Codemasters Race Driver Grid

[KinLM]

I'm aware that Grid 2 was just launched.

But this particular section is titled "Grid" and therefore seems fitting of talking about the original Grid!

Filled with features such as allowing you to hire a teammate, sponsorships on your car, "auctioning" your car on eBay, and many other features, Grid brought many things to the table that were new to the racing genre and haven't been seen since in some cases.

Personally I loved this game, I spent hours playing it. And the original menu music song from when you first started career mode is a song I love, it was extremely relaxing.

Grid was a huge game to me and even though it isn't the most realistic, I love it.

Discuss events, ways to beat certain races, favorite cars, tracks, anything!

 

[Darren.]

Oh man, I still play Grid to this day. I loved the team management, dynamic soundtracks and touge. I can't think of a game that includes touge, very neat decision by Codies. However, I could never beat the final race (Head to Head on LeMans), I probably just suck with the CCXR.

 

[BKGlover]

I try to avoid the Koeingseggs myself, I think the Zonda is better in every way. I know that last race though. My first playthrough, it was one of the few challenges which both cars were completely clean the whole way. I won first time out, no restarts and dreading it the whole time, and won by half-a-car length. I proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes catching my breath and celebrating.

 

[Bodyguard]

Grid was always a brilliant game, despite me not finishing it =/ I should go back and re-play it
Anyway, I am not sure as to how Grid 2 compares to the first one. It seems more... arcadey, or is that just me? Also, why are they nudging you to drift in racing events?
The online is superb, an so are the cars, visuals and sounds, but I'm not too impressed by the physics engine...

 

[Dean]

I haven't played GRID in years, yet I still owe it. I remember being way faster than my old classmate on Circuit de La Sarthe, in the LMP1 Audi... Good times :tup:!

I didn't complete it either... Maybe I should do so ?

 

[Rainbow Dash]

The online was superb

Fix'd. GRiD's online is shut down.

 

[Bodyguard]

Fix'd. GRiD's online is shut down.

Actually, I was referring to Grid 2. I know this is a thread for the original Grid, but I thought some comparison could be interesting.

 

[ItsAllAboutWins]

Grid 1 was the first game I ever tried getting fast lap times. I still have it to this day and play it every now and then for the nostalgia.

 

[BKGlover]

I've beaten it, but I plan to go back and beat it on the hardest setting with my normal setup. I started it once before, but I haven't played in months.

 

[rallymorten]

Oh yes, a original Grid thread 👍

I started playing it all over again about a month ago, almost beaten it again (only missing prototypes and Ravenwest battles). As soon as I'm done, I'll put myself a challenge: I may not begin racing with my own team in a region before I have 10.000 reputation in it (say I can reach 12.000 and race in Europe but only 5.000 in US and be "for hire"). I also must reach no. 1 on the Hall Of Fame before I can participate in the event's world championships (so before I can compete in the Brembo GT1 I must be no. 1 on all GT class events etc.)

It's kinda sad they shut the online servers, I've had some quite awesome moments from dodging rambos and divebombers to completely dominating an Elite and Pro class driver in a Pro Tuned, in the finale (after dominating them by 10 and 5 seconds in the first 2 rounds) I litterally had no opponents! Not bad for a 0-star Junior Rookie

 

[Morgoth_666]

...

It's kinda sad they shut the online servers, I've had some quite awesome moments from dodging rambos and divebombers to completely dominating an Elite and Pro class driver in a Pro Tuned, in the finale (after dominating them by 10 and 5 seconds in the first 2 rounds) I litterally had no opponents! Not bad for a 0-star Junior Rookie

As I've usually heard the story told, it wasn't really their intention to shut the servers down when they did. There was some sort of disagreement between Codemasters and the company that managed the online servers for them(probably involving how much they were paying for how long, so it goes) and they apparently didn't realize it was going to be shut off. But of course they never managed to come to an agreement to re-start it, and changing hosting would probably be too much hassle for Codemasters to bother with.

It's too bad, I rather enjoyed the tiny bit of time I spent online but kept putting it off and never got around to do any more until after it went away. If I hadn't deleted my completed career by mistake I probably would have done more online racing.

