Once you get some cash from race wins you can modify almost all vehicle components, from tyres to chassis, engine to body. While you don't have any money to go modding straight away, paint jobs are free.
All vehicles can be taken for a test drive before purchase, and it's wise to give all a spin to find the ride that fits your driving style. Initially, you have a choice of only a few cars: the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Golf R32, Dodge Neon Chevy Monte Carlo, and 1964 Chevy Impala. Maybe natives of these cities would recognise landmarks, but there isn't a great deal of visual difference between the three cities, except that Detroit can have snow on the roads. You begin in San Diego and will unlock the cities of Atlanta and Detroit after some success. While there is an excellent arcade mode for quick fun, the core of the game is Career mode. The developers at Rockstar San Diego obviously didn't take these challengers lightly and the resulting game blows all the others away. One of the chief complications has been the emergence of stiff competition since MC2 came out in early 2003 - namely the hugely popular Need for Speed Underground games, but also recent contenders such as Juiced. Midnight Club pioneered the open city/car modding race genre but its success has led to complications.