Best FlatOut game for online party?

I just bought the complete pack on Steam! So excited! Played FlatOut2 growing up. So in a few weeks celebrating birthday remotely with friends and we want to play Flatout together. They’ll buy the game as well. We unfortunately don’t have time to test the game beforehand so I’d like to ask a few questions!

How well are the FlatOut online features working in each game? Mainly I wish to play flatout 2 in a party of 4 players. Should I be aware of mods or does the base game work just fine! Do people in general prefer FlatOut2 or 3?

Thank you!