NOTE: This blog post pertains mostly to my PlayStation 3 experience with GRID.
GRID
Get to know GRID.
^ from: (Amazon) - GRID is a new direction for one of Codemasters' most successful series.
Having established itself as providing some of the best racing games, Codemasters decided to take one of its fine series and give it some new life. The British developer is known for series such as the ToCA games as well as the Colin McRae Rally titles. Apart from the success of the ToCA Race Driver series in the PlayStation 2/Gamecube/XBOX era, GRID is the evolution of the ToCA games. This series took on a different personality from the usually sim-oriented ToCA Race Driver games. GRID is still a sim-racing style game. The action is a bit more arcade-like. However, it is not too arcadish to where it borderlines the Need for Speed games. Your goal? Simple- be the best racer in all of the world across a variety of motorsports disciplines. Have not only the best driver, but also be the best team.
Regions.
You deal with three different regions in GRID. Here are the three regions involved:• USA - intense racing mostly on city streets with powerful cars.
• Europe - more proper racing with more proper race cars.
• Japan - high-stakes drifting and extreme racing.
Each region has a set of races for you to take part in. You even can buy cars from each region to compete in these various events.
Cars.
There are about 52 or so cars to choose from in GRID. There are 15 American cars, 16 European cars, and 11 Japanese cars. You must purcshase a certain vehicle to be able to compete in racing events. This option will be open if you do not have a vehicle to race with for a certain event. If you're strapped for cash, you can go with a secondhand vehicle. You can also go with certain offers from teams.Cars are divided into a number of disciplines. Here is a look at the disciplines you will be involved with:
• Pro Tuned - street cars modified for racing.
• Pro Muscle - American muscle cars tuned for racing.
• Touring Cars - proper touring cars.
• Open Wheel - single seat formula cars. Be careful racing these fragile racing machines.
• Drift Battle - street cars tuned for drifting.
• Drift GP - street cars tuned for drifting and racing.
• Freestyle Drift - drift anywhere you please.
• Pro Touge - racing on mountain passes.
• Midnight Touge - racing on mountain passes at night. Be careful of civilian traffic.
• Prototype - racing with various sportscar racing prototypes.
• GT1 - powerful GT sportacar racing machines.
• GT2 - racing with lower-end, yet still competitive GT cars.
• Prestige - supercars and hypercars are raced here.
• GT Club - a One-Make series featuring the TVR Tuscan Challenge car.
• 24 Hours of Le Mans - all GT and Prototype cars, and only Circuit de la Sarthe can be raced.
• Le Mans Series - all GT and Prototype cars, only European circuits can be raced.
• Demolition Derby - demolition derby circuit racing.
Once you own your own vehicle, you can customize it with livery options. More on customization later in this post.
Locations.
The various locations in GRID are all locales in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. These include various temporary courses and proper racing circuits. A lot of these venues can be raced in the reverse configuration. You can race on the streets of cities like San Francisco, Detroit, Milan, and Tokyo. Your circuit racing happens on tracks like Spa-Francorchamps and Istanbul Park. No matter what, you will have your hands full on the variety of courses this game has to offer.This game includes some fictional courses, such as Okutama. You still will be tested to a great degree.
Races and Championships.
To race in a variety of events, you will need to establish yourself. Doing so involves gaining reputation. Generating enough reputation will allow you to compete in more events and eventually reach the highest tier of competition in GRID. You will be taking each season slowly as you work your way up.In Career Mode, each season ends with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. You can choose to race this event or skip and go to the next season. Finishing high in the order can lead you to some major sponsors.
You will certainly make mistakes in your racing. You may either restart a race entirely, or use your Flashbacks. Flashbacks can be used to correct one of your most recent mistakes to better be able to get a better outcome than what you just experienced. You are not required to use Flashbacks, but at least know they are there when you need them. Just don't make too many mistakes too often to where you run out of Flashbacks.
You can also race online in GRID, but I have no experience here. So I will leave this up to you.
Team Matters.
Being successful in racing can not be done alone. You need a team to establish yourself all the while. So your performance matters a lot as you try to advance through the ranks of the GRID world. Early on, you will go solo. Later, you will be able to pick a teammate to help boost winnings and profile for your team.• Branding - choose pattern, colors, and number for your team.
• Team Mate - pick a teammate to compete alongside you in races. Teammates are on certain ranks and have certain specialties. Signing fees vary per teammate. Cash winnings from races will be split in certain ways based on you and your teammate. You can sign one teammate but later try to land more quality teammates later. You also can compare teammates to try to find the best fit for your team.
• Sponsors - select sponsors to sponsor your car. Sponsors will pay you extra money for clearing certain objectives in races. Success in racing series and events will earn you new sponsors. You can have a maximum of eight sponsors on your car. You have a major sponsor followed by seven minor sponsors. The major sponsor pays double. Clear the objective for the sponsor in races, and you will receive extra money outside of the original race purse. You can change sponsors anywhere on the car to your liking.
My recommendation- if you have trouble trying to clear some of the harder tasks, just choose the sponsors who will pay you for simply finishing the race. At least this gives you some extra money instead of having no money.
• Team Rankings - find out where your team ranks among others in the game.
• Driver Rankings - find out where you rank among other drivers in the game.
It is a lot to do, but certainly doable. Oh, and if you want to REALLY establish yourself in GRID, be sure to take down Ravenwest Motorsports. They are the fiercest rivals in all of GRID.
GRID: Final Thoughts
GRID will be pretty foreign in concept for the more sim-oriented crowd. However, GRID is not too far out of touch for ToCA veterans. The calamity and danger provided in GRID is enough to satisfy even the most discriminating racing game fan. Hard to believe this is a game from 2008. It still resonates as a great title even today. I personally prefer GRID 1 over the later GRID 2 and GRID Autosport (reviews for these two games coming soon!). Definitely get GRID for PC or console if you haven't experienced the wicked action provided in GRID.
Want GRID? Here is a version you can get for PlayStation 3. Or, you can get for any other platform:
Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.
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