Race Driver (PC) GRID Review
Posted by Chris Evans on 06.10.2008
Chris Evans takes a look at Race Driver GRID, the latest racer from Codemasters.
Race Driver GRID Review - PC Based
What happens when a game tries to combine two different play styles? The simple answer is that the game will either crash and burn, or become a big hit. Race Driver GRID has the potential to be a big hit, a great looking graphics engine and damage modelling; exciting fun racing and a well crafted Career mode are just some of the things going for it.
Gameplay and More
I would like to come back to my first point about a game trying to take two play styles and combine them into the finished product. For GRID these two play styles are the two different styles of racing games, Arcade and Simulation. There are big splits between fans of the two styles of racing game and GRID is a game which has aspects which will appear to both sets of racers. There are some issues I have with the game, it feels like Codemasters have made compromises in order to make GRID acceptable to both Arcade and Simulation fans.
In making these compromises Codemasters have made GRID feel incomplete, while it is perfectly acceptable for a developer to cut back on areas of a game in order to release on time and such forth they are generally done and allow the game to continue without feeling like GRID does at times. I can appreciate that Codemasters didn’t include things like pit stops, car settings, qualifying or even check-point or time attack races. Each of those are features which feel like they are missing. The most glaring omission is racing flags which are mentioned in the game manual but do not feature in the game.
While your ‘Race Spotter’ (more on him later) will make you aware of an incident on the track, he can often be calling an incident that occurred half a lap ago, hasn’t happened yet or doesn’t happen at all. As such you feel that the inclusion of racing flags, if only Yellow Flags (warning of danger on track) and Blue Flags (about to be lapped) would have added to the feel of the game. If people didn’t want to race with the flags then it would have been simple enough to include the option to turn them off. Yet their total omission, despite being mentioned in the manual is disappointing.
Pit stops again are something totally missing, this is most odd especially in the Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance race. When you have the option to race the Circuit de la Sarthe on the longer race times, anything over the 24 minute race really, you feel like you need a break and feel the immersion slipping away when you realise that you cannot stop to get your damaged tyres replaced, switch to an AI driver or anything like this. While on the shorter races the lack of pit stops suits the race on the longer races (not just Le Mans) you feel that you are missing out on something. Again while it is clear that Codemasters are accommodating the Arcade racers, they are alienating many others, even those who are not die hard Simulation racers.
When you come to start a race you find yourself placed randomly on the grid, you may find yourself on the first few rows for one race yet be at the back of the pack for the next. There is absolutely no explanation for this chopping and changing, if starting positions were based on the result of previous races when in a multi-race event or if there was a mini-qualifying session the racing experience would feel that much more structured and enjoyable.
And now I will prove that all of what I said above is irrelevant and really is only there to make people aware that this is most certainly not a fully fledged Simulator. Codemasters have said from the start that GRID is ’all about the race.’ So pretty much if any of the issues I just spent 600 words outlining apply to you then you are coming into GRID with the wrong attitude. For GRID you must throw away any Simulator and Arcade ideals you may have and just accept that you must live without pit stops and fancy paint jobs and just get on with what you should be doing best, racing and hopefully, winning.
The big question then is whether the game itself is any good, specifically in regards to the racing. For me it does a great job and having played a fair few racing games in my time across a variety of platforms that is a rare thing for me to think. While some games like Gran Turismo have very rigid feel to them and others like the Need for Speed games feel to simplistic GRID strikes a good balance between the Simulator and Arcade games.
When you look at the Drift specialised cars, the Touring Cars along with the Destruction Derby and Open Wheel cars you can really see and feel a difference in how they drive. While cars within the same class can at times feel a bit similar there are enough differences to make picking the Aston Martin over the Lamborghini or vice versa crucial.
So each car feels ever so slightly different within its discipline, and different disciplines have cars which behave differently to others. This creates a need to constantly adapt to the different vehicles even if you are racing the same track as you did five minutes ago with another car. The basics of any racing game are found in GRID, good racing and cars which don’t all feel exactly the same.
What then of crashes? Well GRID features some of the best in-game crashes seen since Colin McRae DiRT and has improved on what was seen in the rally game. All the cars receive and show damage in real time, there is no replacement of intact body panels with damaged ones instead the cars take damage as it happens and react accordingly. While you can beat your car up a fair bit before you will notice any serious handling issues allowing you some respite from banging into the excellent AI.
