Grid Autosport

[Cyberpunk]

I've just been playing Grid Autosport. For some reason, my Steam copy unlocked early, but who am I to complain? Anyway, I'll write a better write-up later, but I can say right now, GRID IS BACK!!!!!

Gone are the shoddy driving physics of Grid 2 (It doesn't matter what you drive in what event, it'll drive like Ridge Racer). This thing drives just great. I've only done a small season of Touring, and a few Street races so far, but I'm hooked.

There are five styles of driving on offer here. They are Touring, Endurance, Open Cockpit, Custom, and Street. Touring is (of course) Touring cars. Endurance is the longer races where tyres, and pit strategy matter a lot. Open Cockpit is the single seat race cars, sort of like Formula 3. Custom is the loud brash street car events, such as Drift. And Street is racing on city streets in everything from Hot Hatches, to Super Cars.

The game is much more simulation orientated, although not full sim, and it can be toned down for more novice players. It has a level up system which can be accelerated by turning off driver aids, and flashbacks. Driving with full damage turned on can leave you struggling to control a car after a nasty bump. In the Touring races, it has an interesting penalty system if you cut the corners, whether it's on purpose, or if you're shoved over by another car. The game cuts power to your car for a second or so, with a longer pause it you're taking the piss. I thought it cool.

[spatular]

yeah! i just played some of this too, initial thoughts are like Cyberpunk says, the handling seems better than GRID 2 (which i thought had quite odd handling, and to be fair grid 1 also had odd handling but it was odd handling i could get to grips with), more like GRID 1 but with a bit more realism or something. I did a few touring car races, an open wheel race, and a time trial in a GT car around spa. i got annoyed at the penalty for cutting the track, i like cutting the track to overtake the AI, but really it is probably fair enough - i should have done the qualifying so i wouldn't have to ram so many AI cars out of the way in the first place. used a 360 pad - seemed to control well, but i need to sort the wheel out, it's currently falling to bits slightly with the grip fabric coming loose. oh i didn't like the screen judder effect, it does give a good impression you're going faster but it makes me feel a bit sick - but that can be turned off in the options. seems to be loads of tracks so that's good, one of the shorter versions of yas marina was pretty good - they have a different version in forza which i don't think is that good - this one has some added chicanes for more fun.

[spatular]

i've been enjoying this, the force feedback is great, the AI is fun to race against, it looks nice. the handling isn't amazing but is decent enough. there's a nice selection of cars and tracks. its fun.

[Cyberpunk]

I've been playing this for just over a week now. I'm still having lots of fun with it. It handles well, although as Spatular said, it's not amazing, but decent. The A.I. can be pretty extreme in the harder settings, and the "Clean Race" achievement is really hard to obtain, simply because of the A.I. ramming your car practically every chance it has. It can be pretty frustrating when you're playing it on a hard setting with very few flash-backs.

I've actually started it twice. I recently upgraded my PC to Windows 8.1, and forgot to back up my save. I wasn't very far along, however, having got level 3 in almost all the racing styles, so re-starting wasn't a problem. This time around, I've dabbled with the online elements of the game. There are two ways to play online. The first is the usual fare of racing against other live players. Usually a person would start an online event, and other people would join. The person who starts chooses which track, and what kind of event/cars. Progress earns you in game credits. You can start your own event, and also invite friends. Everything you do has it's stats uploaded to Racenet.

The other way to play online is the challenges. You chose which race discipline you'd like, and it gives you a challenge, like time trial, or come first with a certain race time. And you earn in game credits this way too. I like the challenges, as your friends can see your progress, and try to beat you.

The in game credits are used to buy your own car collection,and to modify them to your spec. It's the usual fare of paint jobs, wheels, etc. It's not as in depth as, say Forza Motorsport, but it's cool enough. So far I have a Golf GTI, and a Lancia Delta.

So far, it's a lot of fun. It has nice cars, and nice tracks, and DLC in the offing later. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a racing game. It's not too shabby.

[mmmark]

For the first time since forever a Nintendo console has a decent realistic racer. Project Cars came close (? r.i.p) on the wii u.

 

There is nothing really to add. It looks good, plays fun and you can really dick about behind the wheel and fight aggressively.