Download TOCA Race Driver 2 (Windows)

Be careful, the game was protected with infamous StarForce DRM that can break your system, so make sure to use NoCD before the first launch of the game! DO NOT run the game right after the installation or you may accidentally install StarForce drivers!

The game v1.2 with NoCD has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11, it works fine. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game on modern systems, check our Guide and Notes for details

Install & play guide:

• Mount the disc image. You will need the utility for mounting disc image files, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite
• Install the game, select "Full" installation. The installation path should have ONLY the English letters! It is recommended to install the game not in default path, but in some other, non-system folder, like C:/Games/TOCA Race Driver 2, so you won't have troubles with NoCD or fixes
• (You can skip the installation of GameSpy Arcade, it was an app for online multiplayer in many old games but it doesn't work anymore)
• After you installed the game - install the patch v1.2. If the patch installer shows error - re-install the game in folder with ONLY English letters in the path, make it simple like C:/Games/TOCA Race Driver 2; then put the patch installer in game folder and run it from there
• Then use NoCD, simply copy the RD2.exe file from the archive and put it into game folder, agree to replace the original file. DO NOT run the game before replacing exe-file with NoCD!
• Right-click on RD2.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Set "Run this app in compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3" and "Run as administrator"
• Run HardwareSetup.exe to set the game settings
• Launch the game and play. If the game doesn't work in compatibility mode with Windows XP - try to launch it in compatibility mode with other version of Windows (Windows 98, 2000, etc.)

If you're worrying about the accidential installation of StarForce DRM drivers, you can install Italian or Spanish DRM-Free versions and then switch the language in Windows Registry, check the instruction how to switch the language in Notes below. Or use the repack variant, it has the simple installer and installs the game v1.2 with NoCD

Notes:

