Well, you knew this was coming, After Grid: Autosport, the Grid series was kinda in hibernation for a bit, as Codemasters was busy with other things, such as Dirt Rally and Dirt 4, as well as the next-gen Formula 1 games. However, in May 2019, Codemasters revealed the new Grid game, going under the name of Grid, though it’s often called Grid 2019 to help it differ from the 1st game, RaceDriver Grid.
I remember liking what I saw of this game and thinking that the graphics were a big step up from Grid: Autosport, which was already a great-looking game. However, my 1st time playing this was on Google Stadia, and needless to say, it was not fun. I did end up getting the Ultimate Edition from a code that I got on Twitter, I don’t remember from who, but I honestly don’t remember much of my 1st time playing this game, so much so, I decided to use a fresh save for this, if anything just to give it a fair chance.
So let’s just dive into this reboot of a somewhat dormant franchise!
So to start off I want to say, that I think this game looks amazing. It feels like Grid Autosport but turned up to 11 in terms of being very “in your face” about all the details, from the dirt on the street circuits to the scratches on the car. It’s honestly a very nice way of doing Hyper-Realistic graphics, as it’s not just done for the sake of having Hyper-Realistic graphics, it’s done with intent and purpose and it’s something you remember about the game. I was playing on low settings, so you’re playing on High settings, boy you must be living your best life right now.
The opening of the game talks about the WSR, or the World Series Racing, coming to an end, and during this, you get introduced to 3 types of cars, Endurance, Touring and Stock, which is new for Grid 2019, or at least new to me. This intro is pretty cool, and it does get me hyped for the new Grid World Series, though unlocking it is a bit of a pain.
So the way this game is structured is similar to Grid Autosport, while there are no longer seasons, you start out in a lower-class car, and work you’re up to the better machinery. Once you get to the highest class of Machinery, you can do a Showdown event, and once you do enough of those, you get to the Grid World series. I feel like this method is a bit tedious, compared to Grid Autosport, where you had checkpoints in a way. You could do the lower series 1st, then go do the relevant Grid series for those cars. However, here you have to do almost everything, and while you can skip certain stages, which you might want to do to save time in places, it still does feel like a grind in terms of the format, as you can’t really drop off and go do a Grid series at any given point, unlike autosport.
In terms of the series you can play in, they have been changed a little bit from Autosport. Touring, Endurance and Tuner return, but now we also have a category based on 2-time F1 Champion Fernando Alonso, Stock Cars, which contain Stock Cars, Stock Trucks and Muscle cars. and the Invitational series, which allows you to drive a selection of cars from different eras.
Touring starts in TC2 cars, which are basically modified hatchbacks, then heading into the Super Tourers, which are basically the cars from the Australian Supercars series, and then heading up into the TC1 Specials, which are older touring cars from the ’60s, formally used in BTCC and ETCC This category was fun and a good intro to the game, but I felt the handling of the cars was kinda weird. Granted, these are some of the slowest cars in the game, not counting the minis so I guess that makes sense. Touring car is all about punting people out of the way, though you can do it in most categories in this game, there’s no strict rule system, but if you an AI too many times(or just hit them really hard, IDK it seems random) you activate the nemesis system, which basically increases their aggression when trying to race you, and in terms of you’re teammate, just flat-out ignoring your commands to push or defend.
Stock Cars I actually had a lot of fun with, as it is not just NASCAR’s here, you get to drive stock trucks, and also Muscle cars. The Muscle Cars are very powerful, but not so nimble and it’s kinda fun to race them around street courses, like San Francisco and Shanghai, where despite all the 90-degree turns, they are still very fun to race! I also was using some stuff I got thanks to the Ultimate Edition, the big thing being, Grid Edition cars.
Grid Edition cars are cars that have a black carbon livery that does look pretty cool, and they give you extra XP which in turn helps you level up, though don’t worry too much about it, the game gives you plenty of chances to earn XP, through making basic moves, setting the fastest lap of the race, etc, and honestly, it just unlocks more liveries for your cars, and different teammates, which I honestly don’t know what they do. I also still can’t weeb up my livery yet, so that kinda sucks. It is kinda weird that the XP aspect is just tied to multiplayer stuff only, but I am talking as this game got a sequel.
