All tings GRiD inc. GRiD2 & GRiD Autosport - The Bear and Badger

Chief

Played a few races this morning and it feels fantastic. Miles better than Grid 2's arcade style.

Bob

It's so nice to have qualifying back.. AI is super aggressive though.

Looking forward to sinking some proper time into it.

Birdorf

I'm already regretting giving myself Lulu as a nickname.

Bob

I web for ninja!

Chief

This is so good. Had a few races in Touring first (my favourite discipline) and absolutely loving the practice/qualifying addition, plus the ability to tailor the race length to your liking - always prefer races between 5-10 laps rather than the 2-3 you usually get in these games. I also like the two race format, reversing the grid in the second race.

Moved on to Open Wheel after that, which was a real stark contrast. Whereas in the first Grid it was mainly a case of shorter braking distances and having to be a little lighter on the accelerator out of corners, in Autosport it's far more than that - the sense of speed is insane, the control is far more precise but easier to lock brakes and far, far easier to spin out. That said, I got the hang of it after a couple of laps and had great fun in the races.

My last go was with the Street discipline, which was rough as fuck. No qualifying but I did get to practice, learn the tracks and cars before each race, and it started me at the back for both races. It's far more of a contact racing discipline than I expected, leaving me with a damaged steering column after only 2 laps of my first race! The rest weren't as bad after that learning experience, but the narrow streets and vicious AI make clean racing almost impossible.

All in all, this is certainly the game that Grid 2 should have been.

Bob

Chief wrote:

This is so good. Had a few races in Touring first (my favourite discipline) and absolutely loving the practice/qualifying addition

This is indeed great. The addition of proper splits with green/purple/red sectors instantly lets you know how well you doing or where you need to push harder. It makes for a great race weekend feel.

The AI is a bit aggressive. It's not especially pretty.. it still feels like Codies games aren't really HD at all.

Still the handling model is nice and consistent which is a first for a Codies tarmac racer.

Chief

I dunno, it looks good on 360. Has more character than the Gran Turismos & Forzas of the world, even if it doesn't have the same detail.

Tried Tuner class now, which is the least fun so far. I'm not a fan of Time Attack or Drift, which seem to make up the bulk of this discipline. It's still fun, mind, but I'll likely ignore this discipline for a while now.

Endurance is good though. Having to be more mindful of your tyres, striking a balance between staying ahead of your rivals/not wearing out your tyres makes for a surprisingly tense racing experience.

Bob

It doesn't look as sharp as forza or gran turismo. I could live without planes and helicopters.

Chief

I'm just biased because I love the Grid series.

Bob

Don't get me wrong as a racing simulation they don't come any more exciting, except perhaps Race Pro. Putting it on pole genuinely exciting as is pulling off a great over taking move or a particularly fast lap. I like the reverse grid as well. Looking forward to putting some more time into it.

Chief

I'll definitely be hitting the Touring Cars again in the morning, before watching the Croft race day on ITV4 all afternoon.

Bob

Pipping someone to the win on the redbull ring on the last corner was pretty sweet!

bad_hair_day

Edge score

Spoiler:

Assists off, manual gears, stiff shocks and the A.I is still tough as Ross Kemp's corns.

Online races are a hoot too.

Bob

EDGE have over cooked a Codemasters review again.

I've stuck to Touring Cars but despite the alleged wealth of tracks the same ones keep coming around again. I liked the Classic Mini races.

I'm not sure where all this 'the games so hard' stuff comes from either. I've got everything off apart from ABS, Manual gears, High damage and Medium difficulty and Medium AI and I'm making pole by a clear 5 seconds on some tracks. Even starting from the back of the pack I made 2nd by the end of the first lap. Some races are closer.

There's still room for Codemasters to improve. I'd like the start to be more realistic.. i.e some drives bogging down cars taking off at different speeds etc. As it is the Ravenwest BMW always takes first place from the line. I'd like actual retirements from crashes. I'd also like AI that had some spatial awareness and didn't just turn across you.

Chief

You haven't had retirements yet? Someone retired in one of my races the other day.

Bob

Some one rolled in a street race, not really what I was looking for.

The online is fucktarded.

Chief

Haven't been online yet. To be honest, after the mess of Grid 2's online I'm not sure I fancy jumping into this 'un's multiplayer for a while.

