Beginning way back on the faithful old Dreamcast, Bizarre Creations 'Metropolis Racer' was one of the few racing games that for some reason I didn't end up getting a copy of. A mate of mine had it, and seemed to make a habit of pointing out to me how good it was and that I really should go and get a copy. Unfortunately I never did and being a late convert to the Dreamcast and then buying an Xbox, well their newer game, Project Gotham Racing was the natural choice.

The long awaited sequel, Project Gotham Racing 2 is finally on Aussie shelves and ever since Microsoft sent me those Sydney screenshots earlier this year I've been absolutely dying to get my hands on this one. The promise of Sydney tracks and full Xbox Live support had PGR2 shaping up to be the killer racing game for this Christmas and to be blunt, if you're a racing game fan then you better start being good, write a letter to Santa and start praying that this game shows up in your Christmas stocking.

I have been unable to put PGR2 down since getting it late last week. I loved the first PGR game but the progression that the sequel has taken in terms of content, gameplay, features and overall production quality has just left me in awe and wondering how it can be topped if a PGR3 is ever made. Every part of PGR2 from the menus, the car and scenery graphics, the quality of the maps and the Kudos system has been enhanced and tweaked to near perfection. Did you think the first game was lacking in content? well PGR2 features over 100 cars and 10 cities based on real locations accurately recreated from locations around the world such as Sydney, Stockholm, Chicago, Yokohama, Moscow, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Florence, Barcelona, Washington and even the mighty 22 kilometre long Nurburgring that features around 73 bends!

Now while PGR1 was a fun game, most people found it too hard and ended up giving up on it or using the widely known cheat code that unlocked everything for you straight away. PGR2 sets the benchmark for how games should be from now on. Instead of forcing you to play the game the way that the developers want, PGR2 lets you play at the pace and difficulty level that you want. Sure, the system in place is still a medal based reward system with 5 difficulty settings ranging from steel (the easiest) to platinum but the beauty is that you can play through the game on the easiest setting and finish it without being overly penalised or having access to all the cars and tracks restricted. By choosing the harder difficulty level though you are rewarded with higher 'completion' bonuses that make it heaps easier to raise your ranking and will allow you access to the faster cars much sooner.

Progression through the Kudos World Challenge (the games single player mode) takes you through similar scenarios over and over again but the game features many varied locations and car classes. You start off in the 'compact sports' class competing in the following events.

• Street Race : Race against a number of opponents while earning Kudos and aiming to finish in a set position or higher.
• Cone Challenge : Race around a track while dodging the yellow cones and aiming your car through the red ones.
• Hot Lap : You against a single lap time while also earning Kudos.
• Overtake : Pass a set number of opponents before time runs out.
• Timed Run : Race against a total race time while earning Kudos.
• Speed Camera : Navigate the track and accelerate up to a target top speed for the speed camera.
• One on One : Race against a single opponent while earning Kudos.

Each class contains a mix of these events split over 6 ' 18 tracks and once completed you can move all the way up to the 'ultimate class' featuring some of the fastest cars on the planet. The events do tend to get repetitive though but the different car classes help to break that up. The great thing is that any of the events can be beaten on the easiest setting. If you find the silver medal for a particular event too hard, just give it a go on bronze or steel. Beat it and the game lets you progress. There's little in your way now to actually finishing the game and a perfect way to give people manageable difficulty settings with plenty of rewards as well.

During each race you are awarded Kudos points based on your driving prowess and skill around the track. You are given points for cornering through the best line around a corner, clean gear changes, overtaking, doing slideouts, 360's as well as completing a race without hitting a wall and extra points based on what position you finish. As you race your points are stored into a 'Kudos stash' and after 2 seconds they move into your 'Kudos bank'. If you earn more Kudos points before your stash moves into your bank you then earn a 'Combo bonus'. By successfully power sliding all the way around a track, overtaking and mastering the corners it's possible to rack up some massive combo scores and while I haven't really mastered it yet, loads of people have and scores triple to five times mine are a pretty common feature of the Xbox Live leaderboards! The completion Kudos also work a bit differently online in that your reward is based on where you finish, which car you use and the ranking of the other players. Thrashing all the new players in your Enzo Ferrari won't see your rank increase as much as it will if someone in a slower car manages to beat you.

The best new feature though with the Kudos system is that it is a lot more tolerant now than in PGR1. No longer does hitting another car see you necessarily lose your points and with the narrow nature of many of the track corners this is very welcome. If you smash into another object before your Stash moves into the Bank you only lose your Combo bonus, if you don't have a Combo bonus you then lost your Stash. Overall it is a lot more tolerant and much less infuriating than before. All Kudos points are added to your total which then sees your rank in the game improve. When this happens and your rank improves you earn Kudos tokens that you can then exchange for new cars.

