1.6.2013

As quite a casual racing gamer, the original Grid was for me an absolute joy. It felt very down to Earth and sober, whilst also generating great fun in a less simulator-y driving experience than more 'Hardcore' games. I wouldn't go as far to say Grid 1 was a mix of Simulation and arcade. More it was a relaxed racer with emphasis on different disciplines of racing, and car handling between 'breeds'.In essence, Grid 2 is much the same. Firstly, Codemasters (As usual) have presented and designed it wonderfully. The menu systems and events lists are fantastically designed and lush, with an excellent soundtrack to support it. The game also looks fantastic, a really gorgeous graphical achievement on ageing consoles,and I can image the PC version looks even more incredible. There is a slight change of step in the overall emphasis and feel of the game - The single player now is about gathering fans to create a new World Series Racing, after a one man investor, 'Patrick Callahan', takes you under his wing.The progression through the game is familiar, but slightly shuffled around. In the early stages, you compete throughout America, Europe and finally Asia and the Middle East, racing different racing clubs that partake in different disciplines and types of racing. e.g, one group in Asia will compete with you in drift events, whilst you will compete will another club in Touge events. You earn fans per race, not cash, this time around and the cars are given to you or you win them by partaking in vehicle challenge events, beating a lap time to win the car.As you increase your fan base, and you win over the racing clubs in each area, the WSR gains momentum and eventually you'll start WSR seasons where all event type are thrown in with bigger, better cars - You get the idea.As for the racing itself: Although there are some handling changes, in the main Grid 2 is still a solid, enjoyable racer. Cars have different handling to the next, just like the original, I still have the experience of having those cars that I don't get on with, and those which I really click with.The flashback system has seen a slight change, you can now simply press Y to active a rewind system, that automatically rewinds for about 10 seconds (depends on the track) and you just pick a spot. It's much more efficient that way, and please note that you can still view and save your replays, and view them in slow motion (And upload to YouTube) via the start menu. It's just in this case that the Flashback system and the Instant Replay system are separate entities.The damage system is excellent. Though it's never nice to see your Aston Martin all battered and broken, you can't help but be impressed with how the system implements itself to each section of each individuals car and bodywork.The new LiveRoute events are a nice new addition, too. Where every corner is different, It definitely keeps you on your toes.With all that said, there are a few misfires that, depending on your disposition, might really put you off or might just be nothing more than something to get used to.My main concerns are:- AI drivers, though good, seem pretty unresponsive, they follow a line a stick to it, no matter where your car seems to be on the track, and the starting grid almost always sets you off right at the back or bottom 3rd - This means that cluster at the first corner of every race (And it is every race) basically almost always involves some contact - Unless you play it safe in which case you're going to struggle to get in the top 3 - Especially on point to point racing events.This point actually makes the simple racing events, for me, the least enjoyable.- As I said, cars still all feel different and there's a learning curve with each, however in Grid 2 there is almost a constant drifting/ Oversteer with every single vehicle. in some cars on some tracks, you basically have to drift to get around corners efficiently. It doesn't feel right sometimes, and the fact it is on basically every car, no matter whether that car is labelled as "4 wheel drive" "Rear Wheel Drive, balanced" "Rear Wheel Drive, Grip" is bit of an annoyance. Maybe I'm just not that good at racing games, but still, the effect can be off-putting some times.- Another negative is that on Drift events, Checkpoint events and Time Trial events, there are now AI drivers on the track. Meaning you can't concentrate on simply drifting, speeding or lap lines in any mode - You are constantly having to struggle against not hitting the car in front, or not getting shunted by the car behind.Some may say that's part of the challenge, but I wouldn't say it is for time trial events, where the objective is the get the best possible lap time using the best lines, or drift events.In summary: All in all, Grid 2 is deserved of the name. It's beautiful looking, wonderfully presented and a lot of fun across a good amount of racing disciplines and car types. It's not perfect, and there are a couple of awkward jagged edges that can at times make the game very stressful, but in my humble opinion Grid 2 sits along with it's older brother as one of the best racing games of this generation.It's a regrettable 4 stars from me. I would give it a 5, but the somewhat small issues the game has could be very divisive to some.Make no mistake though, this game comes very much recommended from me, to hardcore racing game lovers or not.

