Better physics, way less annoying AI, improved gameplay mechanics make it a perfect game, and one of the best sequels.
Most of those annoyances were fixed and improved. For instance, you get rewarded for crashing cars while in career race mode, and not some petty-cash, but sums usually x10 more than the actual reward for coming 1st, hence you won’t restart game 10 times just to come 1st, since you will be loosing a lot of money you made by crashing opponents. You loose championship points, to make some money, but even this was fixed. AI is no longer super smart and will make mistakes.
With more money, there are way more upgrades to cars, and in each class (derby, race and road) there are different kinds of upgrades. Car physics was also improved and you car tell the difference between car that has weight rating of 8 or 3. Same goes to drive train, there are 3 kinds now (FF, RW, 4W). Some say that handing is not as sharp as original, but once you upgrade suspension, you can’t tell the difference.
The mini games are back, and they are much better implemented, thanks to improved physics. The best mode is destruction derby, which reminds Carmageddon series with improved graphics and physics.
And wait till you see some of the crashes. I watch replay of every race, because crashes are just spectacular, too bad you can save them (that’s the only gripe I have about porting part).
I can’t think of anything bad about this game – loads of fun.