The game looked gorgeous, it supported four players, and its Kudos system of rewarding stylish driving as much as winning the race was definitely intriguing. But the learning curve and stingy distribution of Kudos points were serious strikes against it given the other games available.

With Project Gotham Racing 2, all that has changed. Now, I am a complete and utter fan, devoted to the driving and driven to the online play. The graphics have improved, the Kudos have been retooled, and the sheer number of medals to earn and things to complete is staggering. This holiday, PGR2 is the clear system-seller for Xbox, and it’s the one XSN Sports game you absolutely need to buy this year.

I’m not usually the world’s biggest racing-game fan, but PGR2 has made me a believer. As you may have read in my most recent column, I can’t put this game down, and it’s a development that, to be honest, has surprised me entirely. So what is it about the game that compels my habit? There are actually several things.

One: The handling. Every car in PGR2, and there are 102 of them, handles differently and has specific features that make its performance unlike any other in its class. Even if the top speeds are the same, one might powerslide better than the other, or it may grip the road with more aplomb than the next. But at the end of the day, while your choice of car can (on paper) mean the difference between first and last place, it’s your driving that ultimately determines the outcome.

Take, for example, the game’s simple controls. There’s a button for the gas, one for the brake and one for the emergency brake. Go into a corner at top speed and slam the e-brake, and you’ll end up in a powerslide that racks up Kudos points like no tomorrow. Hold down the e-brake too long, though, or oversteer the corner, or e-brake with a car that powerslides poorly, and you’ll slide into a guardrail, which kills your Kudos totals and adds seconds to your lap time.

Conversely, if you go into that same corner with the standard brake rather than e-brake, you won’t get the same Kudos total but you might gain a few seconds on the competition. The decision is yours, and you need to decide whether you’re going to go for style or for the jugular. Since your position at the finish line also affects your point totals, your decision holds particular importance. Which leads me to…

Two: The Kudos. Ironic, isn’t it? The aspect I disliked most in the original is the feature that really holds my attention in the sequel. Where PGR was notoriously frugal with its Kudos, PGR2 doles them out more generously, giving players a new sense of accomplishment. That doesn’t necessarily even the playing field when it comes to the leaderboard; in fact, it changes very little the disparity between Champ and Chump. Rather, PGR pros this time around won’t have 1,200 kudos while novices have zero, but they’ll have 7,800 while novices have 1,500. Finally newbies can feel like they’re competing and achieving something, even if their ranking is low compared to the more-experienced racers.

The other improvement to the Kudos system is the use of combos, which now keep you from losing your entire stash if you run into a railing. Before, combos only boosted your point total, but now, having a combo in progress means if you ding a guardrail you’ll still maintain your original Kudos and just lose the subsequent points. With some of the more squirrely-handling cars, this was a brilliant move on the part of Bizarre Creations.

Three: The online features. What do all the Kudos points mean unless there’s someone around to see your performance? Other than a sense of self-worth, very little. Fortunately, PGR2 fulfills those competitive needs by automatically uploading your performance at the end of every race, allowing you to compare your points to those of everyone else who’s completed the track. This up-to-the-second leaderboard adds a new dimension to console racing and finally shows what Microsoft meant with its Xbox Live promises. You can even race against the "ghost" of a top-10 racer, which helps you learn the best lines and techniques.

Four: The unlockables. If variety is the spice of life, PGR2 is a French chef’s cupboard. With 102 cars, 14 car classes, an insanely deep Kudos World Series (career) mode, and Arcade Modes that include car- and circuit-specific challenges, there’s enough "stuff" in PGR2 to keep you busy for months. And that’s before you’d even touch Xbox Live. Compound these offline unlockable items with the online Kudos tokens you can earn in Live multiplayer, and you’ve got more gaming goodness than I ever thought possible.

Five: The graphics. Let’s be brutally honest here: racing games have never looked so sexy. Whether you’re playing single-player, four-player split-screen or online via Live, PGR2 looks astounding. Not a single framerate hiccup, not a single moment of lag, not a single thing to complain about. And although the cities don’t have pedestrians or much animation outside of the occasional monorail, buildings are at least more than simple, painted-on facades this time around.

The car models are also top-notch, with real-time damage, and the dynamic lighting shows off just what the game engine is capable of. Switch to the on-bumper view, and you’ll really start to appreciate the graphical quality of PGR2. When cobblestone streets and cement dividers look so good that close-up, you know a lot of love has gone into the game’s graphics.

These five factors, along with intelligent AI that changes its aggression and strategy with each successive level, make for the best racing game I’ve ever played. The online stat-tracking and multiplayer options, as ingenious as they are, are simply icing on an already delectable cake. I simply can’t say enough good things about PGR2. Really, this is one game I consider to be an early Christmas present from Microsoft. You’d be wise to go out and pick it up for yourself.

See more screens on the Project Gotham Racing 2 [Xbox] media page