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Drift events are a great addition to the seriesRace variety is one of GRID's most impressive features. With a host of city tracks and racing circuits, drivable in muscle cars, touring cars, tuned cars, Formula 100 cars, destruction derby bangers and more, you always seem to be doing something new. One of the best new additions to the series is Pro Touge, which pits two drivers head to head on a treacherous mountainside road. These events have a knock-out tournament structure, with each battle consisting of a race down and then up the mountain. Racers take turns starting in the lead, with the overall time leader over both runs awarded the win. What makes this so exciting is the one-second penalty given to the pursuing driver if he touches the leading car. You can overtake, but touch bumpers and you're likely to be staring at defeat. Thrilling enough during the day, at night these high-speed chase events are about as tense as racing gets.
Pro Touge might bring back memories of Need for Speed, but GRID is an altogether more accomplished game. Take the drift events for example. Tried by many racing games down the years, including Need for Speed and Juiced, PGR is the only series that's managed to make drift racing fun. Well, you can add GRID to the list as it effortlessly adds yet another event type to its impressive roster. Fans of PGR will find many similarities, but the inclusion of drift-based races against other on-track drivers gives it an identity of its own.
AdvertisementOn top of the racing GRID features a fairly simple team management system. Your first task is to add sponsorship to your cars, rewarding you with cash bonuses depending on the place you finish in each race. After a few hours you'll have gained a team mate, racing for the team but taking a cut of the earnings. It's up to you to try and pick the right driver for the job. You can also dabble with eBay to buy and sell used cars instead of models straight off the production line. None of these are complex features, but combined you get the sense that you're doing more than just racing to earn money.
GRID looks stunning, somehow managing to appear realistic and dream-like at the same time. Key to its impressive visuals are highly detailed tracks and cars, stunning lighting and a damage model that can only really be bettered by Burnout Paradise. Seeing such a graphically rich game run at a smooth frame rate is quite something, with some beautiful motion blur effects brilliantly disguising the 30 frames a second frame rate. Other than the odd occasion when there's a big pile up you won't notice a dip in the smooth refresh rate at all.
GRID looks even better in motionThe all-round presentation is top notch, with fully 3D menus, superb audio work and even an in-game assistant that says your name - if your name is on the large list you're able to choose from. Although it's hard to argue with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue's attempt at photo realism, GRID is simply a more visually pleasing game to look at. Show me a Gran Turismo where an AI racer spins out on a corner, crashes into a road-side barrier, rolls and then takes out two other drivers, and then it might be able to hold a candle to Codemasters' quite brilliant technical achievement. Even the loading screens look brilliant, giving you game stats and updating you on your progress towards achievements.
Online play for up to 12 players feels incredibly solid, and if you're just interested in going for the fastest times on the global leaderboards the excellently integrated ghost car downloads will be all you need. Online races is in the majority of games on the market often boil down to who can get the best line on the first corner, effectively using the other cars to cheaply sneak around the corner. In GRID the damage modelling is good enough to punish players that use other cars as barriers, making for an altogether fairer and more competitive online game.
When I played a work-in-progress build of GRID a few months ago the flashback feature seemed like a clever gimmick. After extended time with the game it's clear that it's anything but. With a new found freedom to take risks GRID sits up there with the mighty Project Gotham Racing 4 as a leader in the arcade-style racing genre. If you're bored of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue's po-faced appearance and rigid driving model, look no further. Race Driver: GRID is tearing up the tarmac this summer without a challenger in site.
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Gordo01 wrote at 09:59 on 27 May 2008
I agree about the twitchy controls i got the demo. But once used to it its a quality racing game, Looks like it will be good with the steering wheel. So glad this game will be out. AS good as PGR is the online is annoying with all the bashers. At least With GRID all will be punished. Cant wait.
Wido wrote at 10:50 on 27 May 2008
What I don't like is when the camera, if your looking at the behind of the car view. Goes with the car when tackling a turning, its quite annoying that but I don't really use that view that often. Good game, its another forza in the making and hopefully the main game it self would be good.
Mark wrote at 13:50 on 27 May 2008
Mediocre graphics. Put screenshots side by side with GT and it's not even close. What's worse is the resolution and frame-rate are much worse as well.
Pathetic arcade physics.
