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?