Witnessing the AI cars take damage and make mistakes regardless of where you are on the track is another great sight in GRID. Too often in racing games I have seen the AI drivers travel in a procession with limited action, in GRID they will make mistakes, crash into each other and overall present an image of behaving like normal racing drivers.
If you do crash and right off your car in an intense amazing looking crash then one of the best features of the game comes into play, Flashback. The Flashback feature turns GRID on its head and makes it distinct from many other racers. Imagine this, Le Mans 24 Hours, driving the Audi R10 with just a few minutes left before you claim your first outright victory at the legendary race. You have a lapse of concentration and send your car into the barriers damaging it beyond the point of no return.
But wait, there is a return. With the Flashback utility you can roll back time for a pretty big handful of seconds and reset the car on the track at the point of your choosing. That race ending crash never occurred and you can go on and win Le Mans in style. While in career mode you will receive a slightly smaller bonus for using a Flashback the chance to finish a race you may otherwise have thrown away is what makes the Flashback ability so good.
While many may complain that this is cheating well hear this, Flashback it not available at all in multiplayer and in singleplayer you can enable ‘Pro Mode’ which takes away any chance of using the Flashbacks.
I must make some mention of the career mode as that is where you will spend your time in the career mode. To start off the game you enter your name along with something that you will be referred to during your career, this spoken name can range from a selection of real names to nicknames such as ‘Boss’ and ‘Ace.’ This is what you race spotter/engineer and team manager will refer to you as and they speak often, so you are best choosing wisely!
The first race of your career simply requires you to get round the track once without wrecking the car, from here you take on a number of Driver Offers where you race for other teams and are tasked with completing goals to earn your bonus. Offers can be as mundane as simply winning an event or you can be posed with reaching a top speed with a top of the range vehicle. These driver offers are present throughout the career mode and provide an interesting change to driving for your own team.
Once you have earned enough money your team will be set up and this is where the fun really starts. You are able to choose a design for your team, while limited in options compared to other racers, this allows you to create a paint job that is distinctive from others. Other team management options include managing sponsorship deals and managing your team mate. These are two simple ways of making more money, and while they are not as detailed as a management game they don’t have to be, they simply provide an interesting side-show to the racing. Again this is where GRID is taking the middle ground between the Arcade and Simulation style of play.
The race events are split into American, European and Japanese areas, each of which has a variety of unique and distinctive racing styles. These range from American Destruction Derbies, Japanese Drift events and finally the European Endurance events. The split of the different areas provide you with the chance to focus on the type of races which you enjoy the most. If you hate Drift then you can simply ignore those events in Japan, or even ignore the Japanese events totally. Granting this freedom to pick and choose your driving styles was a smart move by Codemasters.
Graphics
Graphically GRID is mightily impressive and is a much smoother experience and looks sharper than DiRT which was fantastic when that cam out. There is little wrong with how the cars look, small things like your lights still coming on even after being smashed in the Le Mans race is a bit of a ‘hmmm’ moment but apart from that the cars look fantastic. This applies to the tracks too which are also fantastically detailed and modelled. While there is no rain the shifts from day to night in the Le Mans race are handled well and look very nice. However there have been some complaints about poor performance during these transitions so some people may have some issues on their PCs.
Sound
When it comes down to the audio aspect of the game it is another good and bad aspect. The cars and the crowd sound really good and provide a good sense of immersion. However the team manager and race engineer/spotter can at times get annoying. Their repetitive lines will grate after a few hours of game but when they do provide some useful information you will be thankful.
The 411
So GRID has achieved something remarkable, it has bridged the divide between Arcade and Simulation racers and has achieved this with some skill. The racing is what the game is all about and it is lucky that GRID is extremely fun to play. The career mode provides a strong structure to race within. While there are issues namely with Simulation style aspects missing in areas where they feel they should be present and some issues with the game crashing at times, GRID is a great game, not perfect by all means, but great nevertheless.
Graphics
9.5
Really sharp, great looking, easy on the eyes. Great graphically.
Gameplay
9.5
The racing finds a good middle ground between Arcade and Simulation, very good.
Sound
9.0
Apart from the repetitive voices, top notch.
Lasting Appeal
9.5
Massive Career mode and lots of multiplayer and single races to try.
Fun Factor
9.5
This is a really fun racing game, hell just look at the crashes!
