Under-the-radar title worth a look.
To start off, this may be one of the great grandaddies of modern drag racing games. On the limited memory of a N64 cartridge, they were able to incorporate an insane physics engine, a collection of good stages, a decent and wide assortment of cars, customizations with a fairly wide range of things to do, such as paint jobs, chassis modifications, horns, rims, tires, etc., and some kick ass music from the techno region (at least I think its techno...). The only other games from the time I can think of it was going against would be the "Cruis'n" series and the other "Rush" games.
For its time, this game blew people away. I have owned this game since 1998 and still consider it my favorite racing title. It had some good graphics for the time, a fluid control sytem, as well as some of the best singleplayer options available for it.
In single player, a gamer had the option to race in the circuit mode, which is long and very challenging, practice on the courses with customizable options for each stage, such as fog levels, wind, or mirroring, Play around on the Stunt course for high scores, or collecting keys and Mountain Dew cans (a clever marketing campaign) to unlock other stages and cars.
The stages were what you expect, urban environments, but there were a few curves thrown in. Alcatraz, the prison, was a fun round course thrown in, Crash is an endurance course just fun to race on with friends, Half-Pipe was a twisting track with walls a player could ride up on, and the unlockable courses were equally out there. You could play on the Full-Pipe track, which is the same as Half-Pipe, but you could race on the ceiling, and then there was the Midway office building, a track in which you raced as miniatures through the halls of the Midway building. Extra cars are what you expect, such as a taxi or hot rod, but the formula racer and the rocket car were fast and a good challenge for a veteran player to use in circuits.
I also need to add in that there is a cheat menu. If you do grow bored of this game solely because, like all racing games, you eventually nail the physics and the unpredictability of the game is gone, you can change gravity, flip a stage upside down, add in a challenge factor by exploding every time you hit a car or cone, or turn it around and make yourself a car god in which players and CPUs die by just touching you, get rid of the time limit, increase your traction and speed, or a number of other things. This menu can add many hours of gameplay to a game you most likely won't grow tired of.
When you get right down to it, Rush 2 was a fun racer and very revolutionary for its day. Inferior to its predecessor, maybe, but a great game in its own right. If you want a great open drag racer with a retro twist, give this game a look, you may be pleasantly surprised.