LEGO Racers and its sequel LEGO Racers 2 are LEGO's entries to the racing genre of video games.
What makes these games unique is the opportunity
to build cars using LEGO bricks.
The setting is a variety of worlds based on
different themes of sets produced by LEGO.

In this review, I'll compare LEGO Racers 2 with LEGO Racers 1:

*Building:
The building feature in LEGO Racers 2 requires numpads to rotate bricks.
LEGO Racers 1 does not, so it is best for laptops that don't have Numpads.
LEGO Racers 1 lets you mix and match pieces from a variety of themes,
rather than restricting car building to one specific theme like in LEGO Racers 2.
LEGO Racers 2 offers many more car chassis to build on than LEGO Racers 1.
LEGO Racers 1 has many more minifigure parts to use when
customizing a driver than LEGO Racers 2.
LEGO Racers 2 challenges players to build a new car for each theme.
LEGO Racers 1 gives players more freedom.

*Gameplay:

The racing in LEGO Racers 2 is done with Checkpoints set on a larger world.
In LEGO Racers, each track is it's own world and there are no checkpoints.
Racing is more challenging in LEGO Racers 2 than LEGO Racers 1,
which can lead to repeated restarting of races which may be frustrating to young players.

You can explore worlds in LEGO Racers 2, in which the main
goals are finding hidden collectibles and bonus games.
Although most of the bonus games are pretty much the same thing,
they offer Upgrades for your car, which in turn makes gameplay easier.

Another thing to mention about LEGO Racers 1 is that you don't have
to beat a Boss in order to challenge the next one.
However, you will not gain access to the customization options that boss offers.
This means if a boss is too challenging for a player,
they could still continue the game if they come in second or third place.

*Boiling it down:
I recommend LEGO Racers 1 for children younger than 9,
because the racing experience is less frustraing than LEGO Racers 2.
I also recommend LEGO Racers 1 for people who are
more interested in building than racing, and love the classic LEGO themes.
I recommend LEGO Racers 2 to people who are more interested in racing
than building, because of the advanced racing experience
and wide selection of pre-built cars.

Additional Information:

*Operating system:
The reviewer played the XP-compatible versions of
LEGO Racers 1 and 2 on a computer with the XP operating system.
The reviewer was not able to successfully run both games on Vista.
Covers of both games mention being able to also run on Windows 98, 2000, and Me.

*LEGO Racers 1 Requirements:
*Pentium 166 MMX or faster
*32 MB Ram
*210 MB free hard disk space
*640x480 monitor, 16-bit color
*DirectSound-compatible sound card and speakers
*4X CD-ROM drive
*4 MB Direct 3D-compatible video card
*DirectX 6.1 (included on disc)

*LEGO Racers 2 Requirements:
*Pentium II 266 MHz or faster
*64 MB Ram
*450 MB free hard disk space
*800x600 monitor, 16-bit color
*DirectSound-compatible sound card and speakers
*12X CD-ROM drive
*16 MB Direct 3D-compatible video card
*DirectX 8a (included on disc)