Grid (360, PS3, PC)

[Eight Rooks]

I was hoping for a little more detail. I'd say every arcade racer has fairly prominent rubberband AI, I'd have said the AI in Grid was much better, much more believable than Burnout or Motorstorm, for example, and it's an arcade racer. No arcade racer I've ever played has ever handled particularly realistically. Plus the drifting certainly isn't the game's strongest suit but it's hardly Need For Speed simplistic.

[Sane]

The drifting in GRID is very well done I'd say, perhaps a bit on the easy side but that's the nature of this game really.

[Dazzyman]

Just a heads up that the patch finally went up last night on 360 (Sunday of all days) so I can finally play it after waiting 5 weeks

[MonkeyWrench]

Having not realised the 360 patch was out until yesterday I fired this up again this morning and haven't had it off since. I wasn't too keen on it when I first played it at launch, which probably wasn't helped by the pausing issues. A lot of the early races seemed to turn into demolition derbys and the choice of cars didn't really do the handling any justice, everything seemed very twitchy and lacked any real weight. A few seasons in and it has blown open wide. The choice of disciplines is excellent, whilst I have a penchant for pure track racing, it made a real change to have stock car and drift events in the mix. I'm also enjoying the team management elements too, chosing the right mix of sponsors and hiring team mates, gives you something to do and think about between races.

There's not many racing games out there that convey such a sense of event when racing (Motorstorm springs to mind), it oozes atmosphere and has drama in spades. There was one stand out moment where I was racing a Skyline at Spa, I was in third position and it was about half way through the last lap. I was chasing down 2nd place and was all over him like a rash, until I pressured him into a mistake, causing him to spin out and eat the tyre wall. 1st place was too far ahead for me to catch so I resigned myself into the runners up position, that was until he had a tyre failure and proceded to spin down the home straight in cloud of his own tyre smoke. I had no idea where he had ended up so I just picked a spot and floored it, narrowly missing the stricken car. It was a proper Days of Thunder moment!

As other people have mentioned, it's great to see the Le Mans circuit make a return to the gaming scene. I've not (vritually) raced on that track since the Le Mans game on the Dreamcast! On the subject of Le Mans, that race blew me away. I would have preferred it to be a little longer than it is, but the day and night cycle was seriously impressive. The head light effects on the surrounding scenery looked extremely realisitic. In fact I think it's fair to say there isn't another racing game out there that looks as good as GRID.

[Roddie]

Just finished this the other day; have to say I found it most enjoyable wrecking the opponent in the Raven West head-to-heads so that I could just saunter round the track after watching him land upside-down over a wall

[merf]

i never had the pausing issue but went back to it after completing GTA, I think its been a bit unfairly dismissed in general, its a top drawer game fo rme and oozes quality.

bet its totally ignored in game of the year lists and the like which is a real shame as it really highlights how lazy and sterile the gran turismo series has become.

[Leon Retro]

No arcade racer I've ever played has ever handled particularly realistically.

The handling for an arcade racer - should convey the "Fun" .. of driving, without the stress of real physics.

There are good arcade racers, and bad. Some have overly simplistic handling - with little feel that the car is touching the road. Others, like Daytona, Ridge Racer etc... have cars that grip the track and good control dynamics, but also let you do ridiculous things with the vehicles.

It's very ignorant for anyone to think arcade=simple. That is a misconception - stirred-up by sim-heads. An arcade racer needs depth to it's control - just like a sim, but to also allow the player to experience things they wouldn't necessarily be able to do in real life. These ridiculous things, like amazing powerslides, should take skill and dedication to master.

GRID is a weak racer. It has dodgy handling - that never feels consistent. The physics are strange - and give me a headache. The biggest problem is the motion. I've never played a racer with such strange, nauseating motion. The dev says 30fps - I'd say 20fps with some motion trick, to make it look fast, but it just looks like it's running in "Fast Forward" .. which is a horrible experience.

Compared to big name Arcade Racers - like RidgeRacer 6&7, Outrun2, InitialD etc... GRID is a joke. Despite having nice visuals, I'd give it a very low score.

