Grid Impressions

[Bahnzo]

Some quick impressions: (360)

Game looks great.
Wheel Setup is what every other game should be doing. It has options for FF strength as well as linearity for not only the wheel, but the pedals as well.

Handling is much more realistic with the wheel, but the unfortunate thing is that you will be faster with the driver assists on. And while I haven't tried it online yet, the word is that there is no way to force either views or assists online. Which means, of course, that 99.997% of everyone online will be using them.

The only circuits I really like are the European ones. The American circuits are all street circuits, while the European are actual tracks. The one Asian track I drove was a stupid "makeshift" track around a warehouse district...that and the fact that they are also drift races means I'm not digging those either. So basically, there's really only the European tracks that are decent.

Overall, Forza 2 is the better game for a sim-minded racer. But again, the wheel setup is first class and should be the model for every other driving game out there...period.

Oh also, I haven't seen any of the lockup/framerate issues that have been discussed. Doesn't mean they aren't there, I just haven't seen them on my end yet.


Your turn.....whatta think?

[phillyfan23]

Re: Grid Impressions

this game caught me by surprise.....i got bored one day and decided to mess around with the demo....and after that it was racing bliss. It's racing crack....I couldn't stop playing the demo....the helmet cam is just amazing.

So just by playing those 3 tracks for the last 4 days on the demo, I was hooked. THe sense of speed and racing thrill is something I've NEVER experienced before. Ive tried GT series, PGR series Dirt

But what REALLY made this a first day buy for me was the CPU AI.

Not only are they competitive, but also they are human. They make mistakes like the user. From total wipeouts to small errors in taking proper racing lines. Right now I am enjoying offline play more than online due to the fact that it feels like burnout online right now with the crashes and impatience.

ANother big point is the organic feeling of the racing. What I noticed in previous titles like PGR, GT racing even Codemasters' Toca was that in a specific race the same cpu cars won the race 98 percent of the time so it made it feel as if you're playing against ONE racer instead of 12. Hopefully you guys get what I mean. In grid, sometimes the guy who starts at firt position wins, sometimes the guy from 10th position takes 1st.

Graphics are really well done....Sound is good not great but the whole package is just real nice.. Career mode is immersive and feels as if you're a real person not a just a guy doing races.

The tracks are very varied. I disagree with you Bahnzo. The Euro tracks are the real tracks but the touge tracks in japan are real nice and breathtaking, The USA tracks are also enjoyable ....The only aspect of the game that i don't like are the drifting events.

THe only minus so far is online.

The racing is bad right now. People are so aggressive that on the 1st corner in 99 percent of the races there is a huge pile up where one or 2 escape and they will end up as 1 and 2. Not very fun or competitive. No satisfaction in winning either.

Another negative is the inability to disable assists online. So while I drive with manual and no assists, I am at a disadvantage to the rest of the field.

I guess this is where the OS community can be handy in arranging good racing matchups with certain guidelines.

Overall I give this game a 9/10

10/10 offline
6.5/10 online

[Moshood]

Re: Grid Impressions

Best racer out there IMO. Cool cars, fantastic tracks, awesome A.I, thrilling races, great graphics and audio.

The handling takes a bit of getting used to plus learning the tracks will take some time [ Wish there was a racing line on the track ] cuz as of right now I'm destroying my car in the first couple laps and having to restart the race. Did finish a couple though. Having fun nonetheless.

Overall I'd give this game a 9/10.

[mr_president]

Re: Grid Impressions

9.3 from me

great game,really well done and the sense of speed is amazing.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Grid Impressions

Awesome game, sense of speed is incredible, graphics are just fantastic, tracks are great, and selection of cars is good. I love how there's some open wheel Indy lites and some NASCAR's, just like the rest of the TOCA series.

I had zero lock ups or freezes in my time with it. Best racer since PGR4 for me, and I can't remember if Forza 2 came first, but this is light years ahead of Forza, just for me. I am not a tinkering with cars fan, just give me cars, and let me race.

