Fun in the beginning. Frustrating near half way.
The game starts off well. You begin with slow cars. The handling isn't perfectly real but provides plenty realism for the average gamer. Graphics as mentioned by Gamespot isn't the best with weird looking dents but it doesnt look as bad as they claim either.
Around 20% of the game, you get to drive DTM cars which is probably the most fun I've had. The cars have plenty of grip and the speed is astonishing. Nearing 50% of the game comes the frustrating phase where if you are using a gamepad or keyboard, you will be struggling to win or podium.
This "simulator" expects you to finish a race from 14th to the top two spots in 2 laps. RIGHT. Has that ever happened in real life in any form of racing? NO. However, they WANT you to win or try to get podium. Otherwise you might fail to continue your career mode. You might have noticed in the beginning how cars seem to ignore you and keep to their racing lines. This happened in TOCA 1 and I was just plain pissed. TOCA 2 brings some sort of improvement but you will still occasionally get knocked in the side or from behind.
The AI is the real tricky bastard. On some tracks they are so fast you are lucky to even get 6th place. On other tracks they drive so slow you can get to 1st in 1 lap. Seriously, how can they even claim to be a driving simulator. I am at the end of the fourth season and I'm plain frustrated. I've attempted the races so many times and still fall short of proceding to the 5th season. At one point in time, I plain threw my gamepad to the floor and now it is broken. SOB. IF you have a short attention span and only play the first two seasons, by all means it is a good game.. but after that it all goes downhill.