• If the installation doesn't start - try to launch Setup.exe as Administrator and in Compatibility mode with old version of Windows (98, 2000 or XP)
• It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and NET Framework for the correct work of the game. Also it is recommended to install K-Lite Codec Pack for the correct work of in-game videos
• The game works on DirectX 8, so if you're using Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 - you need to enable DirectPlay: Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'. Select 'Turn Windows features on and off', click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'. Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer
• All original releases and most of re-releases of the game were protected with StarForce v3 DRM that can break your system, especially if you use 32-bit variant of Windows OS! Replace executable file of the game with NoCD before the first launch, to avoid the installation of StarForce drivers! If you ran the game before replacing RD2.exe with NoCD and saw the StarForce window - close it and run removal tool to delete StarForce files (prodrv06.sys, prohlp02.sys, prosync1.sys, sfhlp01.sys). If you accidentally installed StarForce drivers - boot the system in Safe Mode and delete StarForce drivers with removal tool
• If you see the error that there's not enough space on the hard drive when you copy NoCD files - re-install the game in non-system folder, like D:/Games/TOCA Race Driver 2, Windows Protection may block copying of files to system folders (like C:/Program Files or C:/Windows)
• NoCD for the game v1.2 should be compatible with all languages except Russian (because it uses the different version of StarForce DRM), plus we added executable file from Italian DRM-Free release as alternative NoCD (it may still ask for the disc but it's only a simple disc check). If none of NoCDs work - try to use one of NoCD patchers from GameCopyWorld to remove DRM protection
• In some countries the game was released without any DRM protection and that versions has only a simple disc check. To run it without the disc, copy the files from the disc to game folder as in this instruction (the instruction is for Polish re-release by CD Projekt but should work with other DRM-Free releases too)
• In most releases of the game, the files of installed game include 5 languages: English, French, German, Italian & Spanish. You can easily switch the languages in Windows Registry, here's how you can do that: open Windows Registry editor (press Win+R and type regedit.exe), go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/WOW6432Node/Codemasters/Race Driver 2 (if you have 32-bit system, the path is the same but without WOW6432Node), and change the LANGUAGE line: ENG for English, FRE for French, GER for German, ITA for Italian, SPA for Spanish; then close the Registry editor and run the game. Remember to create a new profile when you launch the game next time, because if you load the game from old savegame the menu and text will be in old language
• By default the game supports only 4:3 screen resolutions, but it is possible to run the game in any high resolutions, even in 4K or ultrawide resolution. To do that do the next steps: run the game or HardwareSetup.exe at least once, to create pchardwareconfig.ini, then open it in Notepad and change FullscreenHeight and FullscreenWidth values to match your screen resolution; after that download AuToMaNiAk005's Widescreen fix, copy ToCA RD 2 Widescreen Patch.exe to game folder (next to RD2.exe), run it, configure the settings and wait while the fix patches the game files (the fix works only with "cracked" RD2.exe from NoCD or unprotected RD2.exe from DRM-Free releases!). With that fix you can run the game with different screen ratios: 5:4, 15:9, 16:9, 16:1 , 25:16 and even 64:27. If you have the screen with different screen ratio, you can try to use SUWSF (Somewhat Universal Widescreen Fix) mod, but you should know how to configure SUWSF config-files
• For Russian version use NoCD for Russian version by KRBDZSKL, it includes Widescreen fix, check this page for more details
• If you want to run the game in Windowed mode, edit pchardwareconfig.ini in game folder. Open it with Notepad and change StartWindowed=0 to StartWindowed=1. Please note that this change ignores a selected resolution, locking the window to half of the desktop resolution and aspect ratio
• For users of Windows 10 & 11: if Vsync option in Hardware Setup doesn't work - download dgVoodoo 2 and copy d3d8.dll from MS/x86 folder to the game folder, next to executable file. Also, you can try to use d3d8to9, it should fix that issue too
• If the game crashes when you minimize the game's window by pressing Alt+Tab or Windows button - copy d3d8.dll from dgVoodoo 2 or DXVK (if you video card supports Vulkan API) and put it in game folder, next to executable file
• Also, with dgVoodoo 2 you can play the game with Antialiasing and Texture filtering, to get the best in-game graphics. dgVoodoo 2 is compatible with Widescreen fix, so you can play the game in high resolution with AA and Texture filtering. To use dgVoodoo 2 copy the dll-files from the MS/x86 folder, dgVoodooCpl.exe and dgVoodoo.conf to the game folder, next to RD2.exe, then run dgVoodoo Control Panel (dgVoodooCpl.exe) as Administrator and change the settings
• If you feel that the game is too hard to play, you can change the difficulty in config-files: go to TOCA Race Driver 2/GameData/frontend folder, open Mods.ini file in Notepad and edit the line CareerDiff=0 to change the difficulty by entering a number from 60 to 100, where 60 is the minimum and 100 is the maximum difficulty (CareerDiff=60 is the minial difficulty, CareerDiff=100 is the hardest one). That can be useful at the late parts of the game when AI-opponents cars are starting to "cheat"
• If you feel micro-stuttering in the game when the game seems to stutter for a tiny fraction of a second or doesn’t feel entirely smooth, check “Lock Frame Rate” option in "Advanced Settings" in Hardware Setup, to enable Vsync and lock the framerate. Also, locking the framerate should help if AI-opponents cars are driving too fast, because the higher the FPS, the stronger the AI gets. If it didn't help and AI-cars are still driving too fast - cap the framerate with one of framerate limiter utilities or in control panel of your video card
• If you want to change FOV (Field of View) in the game, you can use Racer_S's Camera Hack mod
• Since the game had support of EAX surround sound (which doesn't work on modern systems), you can restore it and play the game with surround sound. You will need to use tools like DSOAL or Creative ALchemy, check PCGamingWiki guide or guide by PlayOldPCGames
• Cheats in game can be unlocked by entering different bonus codes. However, there's a bug when the game doesn't generate access code on 64-bit systems and Windows 10 & 11 systems, use Access Code Fix by Silent. Once you fixed that bug, run the game, go to Options -> Bonus -> Unlocking Information menu and get you access code. After that, enter it in the code generator on Silent's Blog
• The game has controller support but only during the races. To navigate through the menu, you still need to use a keyboard. You cannot change the button prompts in the game, so you will need to use additional tools; if you have XInput-type controller (Xbox gamepad or similar), you can use Xpadder, check this guide. If the game doesn't recognize your controller - try to use one of the additional tools from PCGamingWiki guide for controllers
• Online multiplayer of the game was working through GameSpy servers but GameSpy was closed over a decade ago. To play the game in online multiplayer, you can use one of GameSpy alternatives. The game also had a support of LAN multiplayer, so you can try to play the game in online multiplayer with LAN emulators like Hamachi or RadminVPN
• There's few mods for the game with new skins for the cars and A.C.A.T (All Cars in Any Track) mod that allows you to drive any car on any track, you can find that mods on ModDB and TOCA RDSPORT blog (they also have a Discord server)
• Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki if you have troubles with the game, it is very useful! Also, check the old guide by PlayOldPCGames