Race Driver: GRID
Codemasters has taken to heart any accusation that straight-laced racing game sequels might be predictable and boring. Last year, just prior to the tragic death of the driver from whom the series found its name, the British developer overhauled its Colin McRae series with the excellent Dirt, a slick and confident rally game that widened its scope to include dune buggy racing amongst other things. This year it’s TOCA Race Driver’s turn, a solid and dependable series that is being overhauled and re-imagined under the new moniker: GRID.
While the build we’ve had our hands on majors on the multiplayer aspect of the game, it does offer a glimpse of what the single player mode will offer too, that is to say, an expanded version of the career structure seen in Dirt. Through entering a variety of different events limited to cars of certain bhp, nationalities or engine types, you earn reputation points for your performance, which are then used to open up future events.
These points are earned not only for your final position, but also for the type and difficulty of the event, and the number of assists you switch on or off while tackling them. Going to rely on traction control and ABS? Then you’ll take a hit in your reputation as a kick-ass driver. You’ve three different sets of reputation points, one for Europe, one for Asia and one for North America and so you’ll need to carefully manage where you spend your time if you’re to become a world renowned name.
Tweaking the difficulty in GRID also affects your reputation and, unlike in some rival racing games, this parameter really does change the game experience dramatically, with rival drivers racing much more aggressively as a result. This ups the ante in the game, as you’ll need to not only concern yourself with angles and timely gear changes, but also with closing the door on eager competitors trying to undertake.
The game looks fantastic with all of the washed-out colour palette and heavy bloom that’s come to define next-gen visuals. It treads a delicate line between realism and fantasy and, as a result, manages to maximise the fun of the experience. This certainly isn’t a driving simulator but, even though you can throw yourself into corners with wild gusto and come out unscathed, there’s still a sense of reality that puts it somewhere in the middle of, say, Forza and Ridge Racer in terms of handling.
The build we’ve played features a wide variety of different car and races types from saloon in Spain through to an awesome, stylist drift race by the docks in Yokohama. With beautiful presentation, a clever and compelling single player structure and some challenging AI to compliment the comprehensive multiplayer modes, GRID looks like a move into the fast lane for the already well-loved Toca series.
