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Codemaster’s are without a doubt, the most prolific dev studio when it comes to racers. They have so many highly rated and established franchises under their name and the GRID series is no exception. Fans went mad when the legendary developers announced that they were remaking such an iconic racer and I personally was excited as I never got to play the original so it gave me a chance to finally play this awesome game! If you didn’t see our initial thoughts article, you can see what I thought of my first 20 minutes of gameplay here and if you want my full thoughts, continue scrolling!

GRID was a game that brought competitive, high level racing and fused it with a more casual ruleset and style. It managed to do this so well that it instantly differentiated itself from the other racers on the market. It’s this unique blend of hardcore racing and a bit of argy bargy that allow GRID to still feel good all these years later. Toi put it into context, you’ve got Forza’s Motorsport series which is all very serious and then you have something like Forza Horizon which is all very casual and usually set on roads as opposed to circuits. I feel as though GRID sits between those too, its still a circuit racer, but you are allowed to get your elbows out a bit and form rivalries with the CPU controller racers you are alongside. This makes the game feel a lot more welcoming as its not too overcomplicated or sim-like but you can still experience some very solid racing.

Speaking of racing, each car, circuit and most prominently, weather condition feels very different from each other. As I said in my initial thoughts, each discipline feels unique and challenging in its own way. For example, being someone who isn’t familiar with NASCAR, oval racing (despite just being as the name suggests, an oval), was actually pretty difficult for me as I struggled to have the confidence to keep my foot pinned down in the corners. Likewise, racing in the rain feels like I imagine it would in real life, extremely treacherous and risky. It still gives you a lifelike experience but without all of the boring bits because after all, games are supposed to be fun right!

Visually, GRID holds up pretty well. Its colours are vibrant and the attention to detail is fairly high. Its not going to beat Forza in this area for example but it doesn’t have to as it still does a good enough job. The game’s menus are modern and easy to navigate which Is important as some of the other racers have an over cluttered UI and menu system which makes it a pain to get to what you really want. Cutscenes within the game are pretty decent too and as opposed to being a incredible spectacle, they show you some pretty awesome, real racing occurrences and some of them are very sweet, especially that one on the Oval in the intro, it gave me proper Cars vibes!

Content wise, there is plenty to go around with 6 series’ each with a decent amount of races within. Each series offers a different experience, from tuners, to racing Fernando Alonso in some prototype Le Man’s style cars, the game has got a bit of everything. Circuits are based around popular, visually impressive locations such as Havana and Shanghai. Each location has several tracks within, each with their own characteristics and fun elements. This keeps racing fun and fresh alongside the large number of vehicles available. Cars look and feel good and you’re bound to fall in love with one in particular!

Overall then, GRID has a bit of everything and it does what it says on the tin very well. It offers fun, competitive racing in a casual, well designed and refined package and I look forward to playing plenty more of the game over the next few months. GRID keeps things simple and gets the core mechanics spot on. Ultimately, it does feel like a classic racer, brought into the overcomplicated genre in 2019. Think of it is a refinement to a classic recipe. Fantastic job Codemasters.