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31 of 34 found the following review helpful:
All drivers to your cars...Jul 17, 2008
By Strategos
"The Guardian of Time"
There are racing simulators, and then there are racing GAMES. I read a preview and an interview in two issues of Edge magazine discussing the new direction Codemasters was taking in this game, and by the time I finished the preview I was so exited I knew I had to preorder the game and make the first full-price purchase I've ever made of a 360 game. The reason is simple. As one of the game's creators said, the racing genre has become a collect-a-thon with very little to do with the joy of racing. We've come to invest massive amounts of time into things like Forza and Gran Turismo without actually enjoying the races, just trying to win enough money to buy that next car or rank high enough to unlock that next track. The Race Driver series, like the Colin McRae Rally series, has been trying to gain a foothold in the west for some time. Personally I have no problem with TOCA or Rally (I love every Colin McRae game I've played except, strangely, Dirt), but everyone else seems to need some convincing. Codemasters have been trying to do this for years by throwing all kinds of crazy modes at you in the Race Driver series. With Grid maybe they'll finally get your attention.
The first thing you will probably notice is the graphics engine that powers this game (the same one from Dirt). These are next next NEXT generation graphics. Flags wave in the breeze, crowds cheer and jump up and down, and huge clouds of smoke shoot from your tires when you spin your tires. At the starting line, there is a fog of exhaust from the idling cars. But when you start racing, you realize that everything is also faster than greased lightning, giving you that sense of speed previously only seen in the movies.
When I first played the demo, the impression I got was that the developers watched The Fast and the Furious, Gone in 60 Seconds, and bunch more like them, and said "We need our game to look, move, and feel like THAT." Just before the race starts the camera does a lightning-fast zoom to the cars from an overhead view. On the replays, the camera shakes and rattles like it's a helicopter shot tracking your car, and your car is itself has the shake and blur of an object rocketing along at incredible speed. Nothing like the Sunday driver replays we've all become accustomed to. The sense of speed is really fantastic, and the game's controls will at first take some getting used to, because the cars are far more controllable than you are probably used to (resulting in a lot of spin-outs and wall-slams because you aren't expecting to turn so sharp). What this translates to is that when you get used the feel of this game it's a non-stop thrill ride as your car flies around corners and takes off from a stop like something out of a forth of July blockbuster.
And let's not forget about the car deformation and physics engine. While I don't think it's possible to land upside down, I have wedged my car on top of wals, flipped end over end, spun my car 360 degrees in the air, and smashed my car till all that remained of the front was the engine (and I can't count the times I've seen my wheels fly off). Yes, this game has damage, and it's way better than the damage in any other game I know of. It's not realistic, but it is TOUGH. If you have a head-on collision at top speed, that's it. Your car is wrecked. Fortunately the new Rewind feature makes it possible to stop time and rewind to before the crash (ala Prince of Persia's innovative time-control system). Is it a cheap gimmick? No. It's a really cool feature and an absolute lifesaver. But of course, it also demishes your score, can only be used a certain number of times, and in higher difficulty settings and record score making can't be used at all. Think of it like the ideal line in Forza. It may be cheating, but it's a game, not real life. And there's no point in playing a game if you can't have fun. And a whole lot of fun Grid is.
The A.I. in the game is also quite good, and not just because cars keep slamming into you and trying to force you off the road (in a couple of races one or two of the leaders kept trying to block the road to keep me from passing and when I got ahead harassed me continually from behind). The other drivers will actually fight each other, spin out, and crash all on their own. This makes everything enormously exciting because it stops feeling like you're racing a computer that never makes mistakes and instead feels like you're racing a wild pack of drivers jockeying for position (thankfully more Speed Racer and Nascar). Realism freaks will cry foul, but people like me who are TIRED of realism getting in the way of having fun will love the atmosphere of the races, where you feel rivalry and desperation in every race, and know that you could go from last to first or vice versa at any time (making every race feel like one of the greastest you've ever seen on TV, because crazy comebacks and smash-ups at the finish line do ocassionally happen in real-life).
While most racing games stick with one mode, Grid has you doing all kind of crazy races, from destruction derby to drift challenges, to one-on-one mountain racing. You'll drive Formula 3, Super cars, and muscle cars. You'll drive everywhere from Long Beach to Le Mans. While I wish there were more tracks (I loved the destruction derby and wish there were a few more of my favorite European tracks), the limited car selection doesn't bother me at all, because all the cars are fast and fun and very usable. Similarly I'm GLAD there's no car tweaking and tuning because in the end it just distracts from RACING. Leave that adjustment stuff to my mechanic, thank you very much.
The sound in this game is roaring, from tire screeches to the turbine-engine whine of your formula 3 at high rpms. The crashes and crunches come perfectly and the music is upbeat and heart-racing. There's also a manager and Crew Chief who talk to you through the game offering advice, and even address you by name (when you create your profile, you select what they should call you from a list).
The only real snag I've hit so far is the unbalanced difficultly in the events. I can pretty much always hit a podium finished in the United States races, but the European track courses are REALLY hard, as is getting anything other than last place in Le Mans 24 hour (which in a really cool move is 24 minutes long). If playing on Easy meant I could always get at least 10th place I would have no complaints.
