It has been five long years since we last got a GRID game. At that time, Grid Autosport was attempting to return the series to it’s roots after it had lost it’s way a little since the days of the TOCA games on the original PlayStation. I am happy to report that in this latest effort, Codemasters have struck the perfect balance and delivered one of the best racing games in recent years.
The base game features 13 locations including the like of Barcelona, Indianapolis, San Francisco and China’s Zhejiang circuit among others. Now while that may not seem like much, Codemasters is delivering over 80 different circuit layouts. Once you add in the various race start times and weather conditions I never found myself disappointed by a lack of variety.
Career mode is robust and comes packing a huge amount of races that will keep you playing for a long time. You start your career with nearly a hundred different events to work through and you earn in game money from placing high in races. You also pick up some extra coin from additional bonus points for the likes of drifts and not crashing.
Your career won’t be all smooth sailing though. At certain points you will come to a screeching halt when you cannot afford the level of car required for the next race. This forces you to switch to different events and grind out the money you need. At no point did it feel like a massive burden to me, but I should note that I was sent the Ultimate Edition for review and as such I was given VIP status which grants you 10% extra cash on all winnings. I believe even without the extra boost though I wouldn’t have found the grind too egregious, but I thought it was worth noting.
There is a vast number of vehicles on offer from touring cars, stock cars and even pick-up trucks. These all come with unique, authentic handling that really does feel superb. Current gen consoles are not lacking in racing games, but Codemasters when they are at their best, as they are here, are really hard to beat in terms of raw driving. Accessibility options are aplenty with the ability to rewind several seconds of gameplay up to five times per race. You can also change the AI difficulty mid race in the options menu if things become overwhelming.
Sometimes you will be genuinely torn about wanting to rewind that crash you just had with an AI driver though thanks to the nemesis system (no, not the one from the Middle-Earth games). Here, if you interfere with other drivers they will essentially take the huff with you and begin plotting your demise. Even better is the fact that you can end up with multiple nemesis in a single race which ramps up the tension and tactics considerably.
In terms of other modes you have the standard free race and online options, both of which work as advertised and despite a career mode that will keep you busy for a while the online portion is likely to be what decides if you are in for the long term or not. All the online experiences I had with the game were good and I had no issues finding races. Online just isn’t my preferred way to game.
Trophies are tough and time consuming so if you do decide to go for that platinum trophy strap yourself in, because you will be there a while. One of the gold trophies requires you to drive the circumference of the Earth, so even the most skilled drivers will be required to sink a lot of time in.
Overall this is a racing game I highly recommend. Sure it could have some more locations and it is a little light on modes, but where it matters, on the race track, GRID absolutely delivers. This is definitely the best racing game I have played this year and honestly I think it is one of the best on PS4. It is a massive return to form for Codemasters who have spent years perfecting the genre.
Jessica
A review copy was provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PS4 Pro.
