Top Gear 2

About Top Gear 2

Top Gear 2 (1993) is Gremlin's arcade racing sequel, more realistic than the first, with car damage, weather, upgrades and 64 tracks across 16 countries.

Top Gear 2 in Depth

Like the first game, it reuses graphics and play from Gremlin's Lotus trilogy, but adds realism: a damage diagram on the left of the screen, slower and harder-handling cars, tougher, faster opponents and weather that forces switches between dry and wet tyres. There are 64 tracks in 16 countries of four races each, from Australasia to the United States, with a password after each country. Players must finish in the top ten to qualify, using six nitro boosts and road pickups for cash, extra nitro or an instant boost. If armour on part of the car is destroyed, further hits there cause a spin, and running out of fuel means disqualification.

With no pit stops, upgrading the gearbox becomes essential for the fuel economy needed in later, longer races, though the Genesis port has no fuel gauge. Prize money buys engine upgrades for acceleration and higher gears, stronger nitro, gearboxes for top speed and economy, more armour, better tyres for grip and new paint. Players can choose automatic or manual gears and configure the controls. Because of naming rights, Egypt's Giza Necropolis is renamed after Hugh Sitton, a Corbis photographer. Super Gamer gave the SNES version 83 per cent for its better graphics and more depth, and GamePro said that "for simple, straightforward fun, Top Gear 2 still qualifies".

Making Top Gear 2

Gremlin Interactive developed it as a direct sequel to 1992's Top Gear, and Kemco published it for the SNES in North America in September 1993 and in Japan that December, keeping the arcade-style play the series was known for while making it more realistic. Gremlin brought it to the Amiga and Amiga CD32 in September 1994, and Vic Tokai to the Genesis the same year. Nintendo Power gave the SNES version 3.55 out of 5, and GamePro felt the Genesis version had plenty of tracks and solid controls but seemed outdated next to newer racers because of its limited car configuration.