Anyways, the trucks and Stock Cars basically race like NASCAR Trucks and NASCAR Xfinity cars, so very heavy and also not really agile at all, but they are fun to just slide around a little bit on tracks like the returning San Fransisco, and Crescent Valley Raceway, a new name for Autosport Speedway from the last game because licencing.
Tuner cars are more focused on modded cars than ever before as you start out in the modified class, then head on to super modified cars, and then world time attack cars, most of which are some sort of modified Japanese hatchback. These are fun and have the most emphasis on Time Attack, a mode where it’s just you against the clock in order to set the fastest time, though I feel the traffic is worse here than it was in autosport, as it gets in the way more often than not. However, the cars are really fun, it’s what happens when you take a normal car then add a bunch of turbos to it, it’s very fun honestly.
GT was actually the category I had the most fun with, which is a big change from Autosport, that’s for sure. You start out in Group 2 cars, which are basically GT 4 cars used in lower spec series, then work your way up into Group 1 cars, which are GT 3 cars, and then into Prototype, which involves you driving the recently defunct DPi class of cars. Here Codemasters had a partnership with IMSA, the Premier American endurance racing series, so all the cars are licenced and have their official branding on them. These are all a lot of fun to drive, they feel very smooth and honestly just work on all the tracks in this game. I really enjoyed driving the Group 1 Dodge Viper GT3-R, in particular.
The track variety in this game is also pretty neat, as there’s a mix of street circuits around cities, like Shanghai in China and Havana in Cuba, to well-known real-life circuits in Silverstone and Sydney Motorsport Park, to even some togue style circuits in Okutama if you want to get you’re Initial D style drift on. However, there’s also no time trial mode which is a little odd. Instead, you’re time is calculated by your best laps in a race which is… kinda odd.
Fernando Alonso’s category is primarily made up of classes of cars that the 2 time F1 champion has driven, though there are some Super Touring races here, it’s mainly made up of the F1000 cars, which are kinda like mini F1 cars, and GT cars, as this was when Alonso was really diving into the Endurance racing scene. I appreciate the F1000 cars, but what kinda sucks is that outside of the R26, Alonso’s 2006 championship-winning car, it’s the only open-wheel car in the game, which is a bummer, given that I enjoyed open-wheel and its invitational events so much in Grid Autosport.
Invitational is basically what I would call the guest driver category, you get to drive a bunch of classic cars around different tracks, and while you don’t get to keep them, that’s fine to me because there’s a lot of history here, and it’s pretty fun to go through it all.
I should stress now, I think Grid is a good game for sure, the in-car gameplay is great, the game is stunning to look at, and there’s a lot of good visual direction here, as races usually start with a view of the track and run through the Grid, and end with fireworks going off in a similar way to how Rallycross races end. However, I feel the structure of the game has to go through everything before you battle Ravenwest, the top team because of course they are, is a bit annoying for me personally. However it’s only one of 2 Grid titles available in digital stores now, and it’s under £20 normally, so if you wanted to pick it up, I would not blame you at all. You can pick it up for PS4, Xbox One and Steam.
So yea, the racers are done. for now anyways. It’s been really fun playing these games, and of course, I’ll get to Dirt 5 and Grid Legends eventually, but I think I need a small break from writing about them.
Before I go I just wanted to say, I’m a part of the Rapid Reviews team now! I just reviewed Block Em, an indie game that could use some work honestly, but has a solid enough base. Check it out here, and while you’re at it, check out the podcast my co-writers, Pete and Kiley do for Rapid Reviews, they just interviewed the developer of Horace, Paul Helman, and join them on Twitch every Sunday at 7:30PM UK time/11:30AM Pacsifc/2:30 PM eastern.
Taking a small break, but the next time we meet will probably be trying out June’s selection of Steam Next Fest demos. But for now, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time.
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