Main game
3.88 average rating based on 547 ratings

When looking to improve but also cash in on the success of the first Gran Turismo, they kinda rushed the second one. I remember the 2 CD box for the Playstation and seeing the cover for the first time. There is just certain games that represent the best era in gaming for me, and this is one of them.
There's more of the same in GT2. Championships, licenses, events and tons of cars to collect. It was somewhat glitchy on release but the gameplay overall was still amazing and felt good. Heavy, responsive driving with tracks varied by weather, mirroring and time of day. I fondly remember wanting to collect each and every car, and hoping to race with all of them. Quite the task, but endlessly fun and addictive. GT2 further solidified my love for a series I still play to this day. On to 3!!
So I just picked this game up today and I had the craziest experience. I started playing and could not figure out how all the controls worked for the game. I spent about 15 minutes searching for menus that displayed the controls and attempted to brute force my way through a race or two. Then it hit me. I JUST HAD TO LOOK AT THE MANUAL! And there it was. All the controls listed for how to drive cars! When is the last time that you have actually read a manual? It kinda blew my mind. I used to read every manual on the car ride home from the store and now it didn't even cross my mind until 15 minutes of gameplay. Just thought I'd share this long lost experience.
Playing this for the first time in 2022, and it's pretty underwhelming. The "arcade" CD at least, has all of three tracks in the road racing mode, and then another couple in rally mode. Seems you're expected to unlock more by winning simulator races from the other CD, but no thanks. It also plays the same Stone Temple Pilots or Rob Zombie song over and over through the race, which I'll be muting if I revisit this.
Car handling and all that is nice. It's just not really my thing.