Launching
Unlike the original game where you wait for the green light to appear in your dashboard when launching and then time your shift gears you now have to rev the motor so that the needle falls in the green zone when the countdown hits zero. During a race you need to keep an eye on this green zone and shift gear whenever the needle enters it.
Upgrades
To improve the performance of your car you will need to upgrade its various components. You can upgrade seven different engine parts: The body, tires, transmission, engine, turbo, intake, and nitrous. Each part can be upgraded by five stages and some can be tuned or fused with rare parts. There is however a sixth level that you can install only if you win the correct, car-specific part.
Levels
You will be able to install the first three levels of ugprades immediately but stages four and five are imported parts that requires a certain amount of time to elapse before they are delivered. You can avoid this wait by spending Gold.
Fusion Parts
These are special parts that can be installed to your car when you have done several upgrades to any given component. Although they do not add much in the way of your car's potential they can make the difference between otherwise evenly matched Cars. You must race in the Prize Cup and in the Custom Cup in order to earn more bronze keys, silver keys, and Gold keys to get these rare fusion parts to add to your car. Remember that fusion parts are linked to certain makes, not models.
Tuning
It is important that to be competitive you tune your car specifically for the type of race you are going to compete in using the 'Dyno' to see how any changes you make impact your car and also checking the 'Final Drive' when the option becomes available.
Customising
There are four sections of your car you can customise, these are the paint job, interior, livery, calipers, and license plate. Some customisation options have additional sub-customisations.
Crews
CSR Racing 2 has a new feature called Crews which basically works like Alliances or Clans from other games. Crews allow groups of players to work together towards a common goal while at the same time earning perks that benefit all the members. The goals in Crews are seperated into 'Seasons' that span a few days and if you join a Crew you do not have to be online a specific time to contribute.