Tanner is back as an undercover driver, this time trying to survive amidst an international war between American and Brazilian gangs. The action takes the player to Chicago, Las Vegas, Rio and Havana, all of which depicted in detail. There are several improvements over the first game: the cities now also have curved roads instead of just right angles, some missions allow to exit the vehicle and move around on foot, and there is a multiplayer game mode.
As before, the gameplay involves driving a car around the streets of the four city locations to complete the 37 main story missions. New to this instalment, the player can now get out of their car and carjack another one in order to switch vehicles when their current one has taken too much damage.
Driver 2 also features some preset challenges and a Free Driving mode to explore the different cities at one's leisure. The new multiplayer split-screen feature includes four game modes: Take a Ride, Cops'n'Robbers, Checkpoint, and Capture the Flag.