A simple, engaging game with an open world to explore, Car Simulator 2 lets you get behind the driver's seat of your favorite cars on your phone. The best part? It's available for free.

Car Simulator 2 is an open-world game that's all about driving. It's set up in a way that's somewhat reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto, albeit without much of a story and in a small city. You have the ability to drive around freely, get out of your car and walk, and participate in a number of challenges strewn about the world.

Car Simulator 2 is a game that's all about cars. This really shows in the graphics, which are incredibly focused on the cars. While close-in shots of the vehicle you're driving are rendered in somewhat high quality, the game's world, objects, people, and even other cars on the road have flat, simplistic graphics that would have been criticized if this game was released several decades ago.

Car Simulator 2 is set up for fun, simple free roams. It's not a realistic racing game. This means that you're free to drive over curbs, "run over" pedestrians, or get into violent collisions with other drivers. Neither your car nor the other cars on the road will sustain damage. The fact that you're invincible is good, as the combination of mobile-friendly controls and very slidey car physics means that precise control of your vehicle is quite tricky.

Between the clunky gameplay and the bad graphics, it might seem like Car Simulator 2 isn't worth a download. That isn't quite the case. As Car Simulator 2 is free to play, it's actually a great way to spend a few minutes or hours messing around. Rather than being a detriment, the unusual graphics and odd physics make the game quirky and neat. Instead of being bummed out that you have to carefully control the speed of your car as you make a tight corner, you can enjoy the odd way that your vehicle interacts with the game's unusual surroundings.

Instead of requiring money to download, Car Simulator 2 uses a variety of standard mobile game microtransactions to finance further development. Getting the best cars and playing the game for hours will take a lot of grinding or some real-life cash. The light, quirky, and uncomplicated nature of Car Simulator 2 means that you're less likely to want to play for long stretches or get "better' cars, however. While you might be able to do the game's missions more easily with more advanced vehicles, they won't make it any more fun to roam around the city and barrel into obstacles.

Speaking of the world, it's worth noting that the map in Car Simulator 2 isn't the biggest. There's enough space to do laps, of course, and there are a variety of interesting obstacles, streets, and buildings to drive around. It's definitely a made-up world, however, and it's small enough that you can drive around it in a few minutes. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this is a game like Euro Truck Simulator with a gigantic map with accurate depictions of real-life roads. This is very much a small plot of make-believe land.

Overall, Car Simulator is a fun game to spend a few minutes on. It's free, it's goofy, and it's great fun if you don't take it seriously. It's not a very deep or complicated game, but that's totally okay. You can have fun driving around without complex graphics, a big map, or a realistic physics engine for your vehicle.