Xbox User Reviews

One of the best racing games, or even games, ever. I have played all kinds of racing games over the years, including hardcore sims like Assetto Corsa and Rfactor 2, I have played the Forza games (both horizon and motorsport) and I have played Gran Turismo 3-4 as well as some other great arcade racers. PGR2 is the most fun one out of them all. The arcade/simcade handling and driving physics in this game is unbelievably satisfying. The way your controller violently rumbles when drift or powerslide out of a corner is just perfect. The handbrake is your friend in this, use it to rotate around corners which is both very satisfying and very effective. Being arcade/simcade, you do have alot of grip in this game but you still have to take the proper racing lines and drive clean if you want to be fast. Think of it as driving a race version with a ton of aerodynamics and racing tires of the production cars you are driving. This game just feels way better to drive than the modern horizon games for instance. You have bunch of incredibly well made cities that you drive in. I have been to Stockholm and Edinburgh which are featured in this game and it's very accurate which is super impressive for an OG Xbox game. The made a bunch of fictional tracks in these accurate cities and oh man are these tracks good. The layout on most of these tracks are just so good, you get all kinds of corners, elevation changes and road width. The reason the driving is so fun in this game is in large part thanks to it's amazing tracks. I did a full playthrough on the hardest diffuclty (platinum) and I considered myself as a pretty darn good driver. This difficulty felt perfect for me the entire playthrough. In some events I really, and I mean really, had to try my best to beat them. The hot laps and cone challanges were particularly difficult but boy did it feel good when you finally beat them. You also have UI and menus that are stylish, extremely snappy and fast. You can get into a race or change a desired setting in less than a minute after putting in your disc in your drive. No server issues or updates, no microtransactions or aggressive advertising in the menus, just plug in your game and play. The only negative thing I have to say about this game is that there is no custom race mode. You can't set up your own race against the AI and drive whatever car and track combo you want. This is a shame because many cars in this are completely outclasses in their respective category of cars and it means there is no game mode where you can actually drive and enjoy these cars. For instance, the Aston Martins Vanquish 2002 is featured in this game and is one of my favorite cars. It drives great, sounds great but it's crap compared to the other cars in it's class and is near useless on platinum, you just don't have a chance. I actually kinda like that not all cars are on the same level in each class, but a custom race mode would have been perfect to drive these underpowered cars and have a good time with them. You simply don't get game like this anymore, it's a masterpiece.

This probably would have been a really good racing game if the campaign was like 1/3 of the length. There were just so many races, it has taken me multiple days to get through them. This is hurt by making the progression so painfully linear, moving you up each class slowly and tediously one by one. It would have benefitted a lot from maybe jumping back and forth between the unlocked classes to give a sense of variety. There is a lot of unique content to be had, it is just very stretched out. It also didn't help that the first time I drove a car that I felt was fast and sporty was like 10 hours in. The graphic however are great for the period and although small the soundtrack had a few great songs, some of which have escaped to my own playlist. The handling and physics were meh, nothing really standout about them just basic, grippy and all around uninspired - the game could have potentially benefitted by leaning a bit further into either a sim model or a more arcade - akin to Racedriver Grid for instance - model. It makes me happy that another PGR game has Geometry Wars hidden in the garage like PGR3 which I was so fond of growing up.

Incredible. Controls are really nice, cars look and sound great, among some of the best graphics on the original Xbox. Love the simple menus, what happened to those.. really cool to listen to music and local radio stations based on where you are racing, LOVED THAT!

The golden mean between a car simulator and an arcade race. Excellent car physics. It was not easy to complete the game and get all the platinum medals. Time Attack and Cone Challenge are the most difficult stages in the game. All cities are worked out to the smallest detail. Incredible graphics for 2003.