31.5.2013

I have had this game a week now and I'm loving it. The biggest change from Grid 1 (G1) is the new and improved car handling. In the G1 they had somewhat of a "floaty" feel to them, but this is no longer the case. Codemasters (CM) have introduced their new "Truefeel" handling system and it works so much better as you can now feel much more of a connection with the road. Some have said that this game feels more "arcadey" but I personally disagree - I think it strikes a good balance between arcade & sim. Graphics are also superb. Compared to G1 they are a lot crisper and more detailed but still run smoothly, and the lighting effects are amazing. Also, the actual track environments are stunning and really feel "alive".With everything from helicopters/planes/birds flying overhead, monorail trains, papers/leaves blowing around the track, and animated crowds - these tracks really are a complete contrast to the almost static environments found in Forza. The largely unfamiliar selection of tracks is also very welcome. As much as I love racing around the likes of Silverstone, Nurburgring & Suzuka it's good that CM have avoided these typical racing game staples and gone for something a bit more fresh. There are 14 locations in all, but most have multiple track variants (some up to 6), reverse versions, and several also have day/night race conditions. Those who enjoyed the city tracks in G1 will welcome another healthy (albeit different) selection in G2, including Barcelona, Paris, Chicago, Miami and Dubai. These city tracks are great fun to race around, and is something that was sorely missing in Forza 4. Most of these city tracks also feature "liveroutes" - this is where the track can dynamically change from lap to lap. It's not particularly realistic, or even new (Porsche Challenge in 1997 did a similar thing) but at least CM are trying to mix things up a bit. The sound on this game is also hugely improved from G1. Car engines now have more "oomph", external sound effects are good (like driving over grates in the road) - but you may want to turn the music down/off (I did). It was CM that pioneered the flashback/rewind feature in a racing game in G1, and unsurprisingly it returns here. This time around though it has been intergrated more seamlessly, and I'm pretty sure you can go back a little further now. I haven't tried online yet, but will update this review once I have done so. Yes, it's true that CM have removed the cockpit view which has already annoyed a number of fans. Personally speaking though I usually use the bumper view so for me this isn't an issue. My only minor criticism of this game are the replays, which frankly could be better. There are too many spinning/moving cameras, and this is the only thing G1 did better. Overall this game is a lot of fun, looks and sounds great, and CM have improved upon the original Grid in (almost) every way.UPDATE (6 June)...Well, the more I play this game the more I love it, so I stand by my review above. Going by my "Was this review helpful to you" rating (currently 4/11) though obviously a lot of people don't agree with me, but hey...each to their own I guess. I will comment on some of the other reviews though; Yes there is an element of drifting in the game, but to be honest once you get to the European races (season 2) then you start getting the grippier cars. Admittedly CM could have made this easier for players by opening the career mode with these and then moving to the American leg (where you start career mode) where cars are more suited to drifting. Saying that, it's not something that bothers me hence why I never mentioned it in my review. Also some have said that this game is getting away from it's roots (the TOCA games, if you go back far enough), or that it is too arcadey. Well, apart from the fact that the original Grid was already getting away from it's roots, after prolonged play I still say that G2 sits nicely somewhere between arcade & sim. Lastly...some people find the American guy who talks to you very annoying...well if you actually dig around the options you'll find you can turn him off!

11.4.2017

I liked Grid once I got used to it, so when I dusted off my old PS3 I decided to get this one too. It turned out to be quite similar... a massive list of stuff that irritates me coupled with silly car physics, but I still enjoy playing it.The career mode is well laid out, pretty much as you'd expect for this sort of game... win races, progress, pick another race to win, rinse, repeat. The event types are varied... ordinary races, elimination, time-trials, drift, touge, head-to-head, checkpoint and maybe something else I missed. Some are more fun than others, and it's very hard to find a difficulty level that gives you the same challenge from each of them.The choice of cars is pretty good,although performance difference is limited and the car physics is very arcade-y and takes a bit of getting used to. In the early game you're stuck with heavy, wallowing drift buggies that aren't a lot of fun to drive, but after a bit of patience you encounter cars from all three types - drift, balanced and grip - and there's good fun to be had with drift (difficult mode) and grip (win button) type cars. Unfortunately, Codemasters accidentally wrote 'balanced' instead of 'useless, understeering lump', so that type is probably worth avoiding.Track-wise, the game is hit-and-miss. The majority of the racing is done on city street circuits, which is disappointing, although there are some more enjoyable, challenging point-to-point tracks with good elevation changes and variety. Worst of the lot are Liveroutes - randomised city street tracks with no real indication of what sort of corner you're approaching, other than flashing direction arrows. The AI knows if it's a 45-degree, 90-degree, hairpin, etc... but you don't. Horrible idea.The proper race tracks were an opportunity to make up for the city street disappointment, but with the whole world to choose from we ended up with Yas Marina (dreary and dull), Red Bull Ring (tiny bit boring), Brands Hatch Indy (I love Brands, but it doesn't work on arcade-style games and why couldn't we have the full circuit?) and Indy Speedway Infield (ugh). Algarve is more fun, but even that is usually ruined by being reversed.The collision system is quite similar to original Grid, with all its pros and cons. Visually it's wonderful, but the physics are utterly bizarre. If you smash into a rival even at full speed, they nearly always behave like a solid lump of glued-down concrete. Even if you submarine under them in the Caterham and send them up in the air, they land like a cat and are back on line in an instant. If they hit the wall on their own, 99% of the time they carry on with no problems. But if they so much as tap you, you frequently end up facing the wrong way... and if you hit the wall, you get one of two outcomes. Either you carry on as if nothing has happened, or an invisible suitcase full of C4 detonates at a random position beside your car and flings you off in a totally unbelievable, physics-defying direction. The manner in which you hit the wall doesn't seem to matter... it's almost a coin-toss as to whether you get the "C4 effect" or not.Overall it's one of those games that annoys me because it could be so much better, and because there's a lot wrong with it... but I still like it and it's still fun. Which, I suppose, is the whole point of games like this...

