GRID Autosport

Is this the real GRID 2 you were wanting?

Review

Like it or not, we now live in an age where “the internet” is an incredibly powerful thing. In the last 12 months we've seen Microsoft forced to eat humble pie and change most of the their plans for the Xbox One, simply because “the internet” caused an uproar. The same thing happened when Codemasters innocently announced that GRID 2 would not feature an in-car view as an option. This was a decision taken after analysing data which showed only a small percentage of gamers who played the original game actually used it. Yet forums were filled with fans fuming at the prospect of a GRID sequel without it, so the result is GRID Autosport releasing only a year on from GRID 2.

As you would expect, this is a fantastic looking game. Once again the EGO engine has produced one of the best looking racing games out there. Billowing smoke, bending fenders and flying tyre walls have never looked better. At times it's hard to believe this is still an Xbox 360 game! Sound is just as good too with the frankly brilliant addition of pit-radio information. Instead of bringing up on-screen text or icons to find out how much damage you have sustained a quick press of the D-pad will have you're pit-chief tell you what you need to know so you don't have to take your eyes off the road.

The career mode is once again split into seasons where you choose from one of five different disciplines and then take part in a series of races. Best of the bunch is Touring where you're encouraged to be more aggressive in your racing. Expect regular contact with your opponents and close finishes. In addition to this there's also Endurance, where you continue lapping for a set time rather than distance, tyre wear is your main concern but for some reason you can't make pit-stops, which is a major oversight. Open Wheel requires precision driving and perfect throttle control, and Street takes the races out into cities for tighter tracks. The handling overall has been tweaked slighty so it leans more towards the simulation end of the market this time around.

By far the worst discipline, though, is Tuner. This is split into Time trial and drift races and neither are particularly exciting. Drifiting is terrible and feels out of place with the rest of the game but you're forced to play through the events if you want to progress and the Time trials feel like extended practice sessions.

This is a game that ultimately doesn't feel very new. It has a circuit racing focus and every track in the game is one that any avid racing game fan will have driven many times before in games like Forza Motorsport and Need For Speed: Shift. It's nice to see the return of the excellent San Francisco course from Race Driver: GRID, here given the expected graphical make-over, but overused courses, like Yas Marina in particular, mean the game loses its identity.

GRID Autosport is as good a racing game as you expect from Codemasters. I personally found GRID 2 to be more fun overall as there's none of the excellent point-to-point races to be found here, but there's still enough good stuff to make it worth your while. And as for that in-car view? It's definitely here even if it's not a detailed as the one in Forza, but I still prefer to play from the regular bonnet camera.
7 / 10
Reviewed By Zoidberg
on Wednesday 23rd July 2014

About the Review

Completed 10 seasons of career mode and sampled some online races.
Platform
Microsoft Xbox 360
Developer
Codemasters
Publisher
Codemasters
Released
27th June 2014