GRID: Autosport

[Dankk]

The newest iteration of Codemasters' GRID racing franchise, GRID: Autosport, is releasing in only a week.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/255220/

Basically, in this game, you get to:

- drive a car
- go fast
- upgrade parts for maximum performance
- cover your vehicle in obnoxious liveries
- blow tire smoke in your opponents' faces
- laugh at everyone who crashes on the first turn
- yell at rammers and tell them to piss off, with a sense of elitism
- cross the finish line unscathed in your expertly-handled, glorious driving machine
- profit
- win

All joking aside... the reason why I like GRID more than other racing games is because it strikes a perfect balance between sim and arcade. Arguably, you might say that it's similar to Gran Turismo and Forza in that the driving model is advanced enough to have the pretense of realism, but it's still accessible enough that it can be played with a gamepad. There is a nice amount of vehicle customization, but not enough to be confusing. Perfect number of game modes too. It's a very well-rounded racing game.

GRID 2 was too arcadey for some people, but the developers say they are going back to the more authentic driving model and physics of GRID 1. In fact, GRID: Autosport is actually supposed to be even more realistic than the original. Still not a full sim by any means, but it is a little more authentic than GRID 1, and GRID 1 was very good.

So if you were hesitant to buy GRID 2, or you didn't like the changes they made to the driving, then you should definitely get this. Also, in response to people's complaints, they added not only one cockpit view, but two of them (one on the dashboard, and one from the driver's perspective). The only downside is that the car interiors don't look very good because it's pretty much the same car models from GRID 2. Everything else about the game, graphically, looks very good though.

I would love to have some buddies to play this game with. The more people, the better. Add me on Steam if you wanna race. I spent quite a bit of time in GRID 2, I will probably spend even more time playing Autosport. Very excited.

 

[felang]

Also if you purchased Grid 2 on steam you get a discount if you buy Grid: Autosport ($5).

 

[Dankk]

Also if you purchased Grid 2 on steam you get a discount if you buy Grid: Autosport ($5).

Oh, I almost forgot. If you want an even better discount, you can pre-order it from GMG with 20%-off coupon code A5D6OC-SSP45E-FYUBTA (code expires on the 20th). If you wait until after that, they might have another discount code if you're lucky.

The game activates on Steam regardless of where you buy it.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I actually liked grid 2, and loved it when they brought out the demo derby mode, however it a buggy mess (on ps3) and they never fixed it so not really interested in buying this yet.

 

[futurefields]

Im gonna wait and see what kind of dlc fest it is first. If its anything like Grid 2 then itll be no thanks.

 

[shortylickens]

I liked Grid, but Grid 2 was hideously overpriced. The came was very limited and they expected you to buy a hundred bucks worth of DLC to fill it out.

 

[Anteaus]

I hated Grid 2 so I hope this is a vidication. The driving was pretty good but it was buried under an on-rails career mode that featured race types that I didn't care for. Also, I'm tired of all the focus on drifting. No one would ever claim Grid is a sim, but to me it seems like the game creeps into Ridge Race territory with many cars have excessive oversteer. The original Grid career mode also sucked, but it was less intrusive. The sad part is that once I was exposed to the improved driving in Grid 2 I couldn't go back to Grid 1. Now I play neither.

I prefer the Forza style career mode where the player can choose what types of races they would prefer to run and try other modes as desired.

 

[funboy6942]

If you pre order you get another codemaster game too, I think its showdown, and you get the black edition that gives you some stuff you wont get when it releases too. If anyone wants to race with me Im funboy42, I pre-ordered this, got it for fathers day, and Im sooooo looking forward to its release to play , I guess Im the only one that liked both GRiD 1 and 2, or anything that codemasters pumps out, hell I just love good racing games period, sim, or arcade, its just a lot of fun to me. I used to think Need for speed was great, but they went to shit IMO, and the racing games after the Most Wanted game was released, they haven't made anything that was fun to play, and MW was good, but a PITA when it come the controller being used for they didn't offer and dead zone so my car was always all over the road.

 

[smackababy]

I hated Grid 2 so I hope this is a vidication. The driving was pretty good but it was buried under an on-rails career mode that featured race types that I didn't care for. Also, I'm tired of all the focus on drifting. No one would ever claim Grid is a sim, but to me it seems like the game creeps into Ridge Race territory with many cars have excessive oversteer. The original Grid career mode also sucked, but it was less intrusive. The sad part is that once I was exposed to the improved driving in Grid 2 I couldn't go back to Grid 1. Now I play neither.