31.5.2013

Grid 2 so much anticipation i had for this game due to the first Grid being awesome all those years ago.1st impressions stick as they say and this game is no exception.I was instantly upon taking control of the game feeling what the hell have Codemasters done, they have americanized the game so it caters for their tastes just like they did when they ruined Colin Mcrea Rally and the Dirt series.Your have this cheesey american voice over guy yet again popping up with useless info at the most inappropriate times some time the information is late like for example he will warn you of a spin after you either plowed into the spinning car or whizzed by it,also repeats it's self quite often as if the game only has the bare minimum voice overs recorded.....think fifa all those years back where you heard the same thing half a dozen times in a single match.Then the game expects you to use drifting as much as possible ...... not racing in my opinion and only included to cater for americans and their silly x games stuff that plagued all of codemasters recent rally games.The majority of the tracks i raced on so far drifting doesn't suit as most are tight even worse when racing as a single collision cancels the score the drift gives.The AI of the other race drivers is nothing compared to the original either.It has the sort of cheating physics that your always last on the grid while your rival's are up front with clean air 99% of the time.Every AI car follows a set route and never makes a single mistake, not only that but they are quite aggressive in certain modes.Car handling can be twitchy at times but nothing to ruin the game as a few races you will be knocking out lap times with the best of them.There doesn't seem to be any driving aids but so far i wouldn't have noticed and occasionally used them in other Codemasters games.Graphics to me look awesome right up there with the Gran Turismo's but i think everybody expects that from Codemasters and they have delivered.Some people moan there is no cockpit view but honestly who used it? sure it would be nice to have the option but nobody will miss it.I should point out most of the cars sound the same so don't go expecting Gran Turismo where everything is authentic to the ear.Online pretty much as expected, idiots driving wrong way or bashing like its destruction derby.Then the ones boosting for trophies.One thing i will point out Codemasters have cut large portions of the game to resell it back to you as DLC as many a game site have already stated as much which is always a bad thing like games are not already expensive enough they only give most of the game not all of it.End of the day Grid 2 is a good game just not the great game i was expecting, it should have been considering this late into this gens life span and the new one already shown i would have expected it to be at least better than the original but it falls short.7 out 10

31.5.2013

I have brought the game today and have spent the last four hours solidly playing it.The graphics are absolutely outstanding. I would argue second to none. Blitzing the streets of Paris is particularly brilliant and almost reminds me of that infamous "rendes-vous in Paris" all those years ago!In terms of the gameplay, I'll start with career mode (as it's the only one I've played). Money appears to have been scrapped altogether in this game, you simply get new cars more as a reward for racing than as a result of hard saving! This has good and bad points to it, I suppose. Reputation points no longer exist. Instead, we have the a rather interesting count of your success called "fans".

14.6.2013

Thank you Codemasters! After the long wait Grid 2 is here & it is just brilliant, brilliant fun. Stunning graphics, fast frame rates, hard & fast wheel banging racing, superb damage modelling, excellent handling with True Feel & the best fun I've had for thirty five quid in a while! I don't understand the negative reviews at all?If you take the time to get used to True Feel plus the cars & circuits the game really comes alive. Don't bother & you will spend a lot of time smashed in the barriers or drifting out of control moaning that the game is rubbish. There are no assists to help. If you set the options to hard, use manual gears & a wheel you've got a very serious game on your hands.I think all the circuits are excellent.

