Top Gear 2 is a third-person racing game that resembles Gremlin's earlier Lotus series in terms of its general look and feel, right down to the text font used in the game. Your task is to race through 16 countries, each of which features four races, with many real-world circuits recreated in incongruous locations.
These four-race blocks each represent their own mini-championship, where you race against 19 cars, needing to finish in the top 10 to continue. With the top 6 scoring points 10-6-4-3-2-1, and the respective amount of money in thousands, you can spend on various upgrades, such as engine, tires (wet and dry), and gearboxes. The ideal approach is to buy the more expensive versions ASAP, as you get no saving when upgrading.
You get a set amount of nitro boost to use during each race, although bonus nitros, money, and instant speed-up tokens appear on many tracks. Hazards such as puddles, barriers, and ramps are also frequent.