Grid (360, PS3, PC)

[Morph]

I think its decent. Graphics good (PGR4 for me is better), car damage is also nice but there are times when after a medium crash your car will no longer steer in one direction forcing you to retire, online seems solid.
I already own PGR4, Forza and although this is different enough I don't feel compelled to buy it, will take another look at a large multiplayer race later to see how it fairs as a group experience.

[Kubrick]

After the horrible DiRT, my expectations for this were low, but I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the graphics are. Even with 20 cars and full damage etc, I never noticed any framerate issues doing the BMW event. Quite happy with how it plays too. The handling is on the acadey side and reminds me of NFS ProStreet, which I kinda enjoyed, so I reckon I'll buy the full game.

[englishbob]

Demo Impressions (both 360 and PS3)

The Good.
Good graphics and framerate (30fps)
Damage well implemented (not too restrictive)
Customisable Controls (please note Bizzare!)
Good front-end
Great feedback in the in-cockpit view
Replays and the replay system is fantastic, just like DIRTs)

The Bad
The sound is awful, the mix. The last time I heard a mix this bad was PGR2. You can hear every bang, every rev of the other cars engines from just about any distance. But you can't hear your own engine very well at all. Makes timing the acceleration / gear change impossible by the sense of sound, you have to check your rev counter.
Mini map display for the race. I hate minimaps, why can't I have the full circuit map ffs!
In car cockpit view is the twichest yet! Not good.
Handling is certainly unique. Not sure if it will win too many fans. Braking is really hard, even with the assist off!

The comparison
360 is better. A tiny whiff of a better framerate, more vibrant looking and not too much tearing. The PS3 suffers, in car view anyway, with far too much tearing, the v-synch literally ripping the screen in half on some bends. Unless they can improve the PS3 version in time for release, its a no-brainer 360 purchase.

[Bleeders]

It's not bad I suppose, but it's yet another ****ing racer.

I don't think so.

[VR46]

You can never have too many racers Steve

Thought it was pretty good, though (like in DiRT) the car virtually turned on a six-pence

[Don Tommo]

It is very arcadey but I somehow still like it. This is odd for me because Forza 2 was the only racing game that ever really drew me in (largely due to the livery editor).

From what i've read on other forums people are not very enamoured with the drifting. That's my favourite part of the demo so far. I find it quite therapeutic compared to everyone smashing into each other on the other 2 tracks. The San Francisco circuit definitely has potential though.

[Dazzyman]

Think its fantastic especially the road circuit. You can make it less arcadey by putting pro mode on and turning all the assists off and locking head cam. 100% must buy for me

[ne0star]

I quite enjoyed the demo. Without insulting anyone it has a bit of a 'Daytona' feel to it, and the visuals are pretty stunning. The 360 version seemed to be a pretty solid 30fps from what I could tell. I love the crashes, they have a real teeth grinding feel to them.

[fahrenheit]

Loved DiRT, will no doubt get right into this, but that 'pick a name' feature has really got me off on the wrong foot. Its great if you have a common-as-mud name, but I'm not covered here. I'll take all of DiRTs "you be smooth and I'll be steady" bollocks over being called 'Barry' any day thanks.

(no offense to anyone here called Barry).

[mrsquare]

Loved DiRT, will no doubt get right into this, but that 'pick a name' feature has really got me off on the wrong foot. Its great if you have a common-as-mud name, but I'm not covered here. I'll take all of DiRTs "you be smooth and I'll be steady" bollocks over being called 'Barry' any day thanks.

(no offense to anyone here called Barry).

You know theres also a page of generic nicknames if you scroll to the right?

[PeteJ]

I thought the name feature was pretty cool, haven't seen that done since Black and White on the PC.

Enjoyed the demo, the last track\mode was by far the best for me as the handling had some weight to it. The other two modes felt way too twitchy and I kept turning into the inside wall on a corner.

Graphics don't seem as impressive as DIRT but the amount of things going on is really good, and likewise the presentation is excellent.

Out in Summer...I'll be buying so long as there aren't loads of other games about at that time.

[superstarbeejay]

Loved DiRT, will no doubt get right into this, but that 'pick a name' feature has really got me off on the wrong foot. Its great if you have a common-as-mud name, but I'm not covered here. I'll take all of DiRTs "you be smooth and I'll be steady" bollocks over being called 'Barry' any day thanks.

(no offense to anyone here called Barry).

No offence taken. The way it says Barry is pretty awful anyway. It's kinda like bear-eee.

[VR46]

Out in Summer...I'll be buying so long as there aren't loads of other games about at that time.

Believe it's out in three weeks Pete (30th May).

[PeteJ]

Oooooh.

[hugejeans]

My sort of racing game this.I think its looks great ,the sound of the cars could be a little bit more beefier(is that a word?)

The drifting part I enjoyed as well.The racing is spot on as well.To much pushing and shoving and your cars fooked.

Online I lasted 30 seconds took another player out,by accident.Caught out the guy behind my by my sudden stop into a tyre wall.He deflected off my rear end into a wall.Then as I got going again he swung infront of me as his steering was knackered.
Bang hit him at the front ,game over for him.

Good job I was not wearing my headset.

This has put the fun back into driving games for me anyway.