he cynical bastard in me has had to have a bit of a reality check. A month or so ago I downloaded the GRID demo, played it for all of five minutes and then pompously declared it to be the biggest pile of shit I’ve ever played.
Of course, I’m now forced to swallow those words because after playing the full game I have to admit that I’m well and truly hooked on GRID. But first I need to address the things that turned me off the demo.
THE THIRD LAW
There were two main concerns that I had, and I guess they’re still valid, but in the full game are far outweighed by the numerous positive aspects. The first irksome element is the way that it feels like the DiRT presentation template has been copied and pasted on top of the Race Driver series. There’s the same presentation of in-game stats, the same ‘loading’ icon and the
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races are presented via a familiar pin-up board approach as you work your way up the
racing tiers.
The second thing you need to come to grips with is the game’s rather unusual physics system. Codies has obviously stepped right out of the realism pool on this one. Cars do have a sense of weight, but it’s a peculiar application that is unique to this game. Basically, you’ll fly around corners like lightning, reaching full acceleration in seconds and will be able to brake to a stop in mere metres. It takes some getting used to and provides for an extremely fast-paced and sometimes hectic gaming experience, particularly given the packed-grid racing structure of each championship.
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A fairly spiffy feature is that GRID will call you by your name when you sign in or win lots of
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money – that is, of course, assuming that your name is one of those included in the nick-name list, otherwise you’ll not get to make use of
this system.
From there, it’s off to racing in some sponsored events, gaining enough cash so that you can create your own team. Eventually you’ll actually be able to hire other drivers, and a lot of money can be had from balancing multiple sponsor stipulations – things such as ‘finish no less than 3rd’ can net you wads of cash for each race. As you get better, more sponsors will vie for limited space on your cars, with more money and tighter restrictions coming into play.
There’s also a secondary objective to complement the act of raising funds to buy vehicles; reputation points build up throughout your career (which works on seasons, culminating in big races such as the Le Mans 24 Hours) and these give you access to more
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prestigious events as you work your way up
the ladder.
DRIFTING AWAY
Race types are broadly broken up into American, European and Japanese leagues, with each having a concordant plethora of race types within their respective classes. American races are mostly about muscle cars and will see you fanging through the streets of San Francisco like a charging bull. There’s some variety too with the inclusion of Destruction Derby events.
European events are a bit more ‘classy’ and features more renowned tracks such as the aforementioned Le Mans. Open wheel racing is a highlight here, as the sense of speed is punched all the way to eleven. The Japanese events, in comparison, are a bit hit and miss, featuring drift and touge races. Drifting takes
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