I prefer the Forza style career mode where the player can choose what types of races they would prefer to run and try other modes as desired.

This. The problem with Grid 2 wasn't the racing. That was good, but the menus and career were awful. They did incredibly terrible things like forcing you to sit through the adding of credits after winning a race. Wtf? I don't need to watch my money being added one credit at a time. Let me skip that stupid shit.

Forza, which is really just an extension of the original Gran Turismo formula, has such a better format. Once you've experienced that, Grid is just bad and unplayable.

 

[Dankk]

This. The problem with Grid 2 wasn't the racing. That was good, but the menus and career were awful. They did incredibly terrible things like forcing you to sit through the adding of credits after winning a race. Wtf? I don't need to watch my money being added one credit at a time. Let me skip that stupid shit.

They put out an official "community patch" for GRID 2 a couple months after release that fixed a lot of those things, including forcing you to watch the XP/money being added (you can skip that now).

 

[smackababy]

They put out an official "community patch" for GRID 2 a couple months after release that fixed a lot of those things, including forcing you to watch the XP/money being added (you can skip that now).

Yeah, I was done with the game long before that. =)

 

[Dankk]

Im gonna wait and see what kind of dlc fest it is first. If its anything like Grid 2 then itll be no thanks.

So far so good. The developer on the Steam forum was talking about how DLC tracks fragment the community, and how the pre-order track DLC for GRID 2 made people complain because some players couldn't race with each other. Thus, they decided not to include any extra tracks in the pre-order edition... only cars. So the community won't be so fragmented this time and people will still be able to play with each other.

I imagine there will probably release some track DLC here and there, but hopefully it won't be as bad as GRID 2.

It's worth noting that GRID: Autosport is launching with a lot more cars and tracks than GRID 2 did.

http://blog.codemasters.com/grid/06/grid-autosport-track-list/
http://blog.codemasters.com/grid/06/the-cars-of-grid-autosport/

 

[Dankk]

If you pre order you get another codemaster game too, I think its showdown, and you get the black edition that gives you some stuff you wont get when it releases too. If anyone wants to race with me Im funboy42, I pre-ordered this, got it for fathers day, and Im sooooo looking forward to its release to play , I guess Im the only one that liked both GRiD 1 and 2, or anything that codemasters pumps out, hell I just love good racing games period, sim, or arcade, its just a lot of fun to me. I used to think Need for speed was great, but they went to shit IMO, and the racing games after the Most Wanted game was released, they haven't made anything that was fun to play, and MW was good, but a PITA when it come the controller being used for they didn't offer and dead zone so my car was always all over the road.

Added.

 

[DeathReborn]

I really liked GRID 1 and had a blast with it but having pre ordered GRID 2 and been massively put off by the feel of the driving and the drifting stopped me getting much into it.

I will be waiting for reviews before I give any more cash to Codemasters though, even if I miss out on "bonuses" I would rather know it's good than throw more money at bad coding.

 

[XiandreX]

I bought Grid 2 but like many of you.. lost interest fairly quickly due to the said reasons.

I really hope they have fixed the glaring issues with DLC as mentioned.

 

[Peter Nixeus]

Just got this game - waiting for it to be released...

Steam: nixeus.MonkeyKing

 

[_Rick_]

I remember in the original Grid, which I played through, that you had "24 hour" races without pit stops. This turned me off a bit.
And in retrospect, weather conditions didn't change either.

On the other hand, while I mostly won races using the keyboard controls and driving aids, with the wheel and aids off, I could barely finish races, even at the easiest AI level. Somehow there was zero feel to the controls, and zero feedback from what the car was doing. I performed much worse, than I would in touring car races in race 07.

Will wait for some other suckers to buy at release and tell me how well it's been done.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Bummer I thought this may be a version of Pen & Paper Car Wars (Auto Duel?)

 

[CuriousMike]

I paid full price for Grid 2 and was happy - it gave me a fun experience.

With that said, it's incredibly frustrating on the PC trying to find multiplayer races ... the community tends to die out quickly.

 

[Dankk]

I paid full price for Grid 2 and was happy - it gave me a fun experience.

With that said, it's incredibly frustrating on the PC trying to find multiplayer races ... the community tends to die out quickly.

GRID 2 never died. However, if you're unfortunate enough to live in an area where the game is unpopular, or if there are no other players nearby, then the game will appear to be dead.

To explain: GRID 2 has a huge, huge, huge problem where it will limit your multiplayer match search to your Steam server download region. For example: My download region is set to Denver CO, so it will try to look for games around that area. If there are none, then it will not let me play with anyone. It will seem like a ghost town.