30.7.2013

I don't often write reviews but felt I had to after soem of the drivel I have read on here.Lets's start off by saying that this is not as good as the first game; that's just a fact but that doesn't mean this isn't a good game.I have finished the first 3 seasons of the WSR and the game is taking shape nicely. The first season consists of slower cars doing some basic races, the second season adds elimination events along with faster cars and season 3 introduces checkpoint races and drifting.The people that have reviewed this so far are obviously not that far into the game as you unlock the Golf (around the eigth car you get)

4.6.2013

I bought this game hoping for an arcade/sim experience and it has delivered extremely well!I have not played the original grid, however reading reviews and viewing youtube videos of the original, the theme has moved away from semi sim to a more arcady feel. This move is slight, however, for those of you who are looking for a racing sim (more towards the Gran Turismo spectrum), you may be left a little disapointed.This game hones in on the Japanese style drift street scene extremely well. Fortunately, this allows for amazing bumper to bumper thrill racing at its fastest. The feel of the racing is superb and each race leaves you with sweaty palms, wide eyes and slightly short of breath.

25.7.2013

Not sure what all these low ratings are about -- the Grid series is meant to be neither Need for Speed nor a simulator such as Gran Turismo. Comparing it to those games reflects a misunderstanding of Grid's scope as a racing game.As a video game player, I always appreciate it when developers put action, fun and most importantly uninterrupted gaming as the highest priority in a game. Grid 2 has all of these in spades. Grid's rewind feature has been improved upon and means that you can get right back into the action in no time at all, and is yet fair and balanced because it applies evenly to all online multiplayers and is also finite so you cannot use it indefinitely. As host,

5.6.2013

I feel compelled to write a review about this game as I feel its getting some harsh criticism.first of all I must point out this is no mariokart game on the ds or whatever this is a full on racing game that demands time and effort to perfect.has anybody realised that the first couple of races are with DRIFT CARS!!!! so its pretty obvious your going to have to take corners a lot easier than full on gt spec race models.the game rewards you the more effort you put into it and believe me I have played racing games on the playstation 1 and playstation 2 and the first xbox and know a good racing game when I play one.grid 2 is very much like toca touring cars on the original playstation and will

6.6.2013

There have been some increibly negative reviews of this game so far. I have played most racing games including Grid 1 so I can comment.I have found some answers to the problems :-1 If you don't like the American commentator, turn Audio off and hey presto all is now quiet !2 There are at least 4 official circuits available. Apart from Brands and Indianapolis, there are Yas Marina which is an F1 circuit and also the A1 Ring which is the old F1 circuit in Austria. Unfortunately Le Mans is not in this game like Grid 1.3 The cars do drift a bit, but this can be fun at times.4 You can rewind if you make a mistake.5 If you have the download codes then use them to obtain an Indycar as well as access

3.6.2013

the cars feel right...the graphics nip along at a fair rate and the models are nice (damage isn't terribly realistic though the deformations look good). i could do without the drifting aspects of it but you can get away without it for the most part.my main gripe is the loading times..much of the game is spent looking at an abstract, and slightly glitchy, 'thing' that displays as a race loads...with repetitive stats flashing up. when i installed it this morning (it has to be installed to the ps3's drive) patch 1.0.1 was downloaded...not sure what it was fixing but it hasn't helped the loading times. another, smaller gripe is that it's fairly linear.i'd probably give it three and a half stars if i could.it does have that 'one more race'

30.4.2014

I had been put off of buying this game because of a lot of negative reviews but being a racing fan I opted to buy it anyway especially as it was just £6!I can't see much wrong with the game. Codemasters have put together an edge of the seat racer that keeps you going back for more.I've seen criticism of the handling of the cars, that they are hard to control and all you can do is drift round corners and hope you don't crash. I didn't find this at all, true you have to adjust your driving to each car and they can be a little hard to handle but once you get used to the controls it's a great game and provides some adrenaline pumping entertainment.For less than ten quid this game is worth every

2.8.2013

I won't go in to to much depth to say, Grid 2 is a very solid and enjoyable racing game, the car handling is tricky at first but once gotten used to there is a lot of depth to it and variety across all the different car types,and it's a lot of fun to master the car vs. the circuit. The career mode is compelling and a lot of fun, and the multiplayer is excellent and also has a lot of depth. The graphics are EXCELLENT - the tracks are almost beautiful in their grahical detail, some of the road courses are just strikingly graphically accomplished, the lighting is oustanding also. Graphically, a superb effort, gameplay brilliant, options and events superb. Well worth a look.

4.6.2013

i brought this game because i loved the first grid and had high expectations for the game, i was very pleased when i first played the game because the first thing you notice is the stunning visual effects and the great gameplay that followers the stunning visual effects, the gameplay is as good as the first one and has a more fluid motion when the cars turn the corner, haven't played online yet so cant comment on weather it is good or not but if its anything like the campaign it should keep me entertained for a long time, the game is the best racing game i have played in a long time because most racing have been disappointing lately and its nice to play one.

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