There you have it. This is the game everyone's been waiting for. There's fast and furious racing action with the best replays in history. Glorious graphics at lightning speed, roaring sound with good music (for the first time in a racing game since I can remember), cool commentary as you race that addresses you by name (how cool is that!?), awesome physics and A.I. that results in cars trying to push you off the road and crazy smash-up crashes, and fun, fun, FUN racing events with lots of variety. If you love racing games you need to buy this one.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
It's a crime that this game isn't more famousJul 21, 2010
By John Paquette After playing this game for several hours, I slipped Forza Motorsport III into my XBox 360 to compare. Forza seemed shockingly tame by comparison. Forza's visuals seem artificially pretty, and they seem to be locked to a rock-steady tripod. By contrast, GRID's visuals are gritty and realistic, and the cameras seems to be hand-held. Forza's cars look like they are made of shiny plastic. GRID's cars look like real cars.
Forza *is* a great game, of the type of game it tries to be: a classy racer.
But GRID is all about *racing excitement*. In fact, I haven't played it for days, and I'm getting excited just thinking about playing it. No other game has captured for me so well the sense of urgency in racing a car.
GRID, however, isn't your typical arcade racer. The driving model feels terribly realistic, even with all possible driving aids turned on. This is one game you must *learn* how to drive. Winning any race in GRID is an *achievement*. The very real possibility of serious car damage adds loads of excitement, while the "flashback" feature (the Omega-13 of racing games) gives you the ability to recover from serious errors (five or so errors per race). So you end up driving a bit more aggressively than you might otherwise.
The result is a level of excitement in racing that I've never found elsewhere. The cars feel real, and the AI feels real, and the graphics look real. Where the game cheats reality is where reality is *boring*.
There is no good reason this game is so cheap. It's a steal at under $20.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Grid is an Exellent Game But Lacks Some Small FeaturesAug 06, 2008
By W. Carlin
"gamester"
Let me start out by saying that grid is an unbelievable game. the cars all look great, the tracks look amazing, and the game really gives a feeling that you have a race team. Being able to manage your team and sign sponsors and drivers adds to the realistic qualities. The controls are spot on, however the physics seem a little too forgiving sometimes. The ai makes up for the physics. Your competition will always race like real drivers and will try and win the race. An example of this would be that you hear over your intercom that a driver spun out trying to pass another driver. The intercom is one of the few small flaws. The intercom is mostly helpful but is sometimes deceptive. I've had the intercom tell me that my tires are toast and then five seconds later say everything is fine. Sometime when the car gets really messed up it doesn't say anything! The damage is very realistic and will have varied effects on the cars. Sometimes they will swerve to one side or just stop running or not go as fast. Another small flaw is that there are not that many tracks in each region so you have similar races alot. Bu thats not a big deal. The only thing that I really did not like about grid was the lack of mechanical customization. You cannot mechanically customize your cars whatsoever! Even with that flaw, there is a good variety of cars and they are all fun to drive. All three racing categories are enjoyable. I would say american muscle and japanese drift are easy and european touring is a lot harder. So if you are into racing games at all pick up grid, you won't regret it!
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Haven't blinked in three hours!!Jul 08, 2008
By Y. Muthafar This game is so incredible, absolutely the best arcade style racing game since underground 2, I just can't stop playing.
It's not so easy to play, other games are easier compared to this one just try to take it easy and remember it's just a game and you'll be having loads of fun.
Basically you have three regions to race in, the US, Europe, and the best Japan, each time you win an event in a certain region your reputation builds up leading to the next licence which will increase the amount of money you get.
I personally think that the drift races are the best, you also have time trials, speed trials, and your regular races plus a few more.
The cars are already customised according to the teams they belong to, once you get your team going you can then choose a color,some vinyls, a number,and some sponsor decals that will be placed on the cars.
once you have chosen your team colors every car that you bought or will buy is gonna have the same, when you reach the second license you can start hiring a driver ( you can also fire him )that will race with you each time you enter an event, you can also take the driving offers by teams that will hire you and give you a huge bonus if you achieve what they want ( finish ahead of this or that team, win the event, finish no lower than 3rd...)
At the end of each season you will have a chance to race in Lemans, it's really hard but the good thing is that you can skip it and jump to the next season.
Ok now the damage part, most of us don't like it but you can use the flashback feature that will rewind your crash so that you can avoid it, sometimes the car won't even go straight! I just restart the race when that happens!
I really enjoyed DIRT and now CODEMASTERS gives us this which is even better, cant wait for their next game.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Plays like Oldskool, thinks in Nuskool!Oct 03, 2008
By Arthur Gardner
"Aardcore"
It was a while back when I heard this very informal statement, but it went something along the lines of, "If Gran Turismo and GRiD got into a knife fight, GRiD would have already made a coat out of GT." And I honestly believe that, and really, I believe that in ALOT of racing 'games' that are developed these days. Somewhere down the line back in the late 90's Gran Turismo changed all that we loved about racing games, taking the joy out of sitting down, racing down the exaggerated lanes of some fictional race track we may never see but the racing game delivers that to us. It did create something new for us, but it also lost track of a certain 'x-factor' that racers had. Nowadays it seems like if you want a decent racer, there'd better be customization features and choice to use which car (where I in turn can argue how that is in any way sensible... it's like saying "Well I like NASCAR racing but I want to use my newly acquired AUDI R10 against them, because I unlocked it!"
