Gran Turismo 2 improves on the original with over 650 cars, additional circuits and a new rally mode. The automotive simulation is even more precise and content is phenomenal. One of the most complete games ever released on PS1, consolidating the legendary GT franchise.
Your verdict
Category
Racing2 players3+
Description
Massive Gran Turismo sequel, nearly doubling content with over six hundred licensed cars and over twenty tracks. Created by Polyphony Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment, released in 1999 in Japan, the United States and Europe with revisions. Expanded Arcade and GT modes, rally events alongside circuit racing, class championships and special tunes. Multiple regional releases and revisions.
Gran Turismo 2 review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
3/5
Music
★★★★★
"Memorable"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
A massive sequel to Polyphony Digital's simulation, Gran Turismo 2 cultivates a realistic, meticulous automotive aesthetic. Careful modeling of over six hundred licensed cars, believable circuits, worked reflections and car-magazine presentation make a sober, well-researched art direction. Crisp menus and faithful bodywork serve the mechanical illusion. A clean rendering, a genre benchmark on the console.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Refining road holding and tyre feel further, this sequel expands the garage with hundreds of models and varied disciplines, from rally to pure circuit. The precision of the driving rewards meticulous tuning and patience. A few bugs and uneven polish remain, but the pleasure of bringing each car to its balance point stays intact.
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Stocking a garage with hundreds of cars, lining up event after event to fund the model you crave and tuning every detail to the finest degree extends the original's quest for optimization on an outsized scale. Earning the licenses and beating your times keeps reigniting the loop. The content overflows to the point of sprawl, but this buy-race-tune cycle keeps a stubborn grip.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
With its garage swollen to hundreds of models and its events multiplied, this sequel pushes the limits of collection and career even further. Earning every licence, every championship and every rally permit takes rewarded patience. That colossal content, faithful to the series' spirit, offers a lifespan racing-sim fans savour.
An oversized sequel with a gigantic car roster, shipped on two discs splitting the arcade mode from the simulation mode, a packaging quirk specific to the title. This two-disc structure complicates the hunt for a complete copy, prized by fans of the series at its technical peak. Its interest pairs the game's ambition with the difficulty of reuniting the original set intact.
Better with friends
A gigantic sequel to the flagship simulation, whose vast garage feeds split-screen duels of rare richness. The competition is won at the wheel as much as in the pit: picking the right car and tuning it finely counts as much as mastering the lines. Demanding and generous, it forges lasting rivalries where you compare your times and every rematch is carefully prepared.
A cult cover
The sequel keeps the photographic approach but refines its presentation: a car with character, careful lighting and a sober ground, asserting the expansion of a now-vast garage. The realistic grain and controlled framing extend the promise of a benchmark simulator. Poised and premium, it confirms the visual identity of a cult driving series.
Is Gran Turismo 2 still worth playing in 2026?
Gran Turismo 2 improves on the original with over six hundred and fifty cars, additional tracks and a new rally mode. Car simulation is even more precise, content phenomenal and the rock-and-electronic soundtrack perfect. One of the most generous PS1 games ever, with two discs separating Simulation and Arcade. An absolute peak today.
