Race Driver: GRID

[retroed]

I've put a couple hours into GRID today, and it's very good indeed. It's graphically the best racer I've played, and it all runs super smooth even with multiple cars and crashes going on at the same time. The handling takes a short while to adjust to, but now I feel very confident in chucking my car into a corner and flooring it out of the bend. The drift events which were my least favourite part of the demo are actually very good. By default the traction control is set to on, turning this off made the car nice and slippy, ideal for drfiting and getting decent multipliers!

The presentation is spot on, and everything is laid out nicely. As you progress through the World Tour, you get sponsors. These sponsors can help you get extra points for achieving certain criteria in a race, providing you are wearing their decals on your motor. Earning money allows you to buy more cars and enter events. You also earn reputation for completing events. The three main area's are US, Europe, and Japan, each focusing on a different style of racing. There is also the Le Mans 24hr which instead of taking a whole day to finish (Gran Turismo 4, I'm looking at you and your 24hr Nurbugring race), it takes 24 minutes. It takes you through the day-night cycle throughout. There are even Formula 3000 cars in here, which are super fast and handle brilliantly. If the F3000 part of GRID is a taste of what to expect from the forthcoming Formula One game from Codemasters, then it's going to be something special.

From what I have played so far, the racing is intense and action packed, keeping you on your toes. The AI seems excellent, you will see cars ahead of you spinning out after they have misjudged a corner for example, and they generally put up a good fight. It's not a sim, so don't go getting this if you want this to be the next Forza because it isn't, and isn't trying to be. It's more in the vein of PGR4, although it isn't as arcadey as that. Try it with all the assists off though, and you are in for a huge challenge.

If you like racers, it's pretty much an essential purchase.

[Hendo]

Glad you're enjoying it Ed! I'd really like to pick it up but it would involve a shit load of trade-ins.

I love racing games but I don't feel like I've played the ones I have enough anyway, bar SEGA Rally. Ridge Racer is just ridiculous for me only just scratching the surface.

[hinn888]

It appears more and more people are having slowdown issues with their copy of the latest Codemasters game, Grid. Gamers are making their issues known on the Codemasters forums in a huge 11 page thread.

Fear not wannabe drivers, Codemasters are already working on a fix according to the Grid's Executive Producer. Forum staffer, Uncle Chewy who we presume is Gavin Raeburn said "We're close to getting to the root of the problem and we will be including a fix and a backup workaround option (just in case) in our forthcoming patch due within the next few weeks or sooner. We think the issue is due to specific drive hardware, possibly with bad blocks /sectors."

What should gamers do in the meantime? Chewy suggests that "The best temporary measure is to copy your gamertag to a mem card, remove the hard drive and run the game that way. Replays and caching will be disabled, though instant replay will still work as this caches to memory."

Sit tight race addicts, the patch isn't far away.

Had any problems Ed?

[spatular]

^ i've had the freezing, it's pretty random but hasn't been bothering me that much.

i like this game, despite the strange handling it's good fun

[retroed]

I have had no slowdown so far, and I've taken it online a few times as well. I read on rllmuk that the 'drive all 45 cars' achievement is impossible to get because two of the 45 cars were meant to be Ferrari's, but Codemasters didn't get the licence in time. They'll probably update the game with a patch to fix the achievement.

I'm loving the game big time. I now find the handling spot on, love the Touge races and Demolition Derby's! From what I played of the online it was great too, and now it's been released across the pond we may be able to have some full 12-player races.

EDIT: Patch List (should be released shortly)

• Xbox 360 achievement fix. (Drive 'em all)

• Several optimisations and performance improvements.

• It is now possible to look left and right while in bonnet camera.

• Fix for a hang when selecting a gear outside the gears available on the vehicle (this was possible with H-Shifter)

• Fix for cars very occasionally flying into the air when hitting kerbs.

• Fixes for custom action maps

• Track rendering optimisations.

• Brown screen problem no longer awards achievements or causes glowing white cars.

• Fix for airborne achievement – now awarded even if car flips upside down during jump

• Fixed frame rate stalls and stuttering on Xbox 360.

Lots more fixes included in the above link.

[spatular]

I now find the handling spot on

yeah the handling is good fun when you get used to it, i wasn't trying to say it's bad, it's just strange as it's completely arcady, its not based in reality like pgr but it has some sim-like qualities like it can be quite easy to spin and at low speed you can do donughts and stuff. strange.

the replay feature is great.

[Manicm]

Being playing the demo on PS3, might have to go out and trade something to pick this up as i really enjoyed the 3 races in the demo, even though i didn't get any top 3 positions!!

[retroed]

There's going to be more cars and events available later this year, and a further 100G's to earn.

