650 cars, a license to earn, and hours spent comparing gear ratios on a PlayStation.

On gut feel, Gran Turismo 2 holds up nicely: the community puts it ahead of 72% of games. Then the criteria tell a harsher story. As a desert island pick it beats only 24% of titles. Attachment, 20%. Art style, 9%, right at the bottom. Fun saves some face at 63%, though on few votes, so that one needs confirming. Controller feel sits exactly mid-table, the soundtrack slightly above. There is the tension: people respect it on instinct, then elect it on almost nothing.

Which makes sense. This is a 1999 simulator being measured with questions built for emotion, aesthetics and memory. What made it legendary, the rigor, the mechanical depth, the obsessive collecting, is simply not what these questions catch. And its PlayStation polygons get no mercy against modern games.

So, who is it for? For you if you love tuning, buying, grinding forward, and if you see beauty in a lap time shaved by a tenth. Much less so if you expect a game to hit you visually or leave you with a lasting emotional trace.