[Pepenfl]

Re: Grid Impressions

Surprise for me, too. I´m a Forza-GT-TOCA lover and speedy arcades don´t interest me for long time. But this game, with its weightless cars, its extreme phisics and its balanced speed sense makes me fell in love.

Really good, and a great option waiting for sim-races with a lot of fun (at the end of the day, that´s the most important thing in a videogame)

[BagMan]

Re: Grid Impressions

Is there a career mode? If so, how is it?

[oldman]

Re: Grid Impressions

Is there a career mode? If so, how is it?

Yes there is. I am not very far into it but basically you create your own team and build it up. That is all I really know so far. You start off having to raise for other teams so you can make enough money to start your own team and I haven't even made it that far yet because I have been racing online!

As for my opinion of the game, I love it. This game is amazing. I have the game on the PS3 and I have seen some lock-ups and framerate issues but they have been very minimal and something that hasn't even effected my racing experience.

As someone said earlier, online racing is crazy right now! Going into the first turn you have better be way out in front or way in the back because if you aren't you will get screwed! I have some pretty sweet replays though of me coming around the first turn and cars flying up in the air and me gunning it right underneath them! Also let me say French people can't drive! Every French person I have raced with has wrecked me!

Anyways, I am not a huge racing fan, I am more of a basketball-football-baseball gaming fan, but this game and Dirt have both got me really interested and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time playing it.

[forensicd]

Re: Grid Impressions

I tried it on the ps3, the demo, and the with the DFP wheel, it was horrible, no feel for the car, it was jumping all over the place. Has anyone tried it with the 360 wheel?

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Grid Impressions

I tried it on the ps3, the demo, and the with the DFP wheel, it was horrible, no feel for the car, it was jumping all over the place. Has anyone tried it with the 360 wheel?

All I've used was the 360 wheel so far, thought it was very good and easy to control using it.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Grid Impressions

Also let me say French people can't drive! Every French person I have raced with has wrecked me!

Haha... and on that note, I always seem to get sonned by Brazilians. Dudes are serious with the racing games.

[Kruza]

Re: Grid Impressions

While racing in helmet camera I saw brief but constant freeze-ups on the Pro Tuned race held on the reversed short version of the street route at Yokohama Docks. Man, that patch can't get here soon enough.

At any rate, what's bad in GRID to me is that online play is lacking so much necessary features. Not being able to force use of certain camera views whenever hosting a lobby is a big turn-off to me. Cannot host a practice or qualifying session prior to a race. Plus I've read that no one can drive in the pits, so there's no way to run organized endurance races. There are no penalties (red time) for cutting corners or going off the track. Online racing in GRID is so much of a setback in comparison to the TOCA games that I can't imagine what Codemasters were thinking when taking away some of these things.

However, offline career racing in GRID World mode is very nice. Aside from the more forgiving handling of the cars, just about everything here that made the single player Career mode in past TOCA games great has been retained in GRID.

Kruza

[oldman]

Re: Grid Impressions

Haha... and on that note, I always seem to get sonned by Brazilians. Dudes are serious with the racing games.

The one that ticked me off the most was in a race online, I was going around almost a 90 degree turn and as soon as I make the turn this stupid French guy comes flieing outta nowhere and annihilates me! It was only about the third race I had done online and so I wasn't very good either but still, all you gotta do is hit the brakes a little.

[Al Boyd]

Re: Grid Impressions

Hey gang,

Had GRID for about a day and a half now. While I've found the early races in GRID World to feature lots of contact, some my fault, though most caused by over zealous AI, thus far enjoying it. I do wish there was a way to practice before the race, as I like to at least learn the course before racing. Looking forward to getting some more races in tonight.

Cheers,

[grismosw]

Re: Grid Impressions

Got this on Wednesday, love it so far. One question is there a way to brighten the screen? Some tracks are really dark and I have a hard time seeing where to go next. One of the Japan courses sticks out, I kept hitting stuff that I never even saw.