TOCA Race Driver 2

Format PlayStation Portable

Developer Unknown

Publisher Codemasters

Genre Racing / Driving

With pretty much every PSP title you care to mention geared squarely at the toiletbased gamer (five minutes of action, a quick wipe down and it's all over), a title such as TOCA Race Driver 2, with its humongous Career mode and wealth of collectibles, comes as sweet relief. OK, so TOCA 2 can be played purely as an arcade racer; the driving itself is perfectly pickup-and-playable, while the gentle damage modelling means you're free to ignore as many laws of the Highway Code as you see fit. Yet it's as a long-term proposition that TOCA Race Driver 2 comes into its own.

Take as an example the insane amount of racing styles. Work your way through the single-player Career and you'll get to experience (deep breath) GT Sports Car Racing, V8 Supercars, Global GT Lights, Rally Cross, Formula Ford, DTM Touring Cars, Open Wheel Grand Prix, Classic Car Racing, Super Truck Racing, Stockcar Oval Racing, Ice-Racing, Convertible Racing and Performance Cars. Each of these disciplines has been faithfully ported over from the PlayStation2 original, resulting in one of the most meaty and complete PS2-to-PSP conversions yet seen.

More impressive still is the level of artificial intelligence of the PSP-controlled
drivers - a massive improvement over the robotic drones of other racers. Overtaking manoeuvres become elaborate ballets against your big-brained rivals, the constant jostling for position making for some fraught, high-pressure races. We're also pleased to report that the post-race cut-sequences, during which the story of your character's rise to glory is told, are as glossy and as over-the-top as they were in the original. Our one concern at present is the length of the loading times, which are a pinch excessive. Still, so long as these jams can be cleared before TOCA Race Driver 2's September release, we might just have the first genuine PSP classic on our hands.

PSW Staff