Still the best arcade handling model to this day. You've probably played Horizon if you're reading this, and the entire PGR series honestly embarrasses that franchise in terms of handling, and PGR2 is the best of the bunch in that regard. Very snappy and smooth, you need to be gentle and progressive with your brake and throttle application but aggressive with the steering. It's easy to learn but very hard to master. Higher difficulty levels are truly brutal. Main campaign is long with excellent progression, you start with hot hatches (and some super hot hatches like the Clio V6 and Integrale) and build up to the fastest road cars of the time (CGT, Enzo, S7). Pretty much all of the cars on the list are legends at this point. All of the tracks are actual road layouts from the real world, spanning several cities, and it even has the full Nordschliefe. Couldn't recommend more, you can feel the amount of care and dedication that went into this game. Even the radio stations in the game that play are local to the city you're in. It reminds you of what we've lost in the racing game market. They really just don't make racers like this anymore. Of all the racing games I've played, which are many, both arcade and sim, casually and competitively, this is my favorite. It deserves to be considered alongside GT4, FM4, FH2, NASCAR Thunder 2004, Rallisport Challenge 2, PGR 4, NFS MW, and all the other legendary racing games. Also it has Geometry Dash.

Miglior racing mai creato, grafica mostruosa anche nel 2023, colonna sonora migliore di sempre, modello di guida di gran lunga il più appagante di sempre, in poche parole CAPOLAVORO ASSOLUTO!!!

Pioneer in its genre with circuit in real streets. He gave a kick in graphics, speed and gameplay to PS2 Gran Turismo

The best racing game for the original Xbox. From visuals to perfect driving mechanics - everything works fine in this fun game. Overall rating: 9.2.

this game is just based aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

This game is a classic Xbox game. I love that this game has damage, which a lot of racing games like gran turismo lack. Looks beautiful, definitely great!

PGR2 was better than its predecessor in every way and pushed the Original Xbox graphics to new limits.

This game is possibly the most overrated racing game ever. Still don't understand why people like this game so much. The racing's clunky, the car balancing is god-awful (some cars will ALWAYS beat other cars, even if they're in the same catagory), the A.I. is flawless and becomes impossible in harder modes, and the Kudos system is set up in such a way that it feels like YEARS before you unlock every car. I could go on and on, but i don't feel like it.

This is the game that kicked off my foray into the racing genre and I've honestly never looked back. It's a game I played for hours on end with family and friends via couch co-op. Even by today's standards, the graphics still hold up rather well for a 16 year old game. The tracks are largely city streets and they're all rendered beautifully, considering the Xbox hardware specs for the time. Sadly, this game has largely fallen by the wayside among the emergence of Forza Motorsport, Project Cars, Grand Turismo and Need For Speed. But it was a legitimate contender for being the one of best racing series available, making Project Gotham Racing 2 and under appreciated gem.

Couldn't ask for much more from a racing game on that generation of consoles. perfect blend of arcade and sim and love the kudos system. Worth itttttt

This game ****!!!!!! You have to play it for hours before you can use any of the good cars. The steering is difficult because it starts you off with bad cars. And the courses also ****, because they're too short. Don't bother with this one. All the positive reviews for this game are likely from people who have played the game for ample time. If you're looking for a quick play to have fun, look elsewhere.

The best racing game I've ever played. The sheer perfection of practically everything makes this a game worth getting no matter what the cost. With so many beautiful cars, tracks, wonderful custom track list and just so many songs, wonderful menus, organization of the showcase, impressive online, single, and multiplayer modes, including the arcade mode... etc. etc. The main single player campaign is pretty long and the replay value is pretty high, assuming you want to play online or test your skills at getting some of the bonus cars in the game (my favorite being the Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion. Anyways, this game is extremely satisfying - buy it right now! Gameplay: 9.5/10 Story: N/A/10 Music: 9.5/10 Presentation: 9.5/10 Length: 9.5/10 Overall: 10/10

While I have played racers that have a purer fun factor and others with OTT simulation, this is likely the slickest racing game I will ever play. The mere act of driving through the streets of its many cities is cool in every sense, particularly at night and your favourite track on the in game radio comes on. The difficulty is just about right, arcade mode in particular demands a challenge even for gold medals which makes them all the more satisfying once you have attained them. Graphically still holds up, the cities are wholly convincing and little touches like the cable cars moving in the background of Barcelona or trains on the rails above in Chicago show a great deal of care. Racing feels smooth, not frustrating like sims can be but definitely need a bit of mastery that other arcade racers don't cater for. Racing style is what the game wants, and you will want to beat the game with as much Kudos as possible after a short time getting in the groove, and ultimately its a game that's very hard to put down. Buy if you liked the other PGR games, and try it out if forza is just not as fun as you would like, but still want a game with somewhat grounded racing.