(Review after 100%, took me 20 hours. No gamebreaking bugs or crashes were encountered)

Almost 20 years ago I played this game on release and brought it up with my friends. Quickly it was a go-to at our LAN parties. Hours of fun were spent racing against and crashing into each other. After all this time I wanted to remember those long weekends and experience the game again.


Racing is kept pretty casual. The driving model is very approachable. The driving physics are simple enough for anyone to have early success, but do feature some realism (Different traction for surfaces and drive layouts, for example). Later cars and tracks can be more of a handful, but the difficulty doesn’t get too high. Some tips in the menus give beginners some help (My favorite: Use the brake, Luke).


Cars are split into 3 classes: Derby, race and street. Derby cars are the most resilient and cheapest, street are the fastest but pretty fragile, race is in the middle. A variety of unlicensed models and styles will have something for every player and driving style. The damage models are pretty detailed. The later classes use all track types.

Pretty extensive performance upgrades in 3 tiers keep you modding your cars. A small amount of cars is available from the start, most are unlocked with progression in each class. Usually two cars per class is enough to win all class races comfortably. Money is not a major issue.


Available are circuit races, destruction derbies, events and stunts. All tracks have shortcuts and plenty of destructible objects. Gas stations, malls, trees, fences, RVs make good objects to gain nitrous or smash enemies into. Due to multiple settings (Logging roads, cities, deserts, race tracks) the tracks are kept varied and fresh. No track is badly designed.

Events are some varied settings, like Nascar inspired ovals and some pretty crazy, crash oriented track designs. These are unlocked with class wins, but are not featured in any class cup.

Stunts are games like bowling/curling or sports like football or high jump. The stunts can be pretty challenging. If you go for achievements they will probably the biggest hurdle for getting 100%.


Your fellow racers feel pretty authentic. They make mistakes, crash into each other (Sometimes spectacularly) and it's not always the same person that is leading the pack. They can rubberband and seem to find some nitrous in the fourth dimension in later races, but it's kept at a decent difficulty.


Iconic. The game features some incredibly good tracks that really fit the atmosphere and put it on another level. Artists like Audioslave (With the amazing Chris Cornell) , Rob Zombie, Megadeth (Sadly only as the menu music), Motley Crue, The Chelsea Smiles, Wolfmother and others keep you smiling and the throttle on the floor.


Input can be either keyboard or controller. Keyboard felt more precise and due to an annoying bug (As soon as you alt-tab out of the game or press a keyboard button, the control scheme can switch from controller to keyboard) I kept playing on keyboard after it happened a couple of times. Stunts are a lot easier with the keyboard.


Graphics are of course dated, but still pretty good IMO. The menu is usable and the game supports widescreen and even ultra widescreen monitor resolutions. For some reason it looked a little bright and saturated, but maybe a mod can fix that.


Due to the Workshop support the game can be extensively modded. Sadly no mods are available to replace the mediocre engine sounds.

The LAN multiplayer has been removed, but can be patched back in. I played it vanilla, so I can’t attest to the mod functionality.


Achievements are straightforward and can be done in one run. Only one can be missed, but getting it afterwards takes you 5 minutes. The challenging ones are, as mentioned before, the stunts. Due to plenty of YouTube videos and guides they’re all manageable with some patience and skill.


Even without rose tinted classes this game is still great. Very easy to get into. The
good variety of cars and tracks will keep you going, the music will keep you smiling.

For 80% off this is a steal. A great classic racing game with a lot of fun. Keep away from the later titles in the series (3 and 4 are crap).

Game of my childhood. It is still cool as i remember.

best racing game from the ps2. 100% would recommend to anyone and everyone. Great sound track, fun arcade style racing with great demolition and graphics. BUY IT NOW!