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When Simbin released the original GTR on PC, simulation racing fans were treated to one of the single greatest sim race titles to hit the PC. Now, Simbin is back with GTR2, which takes everything we loved about the original and turns it up just enough to make this a worthy sequel.

The game features less than 12 tracks to race on, and 25 licensed cars. Not bad numbers on their own, but when compared to the promised “34 different track variations” and 114 available cars, one can’t help but feel cheated a bit. The reason they can get away with these claims is that they count duplicate cars on different teams as unique cars, and by altering the track layouts and calling it new. It’s somewhat disappointing to see such misleading claims being made, but it doesn’t actually effect the overall game.

GTR 2, much like the previous installment, has three modes to play: novice, semi-pro and professional. A new addition this year is a school mode that will help you learn the basics of the GTR world. It’s a nice bonus for those new to the simulation world of racing. During the school you are given certain tasks to complete, usually very simple tasks like braking and accelerating. Completing the tasks unlocks tracks and championships in the rest of the game, so there is a bit of an incentive for experienced players to run through it.

For GTR 2 there are custom championships to help flesh out the game from the basic 2003 and 2004 FIA championships available. As you begin to gain access to them, they start of relatively simple, and eventually grow into long, complex events. There are also endurance modes to play through, that can be raced in time-scale or real-time. There’s even the option to turn control over to an AI driver if you need to move away from the computer during the race.

The difficulty setting is adjusted 2 ways: a slider that allows you to choose a percentage of reality, and a simple difficulty level selector. Be careful, though, because even if you select easy for your difficulty but have the slider up to 100%, you’re going to have to really burn rubber to be able to stay neck and neck with the opponents you’ll come across. It takes some getting used to in order to find a comfortable difficulty setting that won’t leave you in the dust or miles ahead of the competition.

On top of being able to adjust the difficulty, you’re also able to adjust the AI’s level of aggression. It’s a great system that really changes the way a race is played. If you turn the aggression up, you get some mean rear-ends and side swipes, while clean racers will just do their best to pass you. It’s a cool way to add some replayability to the game in terms of giving new life to your opponents.

Then there’s online play, which is far better implemented than last years installment. The technical problems from last year are mostly gone, and playing through a race with a dozen other players is a great experience that borders on intense when going neck to neck. There’s really not much else to say about playing online. The experience is really dictated by who you play with. There are a lot of dirty players out there, but there’s also a lot of clean ones that are just there for fun. If you can find the right people to play with, you’ll be able to have fun with GTR 2 for a long time to come.

The game looks damn nice. Cars are painstakingly detailed, including full 3D rendered interiors and slick, nearly photorealistic exteriors. Of course, as with any game that boasts graphics of such a caliber, only gamers with cream of the crop gaming rigs will be able to enjoy it in it’s fullest glory without experiencing some serious lag. The one problem with the graphics is that setting your PC to run smoothly on one track doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the same smooth performance on all tracks. It seems some tracks take more horsepower to run than others, and as a result, you’ll be forced to fiddle with your settings quite a bit before coming to a happy medium. One sweet visual touch is the lense flare from the sun. When driving right into it, it can practically blind you, just like real-life. This is a feature some will argue is detrimental to the game, but I think it works wonderfully. It puts the game into a whole new realm of realism.

On the sound side of things, the game remains every bit as good as last year. Individually customizable sounds for various elements of your car, as well as cars around you are available, and all sound very authentic. It’s hard to expect anything in the way of improvement for sound effects when they sound as legit as this.

GTR 2 is an improvement over the already great GTR. It’s not worlds apart, but when you have such a great foundation to work off, it doesn’t have to be. If you’re a fan of the original, you should really pick this up, as you should if you’re at all interested in sim racers. It’s not for everyone, though, and gamers that enjoy Need for Speed or Forza Motorsport might be put off by the complex interface and un-arcade gameplay mechanics.