![]() Where Grid redeems itself is that, whilst it isn’t the most accurate portrayer of realism, there are few games that can top Race Driver for pure excitement and drama. Sure, more people can pick up and play Race Driver this way, but for gamers who wish to push themselves and the car they’re driving to the absolute limit, the vague sense of the ‘rubber meeting the road’ is quite disconcerting, and (from this reviewer’s experience) makes it too easy to make mistakes.Īnd become incredibly frustrated as a result. If Gran Turismo 5 is the Flight Simulator of console racing games, then Grid is the market’s equivalent of Ace Combat.Īs a result, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear of user reviews across the Internet that criticise the game’s ‘floaty’ physics. Let’s not beat around the bush, shall we? Whilst it’s nowhere near as much of an arcade racer as, say, an OutRun or Ridge Racer, Race Driver: Grid is by no means a simulation title. More Arcade than Sim…but does it really matter? And, whilst the whole CEO aspect is no-where near as deep as other racing games (albeit more recent ones, like F1 Online: The Game), sorting out which brands will appear on your collection of track-ready machinery is a novel touch, and the only maintenance aspect that’s worth going back to time-and-time again, given it (unsurprisingly) plays a huge role in the game’s economy. When you’re not racing, though, there’s the team management aspect, which allows you to edit your livery, paint scheme and sponsors, as well as hire a second driver once you progress beyond the ‘Rookie’ stage. Though you start off as a wannabe racer who can only enter events in one-race, target-specific freelance contracts, the grind to bolster up your bank balance with enough dosh to start your own team doesn’t take much time at all, and you’ll be off traversing the USA, Europe and Japan in no time at all, building up your reputation and money as you climb up the ranks. What did make Race Driver: Grid interesting, though, was how your playable character progressed through the ranks and the various tiers of racing, both on and off the track. As far as replayability goes, Grid isn’t exactly the standard bearer for racing games. Neither was its length anything to brag about either – if you restricted yourself to an hour or two a day on Grid, as I did when I played through the game for this Retrospective Review, it would still be possible to complete Race Driver in the space of a couple of months at the most. The question, though, is this: Does Race Driver: Grid still have what it takes to be described as one of the top racing games of the last six years, or has misty-eyed nostalgia tainted our memories and perception of an out-dated game?īy the end of this review, the answer will hopefully be found…Įven when Race Driver: Grid was released, the ‘move your way up the ranks’ progression system was already a career-mode template that had formed the foundations for most racing games, so we’d be deceiving you if we were to say Grid’s campaign mode brought anything radical or new to the genre. ![]() With the pre-launch buzz surrounding the upcoming title, though, it’s very easy to forget about its six-year old predecessor: the critically-acclaimed racing game star of the seventh-gen, Race Driver: Grid.Īt least, that’s what most of the folk who reviewed the title in 2008 reckoned Grid was. ![]() In just over a week’s time, Codemasters Racing’s much-anticipated arcade racing game ‘Grid 2’ will – after what seems like an absolute age – finally go on sale in the UK.
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