GTR2 can hardly be called a game, it really is a racing simulation, but one of the best ever.
Graphics look still great and it's always a plus that there is a cockpit view. This is many times missing in other racers but in GTR 2 the cockpit looks authentic to their real life counterparts. To enjoy this game in high settings a good graphics card is recommended also a surround audio system will add to your experience. Yes this game needs a pretty beefy computer to be seen in all its glory but still on medium and low settings the game will not disappoint.
Now you know what system you need, but let's look at the other hardware you need to get the best experience. A steering wheel is a must have to enjoy the game at its best, or at least a game pad. Still the latter will give you plenty of annoyance while driving fast. I played the game with both and I can say that my times got much improved once I used a steering wheel. For example from 1.51.148 to 1.46.361 on a particular circuit. Not only times improve drastically also your handling of the car will be much smoother. And as you know in racing it is all about time.
The game itself:
My first tips would be practice, practice and practice. Yes you really need to spend time on tracks before you are able to drive a decent race. Lucky for us there is a free practice mode that allows you to drive freely on every major circuit available. For total beginners there are some handy helping settings available, like auto brake, spin control, ABS and many more. These aren't to overly helpful but just enough to still give you the feel you are handling your car yourself.
The Drivers school is also very handy to learn the basics and even has instructions for the tracks you will encounter. By doing these you will be able to unlock extra circuits and challenges. There is also a mode to drive one race only and you can even select the cars that will participate in them, but the biggest fun comes from the Championship modes. Some can be short like the amateur cups which take only a few laps while others can become pretty long, especially the 24 hour races. However you can set these races to a shorter time if you like that more. This game is very flexible and that is also shown in the car setup in the garage. You can alter almost everything from gears to revs and tire pressure to camber settings, basically everything is adjustable to get that few milliseconds out of your car. Unfortunately it isn't so easy when you aren't a gear head and you will have to change and test regularly to get the best out of it. On the other hand there are setups that you can download from the net that make things much more easy for you in this field.
Racing:
Your opponents will give you a real challenge and yes they do try to kiss your tail once in a while, some of these little bumps can results in spins or even major collisions. Fortunately you can also change their behavior when you feel they are a little too aggressive. Still be aware that when you drive a slower car and you get a faster car in your tail its most wise to go of the ideal line and let him pass. It just shows how realistic this game is.
Replays:
Replays and hot laps can be saved and reviewed, these can also help you somewhat when you are uncertain you are driving correctly. The hot lap replays get overwritten when you don't rename them, so when you finally have that perfect lap make sure you rename it.
Multiplayer:
In the vanilla game there was a bit of lag on some tracks depending on the amount of cars and weather, but since the patch this got improved. There are also options to assign fast keys for chats which is very helpful in a racing game. There aren't too many servers anymore and finding a race can take some time, but still the AI in single player will give enough challenge so it isn't really annoying.
Conclusion:
This game is made for racer wannabe's. It will give you a decent amount of reality and looks pretty detailed. The downside is maybe also his strongest point; you will need to practice a lot and on top of that tweaking your car settings is needed if you want to finish first regularly. This game is also very unforgiving when you go a little too hard in a corner, once you go of the track this can have serious consequences to your position as well as to your car. Another tip I can give is start slowly break a little sooner before corners and bit by bit try to go faster once you feel comfortable on a track.
For racing fans who like realism on the highest level this is a must have, players who like a more kind of arcade racer better leave this one alone, because this really is more a simulation then a game.