Bob

Jumped in jumped out. Will post more from a keyboard tomorrow.

Bob

I'm still disappointed there's no weather either.. seeing as they managed that on TOCA on the PSone. It's not as good as Shift 2 or Race Pro.

Anyhow. Tried the online. Joined randoms through quick match. One lap race with the opposition as ghosts on an oval.. I mean seriously why bother?

Custom searched.. waited in the lobby for ages.. everyone left..

And despite having it on Medium/Medium voice over woman told me it was too easy for me.. take that game journalists!
Went back to quick match.. the search took so long I got bored and played Fallout 3 instead.

It also seems basically flawed in that you start with $12,000 to buy cars.. but can't afford anything. The game has loan cars so you can compete in all the events.. kind of defeating the object of owning cars to a large extent.

Oh and voice over woman told me it was too easy for me on medium/medium

Chief

I can't agree with the Shift 2/Race Pro comment, myself.

Race Pro was a good enough sim but felt dull and lifeless (especially in comparison with its counterpart, Race 07 on PC), a real grind with some pretty poor track choices. The handling was excellent but far too unforgiving and not because it was a sim, again I go back to Race 07 which was more of an accomplished sim and yet very accessible.

Shift 2 should have been a stunning racer. It had all the attention to detail (scattered rubber off the racing line and tremendous in-car views being the highlights) but its AI was way too aggressive and stuck steadfast to the racing line, whether or not you were in their way.
Then there was the atrocious handling. Cars felt like they steered with the rear wheels, didn't even turn until after you turned the wheel instead of as you turned and it seemed too obsessed with its sense of speed instead of creating realistic, believable braking distances.

I'm not saying that Grid Autosport gets it all right, I haven't played it near enough to comment on that, but I will say that the original Grid was the best representation of racing I've ever played. Not realistic per se, but the sense of speed was spot-on and the handling felt responsive, plus the AI is probably still the best I've raced against in any driving game.

Sorry, this seems like more of a rant than intended. Just wanted to throw my views out there.

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMejryY-8ec&feature=youtu.be

A classic Friday Night Forza LeBob as I go from 3rd to 1st on the last corner with a little collateral damage.

Chief

That's me glad I'm not on PS3.

Can you not upload direct to Youtube via the game in this one?

Bob

Yeah but being a codies game it obviously would not work .

Chief

Haha, true.

Hodge360

Is that on PS3??

Chief

Aye, Bob went PS3.

Had a few more Touring races this evening, including that first Mini race which was probably the closest race I've had so far. I can see this being one of my favourite racers (which will surprise precisely zero people) and, unlike similar games, I'm actively looking forward to different disciplines. I honestly think that the Open Wheel racing is some of the best available.

Having said all that, Project CARS is still due this year and is probably the only track racer that has the potential to knock this off my top spot.

Bob

I'm having mixed feelings about it.

The online is horrid. I really can't understand why there's any excuse for poor lobbies and menus when it's already been perfected.. there's no time limit or count down so you're waiting for ages until everyone is ready then the actual net code doesn't seem great and of course you get punted off on the first corner when someone doesn't slow down (although I appreciate that isn't Codemasters fault).

The main game I've moved onto street racing and changed the difficulty to hard. I'm fed up of the AI hitting me and turning me through 90 degrees instantly. Is that even physically possible? They also do that annoying thing of flying down the straights really fast and then going slow through the corners whist hogging the racing line and being all over the shop on the exit of corners making it really difficult to over take cleanly.

Still when it comes together it's fun. I'd prefer the career structure if it mixed things up a bit more though.. 12 street races in a row in a bit dull.

Chief

If there's one thing I would liked changed, it's the over-sensitive white line penalties. I've been penalised for going millimetres over, or even being pushed/forced over by the AI!

Chief

Starting to see some of the points about the overly aggressive AI. It's usually the Street class that's the worst but I had a few moments in the Open Wheel class earlier, too.

That said, I had some great races and am starting to see more of the track list in Career mode now.
Pretty happy with this overtake as well...

Dinostar77

Fernando Alonso is to act as a consultant for the latest GRID game. Rumours that he'll also play online against fans and accept a personal challenge from his biggest fan @bob remain unconfirmed.

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