The demo for Codemasters's new racer, Race Driver GRID, came out today on Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Network and it is so far pretty good from what I played. First of all, the slick and awesome menus from DIRT along with the stylish loading screens return giving it great presentation. The racing itself is solid if you are used to previous Codemasters racers like DIRT and the spiritual successor to this, the TOCA series. At first, it seems like an arcade racer, but the simulation elements kick in with damage, and taking turns perfectly since this is not a racer that you can get away from being bad at it. The damage element is pretty good since it affects your car's performance significantly as too much damage will mean a defeat since it can't continue the race. Then again, when your car is totally jacked up with the handling allowing swerving everywhere, you might as well give up. Especially with many cars in the same track, one mistake can lead into a messed up car. This gets frustrating in the multiplayer side of things when the usual big pileup happens at the first turn pending on people's skill level. The physics does take some races to get used to as many people at various message boards are complaining about the car handling. This ain't no Forza or Gran Turismo killer, but GRID so far is half-arcade, half-simulation like the PGR and Need for Speed games.
Graphically, this is one of the best looking racing games on this generation even though the bloom may be a little overboard for some people. It runs smoothly at 30 frames per second even though the first trailers have shown it at 60 FPS, but maybe that is for the PC version. The cars look great when in perfect shape and deformed at various parts. The tracks themselves also look great especially the San Francisco course even though I didn't really pay attention to the crowd that much. I'm pretty sure the scenery is better to focus on with the engine than the crowds. Sound-wise, it is your typical music for a racing game with various electronica and some rock.
With an okay amount of single-player race modes and up to 12 players for online multiplayer at two tracks using two cars. The GRID demo offers a good taste of what is come in the final version when it is released next month. The car physics and handling are typical of the Codemasters racers, which may take some races to get used to especially driving in GTA IV and other racers like Burnout Paradise. The damage element is neat allowing players to be careful not to hit walls or bump to other cars even though it will likely happen in every first turn of an online race. For me, it is a matter of luck if I start near the top or the back hopefully to avoid the big pileup like most online racing games for the first week. As mentioned in my racers to watch out for the rest of 2008 post, GRID can be a pretty solid racer for fans of the genre with a slick presentation, a lengthy single-player mode, and online multiplayer up to 12 players. Now I'm considering buying this even though Ninja Gaiden 2 and MGS4 are out around the same time.
