GRID Community,
Today weve got some news which well hope you enjoy as much as weve enjoyed the enthusiasm youve shown for GRID 2.
We have two game updates coming soon which have both been driven by that feedback. One is an extensive Community Patch which we hope will go a long way to improving everyones experience in the game. The other is a returning game mode from the original GRID which well be releasing for free were excited to let you know that Demo Derby is on its way to GRID 2!
When we say that these are driven by your feedback, we mean it we really do hear everything that you say and we value your feedback immensely. For instance, in the previous patch your car ghosting when youre applied with a corner cutting penalty is something that stemmed directly from feedback from the community. The next patch is full of further examples of features youve been asking for. We expect it to be released sometime in August, dependent on Submission timings and well let you know a more specific date the closer we get.
But first, lets talk about some of what will be coming in the Community Patch.
Community Patch
Custom Playlist
We want to make the Custom Playlist a more worthwhile experience and as such weve made a change that increases the amount of experience and money you get for participating.
This will ensure that you are no longer penalised for wanting to opt out of the Online Playlists and youll now be able to race the way you want to race, with no hindrance to your online progression.
We'll be keeping an eye on how it goes and if needed we'll validate it with yourselves and adjust further should it be deemed necessary.
Hardcore Playlist
Weve heard your feedback regarding the online playlists and once the patch hits therell be an additional playlist for you to select.
Called Hardcore, this playlist will remove the use of flashbacks and turn on full mechanical damage. It will also prioritise race events around circuits. Think youre an elite racer? Go hardcore and prove it.
Level Cap
If youve hit level 30 online youll be pleased to know that were now giving you the ability to progress even further. The online level cap will be raised to 99...good luck!
Fastest Lap Times
The addition of fastest lap times is something weve heard come up again and again and as a result were pleased to confirm that they will now display at the end of an event on the race results screen while playing online.
New Liveries
Weve loved seeing what youve created so far with your custom liveries and youll soon have access to a host of new designs, including some of the AI designs from single player.
Maximum Laps
Weve heard a lot of feedback, especially from Clubs and Leagues, about the maximum number of laps you can set in a race. As a result weve increased the maximum from 5 up to 10. For those of you who want longer races we recommend using the Endurance game mode.
Veto Weighting
Previously if you wanted to veto an event type or location it turned out it was difficult to get a passing vote. Weve made some changes to the system so that vetos are now much fairer and only require 51% of the lobby to make the vote for a change to occur.
Voice Option
As requested, you can now mute your own microphone.
Country Flags
We know many of you enjoyed this feature in the original GRID and were pleased to confirm it will make a return. A players country flag will now be displayed next to their name plate while racing and on the event results screen.
Clean Race Bonus
The amount of money rewarded for racing clean has been increased.
Skip the Level up Graphic
We understand that not everyone wants to watch the level up box at the end of each race and youll now be able to skip this at the press of a button.
Anti-Cheat
Weve also made some changes to our anti-cheat system and while we wont go into detail about how weve approached these changes, what we will say is that were hopeful the leaderboards within the game will now be free of those who have to use illegitimate means to succeed.
These changes and updates really have been driven by your feedback and we hope will improve everyones experience playing the game. Well have more info on the Community Patch the closer we get to release, in the mean time wed love to hear your feedback on it so please leave your comments below or on the forums.
In the coming days well be issuing a cleanse of the Steam Leaderboards, this will clear all the erroneous times from being displayed and is in reaction to a bug / exploit we recently patched that allowed people to set abnormal times.
Demolition Derby The Return (and its free!)
The focus with GRID 2 was all about racing in a new world of competitive motorsport, both on and offline. But its fair to say many of our old-school GRID players were disappointed about the lack of a Demo Derby mode in GRID 2. Today were pleased to tell you that we are currently working on this mode for GRID 2 well be making it available for free, across all platforms.
Weve been quiet on this news because it genuinely wasnt in the plan. In fact, its 100% driven by feedback from the Community. As such, weve no date for release yet unfortunately, but we want to get this out to you sooner rather than later so expect more news in the coming weeks.
New Tracks
A lot of you have been requesting new tracks and we can confirm that in the months ahead we will be releasing two track packs that will feature two of the most requested circuits to date.
These packs will each contain a new circuit, some cars and also include new achievements and trophies for you to obtain. Well have all the info a bit closer to their release and we think youll like them.
Some things you may have missed lately:
Weve made available the following three new cars for free:
5ZIGEN Honda Civic: PS3 | Xbox 360
Chevrolet "Tyler McQuarrie" Camaro: PS3 | Xbox 360
Volkswagen Golf R Tuned: PS3 | Xbox 360
Note: all PC players receive the free cars via an automatic game patch.
Save Files Corrupt
Yesterday we released a patch onto Steam that should hopefully fix the issues some of you have been experiencing with save files corrupting. Early reports are very positive and this fix will now be making its way to consoles in an upcoming patch.