TOCA 2 Touring Cars

TOCA 2 Touring Cars
PC version box art
Developer(s)	Codemasters
Publisher(s)	Codemasters
Platform(s)	PlayStation Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	PlayStation ^EU December 1998[1][2] ^NA 30 October 1999[3] Windows ^EU 1998[2] ^NA 15 November 1999[4]
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

TOCA 2 Touring Cars (called TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge in the USA) is a British racing video game developed and published by Codemasters, and released in 1998. It is part of the TOCA Touring Car series. Mainly an annual franchise update of cars and tracks, the game added more detailed graphics, physics, multiplayer modes and other minor features. Fictional (but realistic) tracks were added, and support races such as Ford Fiestas, Formula Ford and others also arrived. The level of car damage possible during a race was also enhanced, which was a significant selling point compared with the likes of Gran Turismo which had no damage model at the time. The background music features E-Z Rollers' "Retro". Other versions feature "Sole Sentiment" by Ratman in the opening intro.

Gameplay

The game modes include the support races such as Formula Ford and the Ford Fiesta Championships, a test track mode where the player tests any car on certain variations of the test track, a Championship mode which is dependent on the length with the difficulty selected, a feature new to the game is the support cars are able to be chosen with the colour the player prefers. The Multi-player mode (known as Linkup Game) allows for 2 or more players to race on any circuit and also in the Championship mode. A challenge mode is included to see how fast the player can get to the checkpoints in a limited amount of time. The single race mode allows for the player to choose the track he/she wants to race on and this mode features the ability to change the weather, laps raced and allowance for computer cars for one or more players.

Other info

Similar to the first game, once you select a car, you replace a driver and partner the other driver. However, unlike the first TOCA game, this time you replace the second team driver, not the first.

TOCA 2 is notable for being one of only four PlayStation games (the others being Wipeout 3: Special Edition, Ridge Racer Type 4 and Andretti Racing) to feature a four-player mode using the PlayStation's link cable and split-screen at the same time - i.e., four players compete against each other simultaneously using two PlayStation consoles, with two players per console and connected to two televisions.

All the tracks used in the various championships, including the main BTCC championship, are real racing tracks in Great Britain. These are as follows:

Thruxton; Silverstone; Donington Park; Croft; Oulton Park; Brands Hatch; Snetterton; and Knockhill.

There are bonus tracks and cars which can be accessed through the championship mode.

TOCA 2 for Windows also has the ability to import skins for each car. They can be edited using any paint/drawing program.

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score PC PS AllGame [5] [6] Edge 9/10[2] 9/10[2] GameFan 91%[7] N/A Game Informer N/A 6.5/10[8] GamePro [9] N/A GameSpot 8.2/10[10] 5.4/10[11] IGN 5.5/10[4] 8/10[3] OPM (US) N/A [12] OPM (UK) N/A 9/10[1] PC Gamer (US) 83%[13] N/A The Cincinnati Enquirer [14] [14] Aggregate score GameRankings (UK) 79%[15] (US) 78%[16] 79%[17]

The game received "favourable" reviews on both platforms according to video game review aggregator GameRankings.^[15][17][16] Official UK PlayStation Magazine gave the PlayStation version a score of nine out of ten and said it was an improvement on the original game, with lots of tracks, but that "the new cars felt tacked on."^[1]

References

1. "TOCA 2 Touring Cars". Official UK PlayStation Magazine (Future Publishing) (40). December 1998.
2. Edge staff (25 December 1998). "TOCA 2: Touring Cars". Edge (66).
3. Bishop, Sam (16 February 2000). "TOCA 2 [Touring Car Challenge] (PS)". IGN. Retrieved 21 August 2015. delete character in |title= at position 8 (help)
4. Rouse, Rich (17 December 1999). "TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge (PC)". IGN. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
5. Nguyen, Cal. "Touring Car Challenge: TOCA 2 (PC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
6. Kanarick, Mark. "Touring Car Challenge: TOCA 2 (PS) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
7. Howarth, Robert (10 January 2000). "REVIEW for [TOCA 2:] Touring Car Challenge (PC)". GameFan. Archived from the original on 16 May 2000. Retrieved 22 August 2015. delete character in |title= at position 12 (help)
8. Helgeson, Matt (24 January 2000). "TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge (PS)". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 11 July 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
9. Lam, Danny W. (2000). "TOCA 2 [Touring Car Challenge] Review for PC on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 9 February 2005. Retrieved 22 August 2015. delete character in |title= at position 8 (help)
10. Poole, Stephen (22 December 1999). "Touring Car Challenge Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
11. Stahl, Ben (10 November 1999). "TOCA 2 Touring Car Challenge Review (PS)". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
12. "TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 1999.
13. Mahood, Andy (2000). "TOCA 2 [Touring Car Challenge]". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 15 March 2006. Retrieved 22 August 2015. delete character in |title= at position 8 (help)
14. Berman, A.S. (28 January 2000). "Racing game needs less touring, more challenge". The Cincinnati Enquirer (USA Today). Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
15. "TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
16. "Touring Car Challenge for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
17. "TOCA 2 Touring Car Challenge for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved 21 August 2015.

External links

• TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge at MobyGames