Gran Turismo 1 or 2?

I'm thinking of playing one of the Playstation 1 Gran Turismo's, i've only ever played the first game and adore it to the point that due to nostalgia i can't bring myself to play the sequel, however everyone i know has only played the 2nd game, which they all swear is better than the first.
Where are you guys at, have any of you played both and consider the 2nd game to be better?
Maybe the truth is that i just don't want to part with the dealership music.

I didn't Gran Turismo until 3, and that game is a true classic. Likely holds up WAY better than the PS1 GTs as well.

And if we're talking soundtracks, Gran Turismo 4 is hard to beat. That thing is jazzy and full of some absolute bangers.

I also started with GT3 so can't say for sure but why don't you just try out the one you haven't played? I think I've heard GT2 was an improvement in almost every way so worth a shot. And if you don't like it just go back to what you know and like.

I recently started playing GT Sport and having a nice time so the GT series has been on my mind as well.

Even though we're talking about the Playstation 1-era Gran Turismos, I must jump in to say: This. Oh my god, this.

If you're going to spend any notable time with one of the Gran Turismo games, poke at either 1 or 2 just for historical sake and then make the jump to 3. Gran Turismo 3 is on the short list for greatest racing game of all time. It remains a modern experience to this day.

I had both back in the day, and whilst GT1 was cool, GT2 was on another level for me personally. The layout of challenges and cups and stuff was great, and you could get some real good cars from normal progress and it was fun yet rewarding, as a 10-16 year old to play. I kinda bounced off 3, but 4 and 5 I dug too.

GT2, since it had so, so much more stuff than the first. I don't know if I'd wanna go back to a PS1 sim at this point, but I can't think of any game that did it better than GT2 at the time.

Gran Turismo 2 has the Renault Espace with the F1 engine. I have GT1 and, to be honest, it's too basic for me.

I'll admit that I like GT better than GT 2; because it was just a simpler, smaller game. These racing games are getting too sprawling - too many races, too many cars to get. I actually won or bought they cars that I wanted in GT, I completed all the races, and completed all the licence tests. I only go through 80% of GT2 if my recollection is correct...and that game you cnanot 100% complete anyway because of a bug, right? GT2 looks better and is more refined, but I liked playing GT more.

I couldn't get past that Dodge Viper license test in GT. They did get ridiculous, though. GT4 was when it completely blew it's roof, for me.

GT2 for sure. Arguably the best, most "Gran Turismo" of the entire series :P

For most of it's life, GT has followed the pattern of:

First release on new hardware, thus lack of overall content due to dev time spent (re)bulding for the new console. GT1 (PS1), GT3 (PS2), GT5 (PS3).

Second release, now that most of the backend work is done, they could spend a couple years fleshing it out, adding more content and features. GT2 (PS1), GT4 (PS2), GT6 (PS3)

And that's why the follow up releases are all better IMO.

Man, I cannot go back to GT1's handling model. It's probably a lifetime of being on some kind of assist but the more powerful cars are just tough to deal with.