had(32 bit) that could have stopped this? No! It's no big deal. No playstation 1 racing game can come close to GT2. There are lots of cars. This GT game has more cars than all the rest of them. The are cars ranging from Minis and Diahatsus to Sizukis and Mitshubishis. There are two modes GT and arcade. GT mode is better because you have to buy cars and earn money. This game is great, 10 out of 10 considering the technology.

Quantity over quality? No

[sebastianali123 · 5/10 · 23 April 2022]

Well, i wasnt expected too much since i also didnt like GT1. But now straight to the positives and negatives. First of all, this game like its predecessor it looks INCREDIBLE, easily one of the best looking games on the PS1, even surprass some early PS2 racing games. 10/10 graphics without any doubt.

Second, you have an INSANE amount of cars, like 500 or 600 in a PS1 GAME!!! Even today racing games would dream with that quantity, and while the handling is still very stiff (in fact, i would say is much more rigid than GT1) they remove a lot the oversteer of the car, so it gets a pass. It could control much better, but is still a decent handling nonthenless.

Now the negatives, and honestly, i think this makes the game much worse to play than GT1. The grinding.... good lord... the grinding in this game is TERRIBLE! In GT1 you dont have to win much races to buy cars or upgrades, but in this game you have to win like 4-8 races to make some few upgrades on your car, and the races itself are a lot more harder than GT1, mainly because the of the issue that i mentioned in my GT1 review, the AI could turn without the need to brake sometimes. Well, in GT2 is practically all the time, and in every turn while you are braking, the AI could catch you, and this is much more noticed if you pick up a bad car to start the game, you will find yourself losing a lot of races because the AI would be faster than you in straights and sharp corners, and the money that they give you for winning a race is pathetic. This reminds me to the first Choro Q game, but at least in that game they make you clear that you have to actually grind, making only the first opponent much more faster than you, and they give you a lot of money and the races itself were FUN, while in GT2 the track design is much more forgettable than 1 and the soundtrack wasnt as memorable imo. The padding also returns, recycling the tracks from GT1, recycling the tracks from GT2 constantly in mid game, and the return of the 2 hours tracks. The much more longer loading times (even in menus) and the return of the licenses also dont help either.

Now the rally races.... Good lord, if the races in road have clunky controls, now in the rally races unless you get a very good car is just so bad, and this races take up like half (or slighty less) of the game. They demand you absolutely perfection even in the first races, this also applies to the licenses, because even if their are like i said before a lot easier than the first game, that doesnt mean they arent still hard, and while i hate it less more than the first one, the developers putted much more license challenges, and the padding is just so bad... Rally, licenses, repetition of tracks, 2 hours tracks, HP limit for certain races, grinding, and everything else, this game is just full of padding. While this also was an issue for GT1, it wasnt too bad to be honest, the game was much more simple and once you got all the licenses there wasnt too much events in the game, so GT1 was padded, yes, but short.

The developers tried to make a much more ambitious game, but without solving the previous game flaws their ended making a even more flawed game. While GT1 have terrible controls, at least i have some fun since the grinding and the normal races were ok (except the last ones of course). GT2 isnt a bad game by any means, but rather a game that sucumbed for being too ambitious. Like i said with the first game, this feels like another technical demo, only worth playing because for the novelty of the time, and not for having fun today.

Bigger and better-looking than the first game

[action-6 · 8 July 2000]

Gran Turismo 2 is like GT1 an excellent game. The game is about earning money to buy more powerful cars by winning races. In GT2 you can buy European cars, which you couldn`t do in GT1. The game is a lot bigger than GT1, it has tons of more cars, and improved graphics. The graphics are of a higher resolution and more detailed than in GT1, but this means that GT2 has some problems that GT1 didn`t have. Although slicker-looking than GT1, GT2 has much more pop-up(which means than scenery just pop-up from nowhere) and the game has much more slowdown than before. Many believe that the Gran Turismo-series has the best graphics in of all racing-games on the playstation. This is not correct, because Ridge Racer Type 4(NO pop-up or slowdown at all) looks better than both Gran Turismo-games. The computer-controlled cars also drive more annoying than before. Unlike in the first game, all the computer-controlled cars drive in packs which mean that it is very hard to win, and no matter how fast you drive, the other cars are always right behind you. This can prove to be very annoying. Also, GT2 stops far to often to load. It is understanding since there is much more information to load, but going from the menus to actual racing takes way to long. But GT2 also has the massive and addictive gameplay of the original and is a very good game. However, the game sometimes feels like it`s been rushed out, and the developers should`ve worked on the game for another 6 months before releasing it. It also contains many of the racing-courses from the original game, which in my opinion is very lazy and an excuse for not putting more tracks in there.

But at the end of the day, GT2 will probably last you longer than GT1. I give the game a lower score than GT1, but this is not because it is worse than GT. It`s because it isn`t as impressive and innovative as the original game was when it was released. If you loved or just liked the original, you`d be mad to miss out on Gran Turismo 2. It is one of the biggest playstation1-games of 2000. I look forward to Gran Turismo 2000 on the Playstation 2 later this year. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy GT2. It is not perfect, but still highly enjoyable! 9,5/10