How was play GTA San Andreas on the PS2?

It did alright. The pressure sensitive buttons were revolutionary at the time and made driving feel very natural. Having the acceleration on a face button freed up the shoulder buttons for more complex actions that have been sorely lacking in more modern GTA games.

The only real gripe I have is that the PlayStation 2 was notoriously slow at loading. You will routinely see different texture layers magically pop in as you approach objects in the game. I find this immersion breaking. It seemed to get worse the longer you played, which I suspect is due to a heating issue. GTA games are best enjoyed with maximum graphical fidelity.