Codemasters has dropped word that new racing machines will be pulling up to GRID's starting line later this year. The game will be getting a new DLC pack, dubbed "8-Ball," this Fall, which will add two new multiplayer events and eight new cars, including the McLaren F1 GTR, Honda S2000 and 1971 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM. Additionally, while 8-Ball's new cars and events will be released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, the former will gain the added benefit of four new Achievements and 100 new Gamerpoints to earn. PS3 owners will have to fill their time dusting off vacant Trophy cases.

Another release, adding a V8 Supercars category and the Australian Bathurst circuit, is expected in the coming months. At this time, the Codies are tight-lipped regarding both price and an exact release date for any DLC, saying only that the first batch will drop this Fall for consoles, while PC players can expect information relevant to them to arrive "shortly."

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/19/grid-get...ater-this-year/

I haven't played GRID for quite some time now, but I keep meaning to get back to it as I was having a great time.

[retroed]

£24.99 at powerplaydirect.com.

[Reload]

Anyone been playing this of late? Wiivo, dogseateggshell and I have had a few online races. It's wicked. Spar, in open wheelers is wicked fun. Prob best if you turn collisions off though if your playing against eggshell. lol

I was VERY impressed that Donington is on there as well. Good selection of cars and tracks and races. Although, I hate the le-mans thing with a passion. Too difficult to be fun for me. I end up leading my class for 15-20 minutes then losing all ability and crashing out. Some of corners just arrive too quickly and I can't remember ALL the track. lol

[Reload]

Awe, stupid save file. Eat it's children and send it pictures of their bones.

[spatular]

i "fixed" my steering wheel today (well i took it to bits than put back together and it just started working again - bonus ) and wanted to give it a try so i thought i'd give this a go, and the force feedback is great just like dirt, took a few races to get back into the wierd handling but once i did i was having a lot of fun, mainly due to the force feedback though

[illdog]

I started this this morning, instantly recognisable presentation for those of you that have played DiRT.

The handling is indeed something to get used too as stated in the above posts, it feels like a 60/40 mix of PGR4 and Sega Rally but as with all games its just a matter of time im sure untill it becomes second nature.

[illdog]

Had a few ups and downs with GRID, just as i was getting used to controlling the cars I had to do drift races and Touges and at the time it ruined the game for me. Not because they're badly executed gameplay wise, more because i badly executed them gameplay wise. And when you fail spectacularly at something just after you think your getting good at he game isnt it natural to hate it?

So anyway, after a horrendous Demolition Dery experience followed by a proverbial digital cock up the ass on the last hour of the 24 hour Le Mans things levelled out, more wins came, drifting came easier, Touge races were dominated and the game again rose in my opinion.

The handling does take a bit of geting used to but im pretty down with it now, when you take a fairly steep corner at some speed it feels good and the slipstreaming works really well. Another great racer on the 360.

[illdog]

Its a real shame you cant experience some of the amazing racing this game has to offer untill a good few hours have been put in and your earning some serious money and able to buy the better cars.

The second tier of the American tracks (using classic muscle cars and the likes) is amazing, the cars all handle so well and i was chucking myself round corners like crazy, proper adrenaline rush stuff.

The problem with that is once you hit the second tier of European Tracks it fees like a massive comedown, long boring tracks with cars that handle like shit. Its got to the point where im really not enjoying the game anymore. I expect massive racing fans appreciate the different driving styles needed and enjoy trying their hand at different disciplines but im an arcade racing fan and i hate using the brake.

I shall persevere tho, the Japanese tracks are good (even tho im arse at drifting)and ive put too many hours into this to stop now.

[TopGunKnacker]

The second tier of the American tracks (using classic muscle cars and the likes) is amazing, the cars all handle so well and i was chucking myself round corners like crazy, proper adrenaline rush stuff.

The problem with that is once you hit the second tier of European Tracks it fees like a massive comedown, long boring tracks with cars that handle like shit

theyve got that arse backwards too!

[TopGunKnacker]

(i meant the american cars handling well and european cars handling badly)

[illdog]

(i meant the american cars handling well and european cars handling badly)

I knew dat!

So after some practice ive gotten alot better with the European Cars, the courses are still a little big but i enjoyed them more second time round.

Ive won the first 36 races with their lovely little trophies and with these dizzy heights comes some serious fucking mulah. You can pick sponsors and have about 8 slots and can choose one as your Major sponsor, the others are minor. For the honour of being your Major the sponsor pays double, in my case im getting a hefty £200,000 for a victory. Infact if my teamate and me get a 1-2 finish were scraping up near half a million in sponsor money alone, you get prize money on top of that. All this means better cars to help me win.

[illdog]

They gone made this game too dang lowng.

Its brilliant but Career Mode just goes on forever and im finding myself getting bored of racing on the same tracks jst in different cars. And the Endurance Races are just starting to drag now. Shame. Still, i cant stop now, im too close to finishing it but these last 9 trophies are going to be a bit of a chore.

[retroed]

I'm thinking of picking this up again as it's currently £2.69 on Games on Demand. I don't have my save, though.