It's a somewhat bizarre situation, but each new Codemasters offering fills me with a strange negativity. You see, when games developers continue to push the boundaries of expectation, it seems as though their new offerings should be expected to surpass expectations, which usually leads to disappointment. But it just hasn't happened with Codemasters - the bar just gets higher and higher, from the misty-eyed days of Micro Machines on the NES through to Colin McRae Rally on the PSOne, Codemasters racers have never left me disappointed.

The result of this is that the announcement of each new Codemasters racer fills me with dread, because I think that this is the one that's going to let me down, and it doesn't, and so the expectations are raised for the next title, and then the next and so on, all the while waiting for the inevitable slip-up. And guess what? This isn't it! Just like the original TOCA Race Driver, TOCA Race Driver 2 is everything a PS2 racer should be, and that little bit more for good measure!

The TOCA range has never been an exception to the Codemasters development pedigree; right from its first incarnation on PC and PSOne, TOCA has set (and subsequently raised, with the additions of TOCA 2 and TOCA World Touring Cars) the benchmark for simulation racers. Perhaps the greatest compliment one can pay to TOCA is that it is the only racer, on PS2 at least, that stands alone from the huge shadow cast by Sony's goliath Gran Turismo. Instead of falling victim to this giant of PS2 racers, TOCA has always existed as an outsider, different to GT with its focus onto racing simulation rather than car simulation.

In its first PS2 appearance, TOCA further defined itself as a separate entity from the GT clones by including an RP-like career mode, focusing on the career of a young talent named Ryan McKane and his attempts to eclipse the shadow of his father and older brother. It was undoubtedly a brave move by Codemasters, and typically one that paid off, giving Race Driver a real sense of personality, something that Gran Turismo sorely misses, and thus giving the player a better reason to complete the game, other than to unlock a special F1 car. It's no surprise then that TOCA Race Driver 2 shares this RPG-like approach to racing simulation, and like any other worthy sequel, offers a gentle re-tweaking of the formula to attract fans of the original and newcomers alike.

The first thing these fans will notice is that our somewhat emotion-free 'hero' Ryan McKane has disappeared; the centre of attention is now the actual player and how they are somewhat clumsily assisted by an old pro Scottish manager and a pushy female agent. Obviously with such stereotypical characters, the storyline is unlikely to win any Oscars, and it is linear in its format, but it does provide a slightly entertaining distraction to break the monotony that is so often highlighted by the genre's critics. However, despite the jewellery and decoration that the storyline provides, the one area where TOCA Race Driver 2 really needs to succeed is in the all-important gameplay -and can it really recreate so many different formats of racing while still retaining the series' famous realism?

Oh yes, it can, and then some! Quite frankly, it's staggeringly good, and the way that Codemasters have developed a game engine that can provide Need For Speed style street racing, Colin McRae-like rallying, F1 single-seater racing and Gran Turismo-esque sports car racing, is nothing less than unbelievable. And for the more quintessential racing fan, one to who TOCA has always appealed, Race Driver 2 also includes some of the more eccentric racing, such as Land Rover Rallycross or Truck racing and still maintains the standards of realism of the more mundane BTCC or V8 Supercars.

Unlike so many other racers, in TOCA Race Driver 2 the characteristics for each type of car are spread very wide, almost like a different game for each different format; it's that diverse. It's still clearly related to its predecessor but it's been fine-tuned with a mind-boggling degree of perfection. With this level of gameplay, the graphics will always play a supporting role, but they do so admirably; while not quite a match for the stunning GT4, they certainly show advancement in car detail to the original Race Driver and even considering the occasionally drab scenery, it compares favourably in a direct match with GT3. In terms of overall presentation, the focus is very similar to that of the original Race Driver; for instance, the sound doesn't feature today's hippest tunes, which would age the game somewhat prematurely, but instead offers top-quality recreations of some fine virtual engineering. The menus are very similar to those of the original Race Driver in terms of style and layout; nothing is overly complicated and overall it's all very eye pleasing yet indisputably functional.

Of course as a more developed sequel, Race Driver 2 has the benefit of added features over its predecessor, such as network play for those lucky enough to have a network adapter, plus the ability to upload lap times onto the Codemasters official website, both of which add even more value for money. Even without the huge list of improvements the sequel offers, the net play alone would be enough to tempt most Race Driver fans to purchase again, although the lack of actual online play does seem like a bit of an oversight.

TOCA Race Driver 2 is just as anyone would expect of a Codemasters release; it's fundamentally spot on, as playable as they come, good-looking and immensely versatile. Rather than meeting my expectations of mere improvement over the first Race Driver, Codemasters have lifted the series above its best-of-the-rest status to the point where it can stand next to GT4 as a must have for any self-respecting PS2 gamer.

Reviewed by Daniel Morrison for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).