You're located on the west coast, right? GRID 2 is much more popular in Europe. To prove my point, go into your Steam settings and change your download region to, say, London. Restart, and then try booting up GRID 2 multiplayer again. You will instantly be put into a lobby full of people.

I absolutely hated this about GRID 2, but I do believe they're fixing this in GRID: Autosport (not 100% sure though). My "workaround" is that I have some game buddies in Australia who play GRID 2 a lot and I am able to join them from the Steam friends list.

Racing with people on the other side of the world is not a big issue in this game. The netcode is very well-made and I've never experienced any noticeable lag or rubber banding.

 

[Dankk]

Codemasters has handed out a preview build of the game to quite a few people (not recently either; some of these are from like a month ago). Here's a couple videos of the game from 3rd-parties:

Inside Sim Racing

Team VVV

Here's a forum review from a guy who played it a couple weeks ago:

http://forums.codemasters.com/discussion/628/grid-autosport-review

 

[felang]

I believe it has been released. Anybody have any impressions? Unfortunately I´m stuck at work and won´t be able to play until later.

 

[Anteaus]

I believe it has been released. Anybody have any impressions? Unfortunately I´m stuck at work and won´t be able to play until later.

Yes I think it was released today at 12 PST. Unfortunately, like you I'm stuck at work.

 

[Dankk]

I'm stuck at work for the next little bit too. Should've used some PTO for today, don't know why I lacked the foresight to do that. Ah well.

Here's some reviews for the game.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/28yu4x/grid_autosport_review_thread/

Reviews

CVG 9/10
One of the outgoing generation's best racers and the kind of game that makes you wish for a new-gen port

Eurogamer 7/10
Grid Autosport is a fine racing game, though it's never a thoroughbred one. It's the muscle car that was Grid 2 stripped out and retooled for the track, but too often you can see the solder-work at the seams. In 2008, Race Driver: Grid was a partial reinvention of the racing genre, equipped with a handful of fresh ideas. Six years on, Grid Autosport - while a definite return to form for Codemasters - is simply a rediscovery of it.

Gamereactor 7/10
It's a good game, but it still has all the hallmarks of being a side project that Codemasters has released while they're actually focused on something else. Perhaps, with the omission of rally driving, it would fair to speculate that Codemasters are preparing to race onto new-gen consoles with something Dirt-flavoured?

gamesradar 4.5/5
In correcting the many small mis-steps of its predecessor, Autosport finally gives us a worthy successor to 2008’s revolutionary Race Driver GRID.

Gamespot 6/10
If you're up for some casual racing, Autosport is a decent option, but when you go deep, the experience is soured by the finer details.

IGN 8.3/10
Grid Autosport promised proper motor racing and that’s exactly what it delivers. The spirit of TOCA is finally back.

IncGamers 6/10
Friendlier F1 handling in a Grid 2 wrapper, Grid Autosport is a tour through the Codemasters back catalogue. Single player is hampered by predictable AI, but tuning options and improved cornering elevates the multiplayer above Grid 2's.

OXM 7/10
Strong, frequently brilliant fun, but it's still only GRID 2.5. There's variety compared to its predecessor, but it never escapes the feeling that it's just a stopgap for whatever's coming next.

PC Gamer 86/100
No flashy new features or buzzwords, just magnificent racing stemming from a refinement of Grid 1’s greatness.

 

[JeffMD]

I def feel like i am back in the Grid 1 days with more realistic racing and less "heres a race track, go play with your friends with these bumper cars" that the last ones were. I am a very casual racer and while I do find myself needing some of the driving assist toggled on, I can usually make myself around with nothing more then the help of the racing stripe to guage my angles and throttle.

That said I can't help that the game does not set you up to win at the start. Not only are you stuck in last place but you are in a car that has the same top speed as everyone else, but WORSE acceleration. Every and all corners that I come out of results in the cars in front of me pulling away. My ONLY way of gaining places has really been to slam into corner packs with a few white line penalties. My only guess is that the game expects you to do mediocre on your first several races, and then use your experience and money to upgrade your car and race them again to reach first place.

Performance wise, had no problem maxing out most settings (keeping obvious gpu hogs like sao to low) and getting an avg of 45fps on my ole 460gtx @ 1080p. My only beef is even at ultra track and tree details, the game still has tree pop in at distance (it is pretty horrible on replays). You would think by now they would learn that trees should never pop out, and simply LOD down to 1 polygon. Oh btw, try not to giggle when you see the startup logo for intel HD graphics. Even better is there is some kind of "blending" graphic option for HD video only. That is a riot.