[Dazzyman]

Its an arcade sim not a arcade racer though. Peeps have the issue of the handling due to how it handles pivoting but you can alter the handling for TCS etc.. if you want and even make it so you cant even restart a race. Its totally different to ridge racer and the rest you have listed (which I also like apart from Initial D) its more closer to PGR series. I would have preffered it to go more sim style and at first it put me off but once I got into season 2 it clicked getting used to how it pivots on its axis. Its a shame that it doesnt include a full on sim mode like their new F1 game will have.

I for one love it, great driving experience and fantastic doing the Lemans every season. I like the AI alot and the way you can alter it up or down to suit your taste. Im just glad I can finally play it now the patch has come out. The tension on doing a pro race incase I bin it is fantastic and especially when you do it on a Lemans race and the music starts kicking in on the last 2mins. Its definetly got its flaws but its one of the most enjoyable arcade sims Ive played in yonks and much better handling than Dirt was.

[merf]

i can't be bothered to disect the post by Leon Ahoy but I have rarely read such a load of old rubbish that I disagree with more.

[Leon Retro]

i can't be bothered to disect the post by Leon Ahoy but I have rarely read such a load of old rubbish that I disagree with more.

You are a mole. I'm not - because I never promote anything, that is obviously rubbish.

It's an insult to suggest that my opinion is stupid - when a good portion of people across the net, who like racing games(arcade & sim) .... have similar grievances with GRID.

I only insult people - when they deserve it. If only more people weren't so quick to make meaningless insults. I was clear with my reasons as to why I dislike the game. I didn't say anything harsh - or abusive.

Where are you coming from with your insult - and attitude problem? ... It doesn't make sense

I think EDGE were paid off, because giving a joke of a racer like GRID, 9/10, is corrupt. Either that, or the reviewer hasn't a clue, and is maybe on some sort of "Happy Pill" ... that clouds their judgment.

All my points against GRID - are valid, and even people who quite like the game, have agreed with me, but say they can live with the problems.

If you can't be bothered to read someone's post properly - then don't reply, and get back to playing crap games.

Remember, I love racing games. I paid £30 for the game, hoping I'd enjoy it, but I sold it after a day, because it really did astonish me with its badness. Good graphics, yes. Abysmal handling and framerate, yes.

[merf]

for starters there was no insult, I said I'd never read such a load of old rubbish that I disagree with more. its a personal view.

it just always curious to me why certain people feel the need to trash games in threads where there is largely positive discussion about a title then promote the same tired old 'aren't Sega brilliant, Ridge racer is the best racer ever cos its 60fps' arguments.

what do you expect the reply to be, people who have previously enjoyed the game to admit you, as some arbiter of taste are correct and now you've pointed out things we hadn't seen we will stop playing the game and take it back ?

your points are valid to you, as mine are to me and everybody elses to themselves I'm sure too.

'I only insult people when they deserve it' - thats ok then, as long you are happy who is anybody else to argue ?

[FatGit_UK]

I like GRID and personally, I think it's way more enjoyable than the raved about GT5p, but that is my personal opinion, which I don't expect everyone else to agree with.

I'm not very good at the drifiting stuff, but other than that I don't find the handling a problem. I like the visuals and graphic style. But most of all, I LOVE the fact that the AI make mistakes! For me, this and this alone makes this stand above many of the other racers available on the 360 and PS3. Forza's AI rarely (if ever) makes a mistake and the AI in GT5p is a complete joke. In GRID, they spinout, they wreck their cars - they make mistakes which means you never know for sure what's going to happen. None of this always sticking to the perfect racing line rubbish.

I like it

[Dazzyman]

Yea I love it to watch some AI clever sod fly past me going into a corner too fast only for him to fly into the gravel or flip his car. Their damn aggressive on serious alone but not so much that I feel unfair advantage with them. I feel like Im driving real people.

Dont see the point in comparing this to Ridge Racer etc.. personally their totally different takes on a driving experience, both very enjoyable but very different.

[Tankshell]

It's amazing how viewpoint can vary so drastically... for me, this is the best racer of this generation and one of the best of all time, simple as.

I don't understand how anyone could dislike it... it is just pure fun to play (and fantastic looking to boot), plain and simple.

[ExtremePabs]

It's amazing how viewpoint can vary so drastically... for me, this is the best racer of this generation and one of the best of all time, simple as.

I don't understand how anyone could dislike it... it is just pure fun to play (and fantastic looking to boot), plain and simple.

Couldn't agree more!! Absolutely love this game!