Race Driver: GRID demo this week for PSN and XBL

[Queasy]

Link

Clear your schedule, make sure your hard drive has space, Ensure you close all unnecessary downloads; the GRID Demo will be released next week (Week Commencing May 5th) for all the non-handheld formats.

The demo has 3 events to compete in. The eBay Motors Muscle Cup sees you taking the wheel of a ford Mustang GT-R and the streets of San Francisco, the Advan International Trophy hands you a Nissan S15 Silvia and your playground is Yokohama Docks, and the Euro Touring Car Series provides some old-school tin-top thrills with a BMW 320si touring car and the sweeping curves and hairpins of Jarama.

You?ll also have the opportunity to use the console versions of the demo to win an amazing prize. More details when the demo comes out.

I don't know if I can take this....Kung Fu Panda and now GRID!? I just might faint!

Update: Link

Content: GRID Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone)] It's time to get on the GRID as this superb demo showcases racing in the three regions playable in the full game; Europe Touring Cars at Jarama Circuit, U.S Muscle cars at San Francisco and Japanese Drift Racing at Yokohama Docks. Compete online in the European and U.S races and check out the time trial competitions for the chance to win a car and other ace prizes.

Don't see it up on PSN yet.

Update2: Link

Beat the world record lap time of the San Francisco eBay Motors Muscle Cup Track and you could win an eBay Motors liveried Ford Mustang GT-R. IF YOU SUCCEED, select FINISH TIME TRIAL from the Pause Menu and follow the instructions.

...

If your time is among the five fastest in the competition, you?ll win a trip for two to San Francisco, California to attend the GRID Launch Party on June 4, 2008 and participate in ?The eBay Motors Muscle Series Time Trial? to determine the winner of the eBay Motors liveried Ford Mustang GT-R.

Download the demo now on Xbox Live or Playstation 3 Network. Then, select the San Francisco GP track and compete online to beat the world record lap time for the San Francisco eBay Motors Muscle Cup Track. Once you have beaten the world record lap time of the San Francisco eBay Motors Muscle Cup Track, select ?Finish Time Trial? and follow the instructions. No purchase necessary.

 

[tdawg]

I'm looking forward to see if this looks even near as good as it did in the original trailer. It looked like it provided a variety of racing events (GP, Le Mans, Stock Car, etc).

 

[JasonSix78]

Out now on Xbox Live! Got get it!

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I'm really interested in the reaction to this demo since I won't be able to play it for awhile.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

From the videos it looks even better then Gran Turismo (graphically) but I guess there is less cars and tracks.

 

[JasonSix78]

I played it for a few hours this morning, both single player and online. I haven't had a chance to hook my 360 up to my 1080p monitor yet, but it looked very nice on my SDTV. The races were tons of fun, especially the San Francisco track! I liked what they've done with the physics. Coming from someone who plays mostly PC Simulators like GTR2 and rFactor, the physics are still arcade-like but takes a step in the right direction with the way the car reacts to different situations. With all of the aids on, it's pretty much balls to the wall all the way around the track. Switching the aids off though forces you to be a little more cautious (brakes will lock the wheels up if you jam them on, wheel spin will occur if you are too aggressive out of a turn). On the Jarma track, I noticed that the car also reacts differently to off-road surfaces. Running off into the grass slows you some but nothing like Forza 2. Sand on the other hand is a pretty much guaranteed trip to spin-town. I dropped my right-side wheels off the shoulder of the track several times into the sand and you can actually feel the car sink into and loose stability.

Bottom line is, if you like racing this is for you. The balance between arcade and sim is almost perfect. The different genres of racing will make this game appealing to a lot of people, more so I think than Forza and/or GT5. I'll personally be picking this up for the 360 and PC when it's out next month.

 

[aphex]

I found it amazingly easy to drive with excellent graphics and realtime damage, i like it.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: aphex
I found it amazingly easy to drive with excellent graphics and realtime damage, i like it.

Yeah, this is probably the best graphics for a racer on the 360. I think PGR4 held that title previously. Forza 2 looks good but not near as good as the other two. I've never played Gran Turismo V Prologue so I can't compare it to that at all.

I played on Normal last night and it took a while to get used to driving because it is so stinking easy. I've gotten too used to the difficulty in Forza 2. The cars in GRID just snap around corners with little to no loss of traction. Maybe it was just because of the difficulty level I was on? <shrug>

Still had a fun time driving it. On the American race with the Mustang, someone's bumper fell off and got lodged under my front fender. I was driving down a straight-away thinking, "What the hell is that noise?" Then I saw the bumper stuck when I did a look to see who was behind me. :laugh:

I completely sucked at the drift race.

I hope they put out a multi-player demo. That would be fun to try.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: aphex
I found it amazingly easy to drive with excellent graphics and realtime damage, i like it.

Yeah, this is probably the best graphics for a racer on the 360. I think PGR4 held that title previously. Forza 2 looks good but not near as good as the other two. I've never played Gran Turismo V Prologue so I can't compare it to that at all.

Well I have a PS3 and I prefer this demo to GT5. GT5 was nice, but a bit too sterile and realistic for me. Kickass cars and graphics, but I quickly lost interest. Maybe the full version will be more my cup of tea.

 

[Stuxnet]

Tried the demo last night. Game is GORGEOUS, but like Queasy said, the driving is easy. It feels pretty "off" to me, but then again, I'm a Forza fanboy. If only Forza looked as good as Grid

Forza physics engine runs at some absurdly high framerate, which makes the game feel very, VERY smooth. I forgot how much I appreciated that until I played Grid. The game wasn't necessarily choppy, but you could tell that the physics resolution was pretty low.

Let's also keep in mind that Codemasters (the developers behind Grid) made the choice to abandon all but the most basic multiplayer implementation in DiRT. Remember you couldn't race against people on the track, but instead, you simply got to see a bunch of other people's track times? THAT was their multiplayer component in DiRT. If they pull the same stunt - a FATAL stunt in my opinion - in Grid, there's no way in hell I'm buying it.

That deserved tongue lashing aside, the stying in Grid is second to none. Graphics are stunning and styled (but not overstated), and the UI is the shizzle (as was DiRT's).

I'm looking forward to this game, and I'll buy it if it has an ACTUAL HONEST TO GOODNESS multiplayer implementation. When games like Forza have such a robust online presence, you can't settle for what passed as multiplayer in DiRT.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
Let's also keep in mind that Codemasters (the developers behind Grid) made the choice to abandon all but the most basic multiplayer implementation in DiRT. Remember you couldn't race against people on the track, but instead, you simply got to see a bunch of other people's track times? THAT was their multiplayer component in DiRT. If they pull the same stunt - a FATAL stunt in my opinion - in Grid, there's no way in hell I'm buying it.

I think they've claimed 12 player multiplayer races.

 

[tdawg]

Anybody beat the ghost car on the SF track in the Mustang? I made a run at it (have driven a total of 9 miles), but got frustrated, so I shut it off and went back to MLB '08.

I'm going to keep my eye on this one as it looks like there's a nice variety of races (GT, Open Wheel, Le Mans-style, etc) that could provide some fun. It would also give me some more justification to pick up the Logitech G25.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

Actually having played it I notice that it doesn't really look better then Prologue. It is slightly worse than prologue graphically.

I know they are adding damage to every car in Prologue and the full version will have full tuning capabilities but I would also like to see the ability to add body kits / custom paint jobs to each car.