Before the Carbon series for Need For Speed happened, NFS had it. At a time, Ridge Racer would have been your almighty racer of racers, come to think of it, who here enjoyed a good one hour 60 lap game of Daytona USA? Ever since the customization spiel happened with racing games, there's been a bridge that developed that's created racing SIMULATORS and racing GAMES... and that, is a sad, sad outcome. There was something beautiful about a game being a game while still being able to deliver what simulators had to offer, or for what it tried and some more than others, hence the desire for drive sims to occur.
GRID takes you to a place perhaps 10 years back to that magic you might have felt from an arcade racer but immerses into a whole new realm of its own. This game is a new kind of animal, that, in my opinion, sets a very VERY high standard for racing games to compete with. Being an avid racing gamer I took this game light hearted but was overwhelmed by even the very first instance I throttled the transmission to take its first plunge into gear and the roar of something godly erupted from my speakers as if I was really there! The sound design in this game is phenomenally accute to your senses and it only delivers so much more by how the game handles as you zip through the tracks in white-knuckling action and the relentless rush of adrenaline you'll feel just to stay alive on the tracks, as when you crash... YOU CRASH! It's as if a ballet of destruction happens when you smash into something, spin out and collide into the environment and it's all even more hauntingly beautiful when you take it to the instant replays and watch it in slow mo, this flowering, blossoming effect of your car just ripping open as it is pitted by the very powers of gravity and physics-induced probability. In short, every time I crashed, though I potentially lost (the Instant Replay feature being a very huge plus to the game and your survival) I never once felt truly frustrated. The controls to the game are very tight and specific to the car you use, so if you crash... it's your own fault, believe it.
Though there are no customization features, GRID's selection specific to the tracks you pick all play on distinct levels of play you desire; choose your poison, play the game as easy as you want, or as hardcore, the game doesn't care as long as you're having a great time and believe me, you will. Out of all the different types of racing you can handle in GRiD, GriD alone has the most unique selection of racing sets I've seen, and one I've actually never heard of. In this one game alone you can take part in demolition derby, 24 Hour Le Mans Endurance, Open-Wheel F1 racing, Pro Tuned, Drifting competitions, Muscle Car exhibition, Touring, and the most frustratingly pleasing of them all, also the one I'd never heard of till now, Touge. Each one is as potent as the last, some more than others, yet all of them a much higher standard of racing game (even simulator I'll put it at that) I've ever played.
There's been some trouble about accepting GRiD and I believe it's because GRiD falls back on that deepest pleasure of racing games while still delivering realism to the gamer, where as it stands now, if it's a racing game or a racing sim, you can't have one or the other without certain features to completely rule it out. Untrue I say, GRiD has managed to prove to anyone, yet untold to everyone, just how good of a game GRiD is and it's not trying too hard to do so! I guess GRiD's biggest flaw would be how people would get frustrated that you actually have to USE the brake button almost as much as you use the ignition (and that may seem to bother alot of people, Mario Kart enthusiasts, take note).
One last thing to mention before bringing this to close is that the game, though almost minimal in its vast outcome, has some deep, almost untold story about the game... what drives the game to a degree is the driver ranking leaderboards that will come up everytime you play through an event, and always, at the very top is team Ravenwest. You'll come to hate these guys with a passion and they'll be brought up from time to time, even making random encounters against you among the ranks of the racing placements and the game will let you know that Ravenwest are particpating. So in a way, there is a story but it's an untold one... which to me was fine because it allows an open-ended mention about it and I created my own story in my mind about it, and how every attempt when Ravenwest were involved became a kind of Speed Racer moment hahaha! After you clear a complete selection of events, Ravenwest will challenge you in a head-to-head race (if you aren't much for perfection, these races will chew you and spit you out like a stick of quick flavor losing gum). It helps to know the tracks, and as you play it, you'll get accustomed to them. You'll need the knowledge of that at your side too, when to take the tight turns, when to brake strategically, how close do you need to cut the corners to save you time and such.
The game's been out for a while, and if you aren't digging into what might seem soon to become a cult-classic of racers, GRiD is something on an entirely new level of gameplay, and just GAME at that, period. The game looks great, it sounds great... but most of all, as you play it (at least how I feel almost everytime I turn the game on) you feel great. I guess to put it this way, Racing Sims like GT, even Forza, add that Matchbox car collectory that alot of people are into these days. But if you're into something oldskool, with a diehard selection of pick your poison for the match, brutal, torque-abusing, tire-peeling, asphalt-hugging, white-knuckle action that won't disappoint, GRiD has you covered on all fronts.
based on 48 reviews
( 48 customer reviews )