Now in the past didn't you hate it when you spent $100 on a new racing game only to suck at it and never unlock everything unless you used a cheat code? Sounds like PGR1 doesn't it.. In PGR2 just about every car is available to take out for a drive on a test track. You can switch to a first person mode and physically walk around a massive showroom that contains every car in the game. Got enough Kudos tokens to buy the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing but not sure, well then visit the showroom and take it for a test drive! If you like it then swap Kudos tokens for it and it's yours to keep. The showroom is a truly awesome feature of PGR2 and yet so simple that it makes you wonder why nobody thought of it until now. The showroom has to be experienced. It's like being set free in the private garage of the richest man in the world's private car collection, getting handed the keys to any car you want and then being told 'go for it!'. Simply amazing.

Cars that you own are also kept in your own private garage that is similar in that it lets you view the cars and walk around in a first person mode. Instead of snazzy interior design though you get a nifty old school style arcade game thrown in for free! The way that the showroom and garage are handled is simply revolutionary in the racing game genre and no doubt something that will be copied over and over again by other developers.

The controls, even without a steering wheel, are tight and responsive. The handling in PGR2 is a nice blend of arcade and sim style. Not flat out Daytona or Racing Evoluzione arcade style but also not full on sim handling either. After a handful of races you will be power sliding through the tracks best line and setting pretty good lap times. More importantly though, the handling in PGR2 is fun and when in the fastest cars there is a real sense of 'controlled chaos' like you are on the absolute limit of your cars grip. The left stick is used to steer, the triggers are for brake and accelerate and the A button is used for the handbrake. At its most basic level that's all you need to learn. The right stick can be used to look around, Y too look back and X and B to change gears if you prefer manual. The black and white buttons cycle through the different camera views and the back button works as the horn. The right analog stick is also used to control the cars sound system while racing. Click the stick in to bring up the stereo and the flick left and right to change radio stations or up and down to adjust the volume.

The A.I in the game is pretty competitive without resorting to cheap 'catch up' tactics but does seem to give you a bump just at the wrong moment every now and again. It does its best to try and get around you but generally seems to follow the best line for the track. You don't really see the A.I cars 4 or 5 cars wide on a massive straight all racing for the best line into the corner like you do with real drivers over Xbox Live. It can be unforgiving at higher difficulty settings and you can be racing neck and neck for %90 of a race to take that last corner too early or cop a nasty bump from behind and it will mean the end of the race as there is no way to catch up and take the lead again alot of the time.

The camera views are pretty standard. There are two 'behind the car' views and two 'bumper views' of different heights. It would have been nice to have a 'bonnet cam' mode or even a proper 'cockpit' view but there's so much content in PGR2 that to expect 100 perfectly modelled in-car views would probably be expecting too much. The 'behind the car' view is the prettiest one as it lets you see the great car models and reflections of the objects passing by reflecting off the paintwork. You also get to see the damage caused by the collisions that you have and your car can look pretty banged up by the end of the race. Arcade racing fans will be happy to hear that the handling isn't affected by the cars damage but visually you get sparks coming off the exhausts as they drag on the road, mirrors hang off the side, head lights and tail lights get broken and the panels show plenty of dents. There doesn't seem to be as much paint scratching as there was in PGR1 but that's a minor complaint as the damage looks great.

The audio in PGR2 does a great job but there's only so much that it can do really. All the cars sound different and have deep throaty growls where appropriate and you get some good tyre screeching when power sliding. Car collisions all sound pretty samey as do the collisions with the track barriers. There is plenty of in game music as well that is all different depending on what city you are racing in. Visit Stockholm and you get to listen to some Swedish D.J talking and then visit Sydney and you get to listen to Nova FM and other local stations. It's all pre-recorded and the songs that they play are mostly from bands that I've never heard of but if you get sick of it just put on the cars cd player and listen to some custom soundtracks!

Featuring full Xbox Live support PGR2 can handle races with up to 8 players. All the normal XBL features are included, voice, friends lists and in the showroom there is a giant empty section called Xbox Live that hints at downloadable content in the future. Where PGR2 shines as an online title is its complete interaction with Xbox Live even during the single player game. All your records are uploaded and your results are ranked against every other PGR2 player. During the single player Kudos World Series the Xbox Live element is another feature that will lessen any future racing games that don't include it in some shape or form. If you don't have Xbox Live don't fret as all your local records are still recorded for you. System Link is also supported so feel free to take PGR2 along to your next Lan party.

The one thing that it would have been truly great to have is the ability to spectate in existing races. If you join a game in progress you have to wait in the lobby until it finishes. While waiting before a race or after while other people finish, if you could spectate on the race, switch between players and camera angles that would have made the Xbox Live side of PGR2 pretty much perfect.

The only other negative point I found with the online racing is that on tracks with narrow sections, the first few corners turn into a go cart, bumper car bash fest with everyone doing their best to bounce off the other drivers and get into first place. There are courteous drivers out there that value their 'clean race' bonus but they're a pretty rare breed. The most fun so far has been had on some of the wider tracks where there is plenty of room for over taking and big powerslides. Some people also need to learn to shut up while racing as well but hey, that's what 'mute' is for right?