Racing games that try to blur the line between simulation and arcade generally crash and burn before they even leave the starting line. This checkered history would suggest that blending the two genres is a dubious proposition at best - so it's nice to see a game that actually manages to get it right.

TOCA 2 delivers considerable gameplay depth for both serious and casual racing fans. Solo play options include time trial events, arcade challenges, single races and full championships, while the game's multiplayer alternatives range from console-style split-screen events to eight-player Internet contests. One unfortunate carry-over from the console version (along with a curious lack of mouse support in the game's menus) is an annoying championship progression format that requires you to attain a certain placing in each event in order to advance to the next round.

As with its parent game, TOCA 2 emphasizes on-track action over technical racecraft, so you won't find any complex garage menus or detailed telemetry screens here. The physics modeling for each of the cars is fairly unsophisticated and does a somewhat poor job of simulating front-wheel drive vehicle dynamics. Although the game does model brake lock-ups quite convincingly, the absence of any proper understeer response can make the cars extremely touchy in some of the higher speed corners (where a vicious snap oversteer has been tossed in almost as an afterthought). Once you learn to drive around this annoyance, however, the driving physics are quite forgiving and relatively easy to master.

Graphically, TOCA 2 shines like a bright penny. The game's Direct3D-accelerated visuals feature real-time lighting and reflection effects coupled with some remarkably detailed car and track renderings. There is also a full VCR-style replay screen and a wide selection of viewing perspectives - including a cockpit view that animates all of the driver's arm motions ` la Grand Prix Legends. Eight licensed British road racing circuits have been included in the collection of tracks (there are also a handful of locked fictional tracks) and each has been rendered in impressive photorealistic detail. Turn on the remarkable weather effects and these venues are positively transformed, as driving rain beads off the windshield and lightning storms flash menacingly in the background. There isn't another racing game out there that even comes close to delivering this level of realism and immersion with its weather modeling.