The best racing game of all time is......

[Brown, Jon Brow]

.....without any doubt TOCA 2 Touring Cars. When I first played this game on Christmas Day 1998 I never thought that I was experiencing the peak of racing games.

Maybe I'm biased because 1998 was my favourite year of the BTCC, but this game has never been matched.

No game offers the same level of detail and realism whilst remaining fun. The cars are nervous so you feel like you could lose it at any moment, yet it offers great satisfaction when you take a corner like Riches at Snetterton or Copse at Silverstone flat. Great moments also include negotiating the Brands Hatch rain on slicks in the feature race, or trying to hold on to the car lap after lap in the Oulton Park storm.

I also like how realistic the computer drivers skill is. Thompson, Rydell, Muller and Hoy are much faster than their teammates, just as they were in 1998. Why couldn't Codemasters get driver performance realistic in Toca Race Driver? The Vauxhall was inbeatable in 2001 yet they always come last in the game!

Two player championship mode is where this game comes into its own. I always used to play with my brother and we were very evenly matched. But having to score 22 points in each round to continue makes the racing intense. We were desperate to beat each other yet had to work together too.

But the game offers some great comedy moments too. For some reason the computer always makes me do a 3-point turn in the Snetterton pit-lane. And the computer cars always brake in the middle of the Donington back straight for no reason.

I just pulled out this game with the old Playstation 1 and I can't put it down. I just wish it could be remade for the latest generation consoles with photo-realistic graphics, enhanced handling to make the lap times more realistic (but keep the cars twitchy), and independent teams.

Why don't they make games like this anymore?

[rallyrazz]

Well said mate, its certainly one of my favourite racing games that's for sure. The reson they don't make game like that is, people nowadays want games that are easy and want things like 'drift racing', it annoys me but, hopefully one day, codemasters will return to their old ways.

[tannat]

Who is this Jon Brown guy in the sim forum :p

We actually had an incredible TOCA 2 offline championship on the foumr about 5 years back (Paddy-jump in at any time)

Fields of 10+ cars I believe. Perhaps it is time again......

Yes-this game is a good one. On reason for nothing similar in existence is that no touring car formula is receiving a similar level of interest from manufcaturers.

Successful race series= video game interest...

If the interest is there i would gladly host a league (again)

[rallyrazz]

Who is this Jon Brown guy in the sim forum :p

We actually had an incredible TOCA 2 offline championship on the foumr about 5 years back (Paddy-jump in at any time)

Fields of 10+ cars I believe. Perhaps it is time again......

Yes-this game is a good one. On reason for nothing similar in existence is that no touring car formula is receiving a similar level of interest from manufcaturers.

Successful race series= video game interest...

If the interest is there i would gladly host a league (again)

Forgive me for sounding naive, I haven't been on this forum long, what do you mean by hosting a league?

[tannat]

Forgive me for sounding naive, I haven't been on this forum long, what do you mean by hosting a league?

Well basically we create our own racing series with dates, race venues, lap numbers, conditions etc..

You choose a car and compete against one another-well actually against the system's articfical intelligence, but at the end times are compared amongst participants and there is a winner.

It is all based on the honor system, and rules must be followed, but it is pretty fun...

[rallyrazz]

Well basically we create our own racing series with dates, race venues, lap numbers, conditions etc..

You choose a car and compete against one another-well actually against the system's articfical intelligence, but at the end times are compared amongst participants and there is a winner.

It is all based on the honor system, and rules must be followed, but it is pretty fun...

sounds good, me thinks I may have to get a copy of toca 2 from amazon(my old copy got scratched)

[52Paddy]

I'd be all up for running a league again. I'm free most of the evening after works but I'd hate to end up being an unreliable championship organiser, that's all.

Yeah Toca 2 is a great game. Funny you should start this thread because two days ago I bought the very first Toca game (1997) in a charity shop. That's also a very good game. I particularly like the way that the Vauxhall team field a red and a white car and, in two player mode, it is possible to drive the white one. I just wish that they had independent teams available.

I also liked World Touring Cars (came after Toca 2) despite the fictional drivers and liveries and they somewhat undesirable physics.

Formula 1 1995 and 1999 on PS1 were good games too.

[rallyrazz]

Just ordered a 2nd hand copy of TOCA 2 for ps1 off amazon, In a couple of days I'll be racing in one of the best racing games of all time :) if a league is formed you can count me in

[Macd]

I have this game somewhere for ps1. Now just to dig it out :D I was 5 when it came out :O I would still beat you lot at that age :P

[Bruce D]

Somehow I enjoy RaceOn more, especially the STCC part. Maybe it's just the physics or graphics I don't know, but for it's time Toca 2 was brilliant.

[AndySpeed]

This was the first racing game I ever owned, and despite the graphics which now seem awful it's an incredibly fun game. I've got Race Driver Grid and so many of the features on that annoy me. Combine the graphics of Grid with the great gameplay of TOCA2 and you'll have a game that will have me hooked!

I used to make my own liveries for TOCA2 on the PC version... so much fun at the time for an 11-year old touring car addict!

Sadly I cannot find my copy of the game at the moment... it must be somewhere though.

[MrJan]

I spent hours playing this when I was younger. Like Jon I did the co-op championship with my brother and had a fantastic time playing it. The handling was superb as you had to really fight to get a decent lap time while keeping everything tidy. AI was great to race against (unlike modern games like Race Pro where they just drive into you) and you could swerve towards a driver and they'd react, meaning it was possible to make them spin out. I remember spending lap after lap trying to get the Nissans to have an accident :D

Can't find my copy (and the disc was scratched anyway) so reckon a trip to play.com might be in order :up:

[MrJan]

Just ordered a copy of amazon, can't wait for it to come so that I can start playing it again.

Anyone know if it's compatible with PS3? I've played a few games okay but apparently some are awkward. I've got the new-ish 120gb slim console.

[Instant Mash]

I too miss that game. Used to have it on my old PSX, but because it was chipped (and the game was burnt), it soon died.

Definitely gonna keep an eye out for a second hand copy.