Fun to crash.
goldberg wrote at 14:49 on 27 May 2008
Mark your an idiot if that is really what u think, grid puts gran turismo too shame as far as evrything ,A.I ,graphix ,gameplay experience and soo on ,youve gotta be taking the piss!!!???
grid blocked wrote at 14:58 on 27 May 2008
Mark LOL get back to ur £20 demo u crank
Anonymous wrote at 15:59 on 27 May 2008
mark is a gt fanboy who knws that grid is far superior he feels threatened lol...its only a game you muppet...gt=pathetic boring A.I and insomnia curing gameplay lol
Dee wrote at 19:58 on 27 May 2008
This man is on crack..........Nuff said
Legoman wrote at 23:05 on 27 May 2008
lol mark you clearly only own a ps3 and cant afford a machine that can run this at DX10 at 1900x1000 resolution which totally destroys the graphics on GT theres soo much more detail at distance , screenshots dont show what makes a pc much more powerful than a console hence the price difference , £250 for a console or £2000 for a pc hmmmmmm... obvious which has the more powerful technology.
out wrote at 00:54 on 28 May 2008
To be honest, you can get totally kick ass PC for about two to three times the price of PS3. Q6600, P35, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 8800GTX or 3870X2 your pick. Machine like that totally trashes PS3 on every level in games.
And of course PC is much more versatile a machine that you can use for dozens other things.
Nuff said
Genghis Kant wrote at 10:46 on 28 May 2008
To be fair, whilst Grid is great fun and looks great it's not the same thing as GT5:P. GRiD is 30fps; GT5:P is 60fps. GRiD is an arcade racer and not remotely realistic; GT5:P is a sim and very realistic. Both are excellent but are quite different. And remember GRiD is available on the PS3 and 360.
sidney1980 wrote at 12:12 on 28 May 2008
i have both a 360 & ps3 & have played both versions of the grid demo. the 360 version is superior in almost every way. its smoother, no image tearing which the ps3 version suffers from at times. the 360 version also has better graphics, resolution, etc... i think mark must have a ps3 or he wouldnt b saying that. the looks really dont stand out on ps3 wheras the 360 version is 1 of the most stunning games ive ever seen in full 1080p hd! bring on friday!!
snakeater wrote at 15:22 on 28 May 2008
i hav played on both console versions of the demo and can honestly say the ps3 is far superior. The graphics only jus edge it but the controls and gameplay are alot smoother and feel more like a racing game.
kreator wrote at 17:54 on 28 May 2008
A M A Z I NG
Chris wrote at 07:23 on 29 May 2008
Got PS3 and PC. Brought on PC as it's only £19.99!
I thought the demo was pretty similar on both PS3 and PC.
PC cranked uptoo ultra settings with 4xfsaa @ 1280*1024, with the AA i'd say the PC edges over the console versions for a jaggy-less experience that runs at an unlocked frame rate always over 50fps minimum.
AMD X2 6000+ Radeon HD3850 OC edition, 4gb ram, Vista64.
frankly wrote at 10:19 on 29 May 2008
ithe 360 version is slightly better. its much smoother, & the 360 pad was definitely designed with racin games in mind as it feels more comfortable. the main difference 4 me was the resolution, which is only 720p on ps3. it luks more "jaggy-edged" with the 360 version smooth as can be in 1080p. however, all 3 versions rock, so whatever console or computer u have, u must own this game!
Jason wrote at 11:23 on 29 May 2008
Mark, I own and have owned every single car racing sim on this planet in the last 10 years. I have a 360, PS3 (only for Blue ray) and a ultra high end PC. I was very dissapointed in the new gran turismo, (Cars handle well, Graphics HD resolution not bad, game play was and is still the same as it was when it was released in 2001 ) however PGR4 on 360 was the best car racing sim until now. I have downloaded GRID on PC and it is simply amazing- 60fps with everything on high 1900x1200. The replays are unbelievable and driving the cars with a forcefeedback steering wheel is incredible. Nice work Codemasters.
sidney1980 wrote at 12:07 on 29 May 2008
couldnt agree with u more jason. i have owned pretty much every racing game 2 since my 1st NES many years ago!! gt5 prologue is stuck in a time warp as apart from looks, is still the same game! i love pgr4, forza2, sega rally 2 name the best at the moment. grid beats em all in almost every respect. replays r out of this world! 2 b honest, i never expected anything less from codies.. ive loved all their racers since toca touring cars back in 1997. also, grid only feels like an arcade racer with assists on. turn em off 4 a proper sim experience! love it!
metal_basher wrote at 10:58 on 30 May 2008
The graphics of this and GT5 are no match.. (obviously..) .. but gameplay, they are both fun in their own ways.. (just dont be stupid and match the graphics of those two games.. GT5 is by far the best looking car game created to date.
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