 

[FrozenGhost928]

I got Grid through Steam with the Grid 2 pre-order pack. After playing the original for an evening I think I like first version better. I am one of the 5% who use the cockpit view. Grid 2 of course has better graphics, but this should be expected since Grid 1 came out in 2007. This game was ahead of its time and while I mainly play Rfactor 2 & some Iracing, GT 5 is still my favorite, but since I can play Grid 1 on my PC I think it is going to replace GT 5 as my go to favorite drive game.

 

[Atarwii]

Grid 2 is getting high marks from reviewers but mixed reactions from gamers, the lack of a playable demo is a problem for me so I'm not going to jump in right now maybe later.

Grid 1 was a great game to me. I loved the team manager aspect, the seasonal setup, the liveries and colors and the sponsors, it was very entertaining. The car list was small but for some reason it didn't bother me because unlike Midnight Club, where I would purchase a car because simply because I liked that car my car selections in Grid took into account the race type and my ability to operate the car. The races were exciting and heart pounding and Codemasters really found true balance between arcade and sim.

One major flaw is the steering wheel support. I'm late to the show with purchasing a steering wheel and I've already beat the game with a controller but using the DFGT has been a pure pain the ass, the learning curve is very steep. I've been finding myself taking test drive laps alone various tracks as practice and while I've found great settings after tinkering but after a month it's still a pain and I can't drift at all, that's a totally different animal.

But I'd still give the game high ratings. Currently I'm looking to go for more of a sim type game now. GT6 maybe.

 

[CarBastard]

Any tips on driving it with a keyboard on PC?

I bought it recently thinking it was a fun, arcadey handling game a la classic Need For Speed formula but instead got the craptastic Need For Speed SHIfT handling style. Hard, but not realistic. Some cars are undriveable with a keyboard and I can't believe they omitted something as useful as a driving line, do they honestly expect me to know Jarama out of the bat?

 

[BKGlover]

I assumed that was what the rewinds were for. I don't miss the driving line, as it usually throws me off and I'm constantly leaving it for a line I prefer, but at least there is the option to restart.

The keyboard must be throwing a giant wrench in the game. On a PS3 controller, it is very much like the PS1 NFS games, whereas I have nothing to compare Shi(f)t to.

 

[kekke2000]

I just did the last Ravenwest thingy... I simply crashed my opponent around the middle of Mulsanne. My car got a lot of damage and was barely driveable, so was his, he plowed the barrier until he hit an edge and lost his wheel. I carried on slowly around the remaining 2½ laps and won the race.

Different game, different drive style.

 

[rallymorten]

...I simply crashed my opponent around the middle of Mulsanne...

You do realise the "by any means necessary" is just for the demolition derby, right?

I've wondered if they've hidden some easter eggs if you take 1st on the HoF in every event in every license/region/category.. That's worth investigating, and I'm on it!

 

[KinLM]

You do realise the "by any means necessary" is just for the demolition derby, right?

I've wondered if they've hidden some easter eggs if you take 1st on the HoF in every event in every license/region/category.. That's worth investigating, and I'm on it!

EDIT I'm gonna keep it a secret

 

[rallymorten]

No, you unlock the cheat codes by beating all Ravenwest events. What I'm thinking about is actually racing and winning all events enough to take 1st place on each events Hall of Fame. Don't forget there's a great deal of sponsors obviously visible on some race tracks that you won't unlock normally. They may be a similar deal to Porsche, but, has anyone yet actually tried this?

 

[KinLM]

No, you unlock the cheat codes by beating all Ravenwest events. What I'm thinking about is actually racing and winning all events enough to take 1st place on each events Hall of Fame. Don't forget there's a great deal of sponsors obviously visible on some race tracks that you won't unlock normally. They may be a similar deal to Porsche, but, has anyone yet actually tried this?

You mean win every single race there is basically?

 

[rallymorten]

Yes, taking the #1 spot on every Hall of Fame in the game, or at least that's what I'm intending to do. Hopefully there will be no more jumping a Koenigsegg off San Fran

 

[KinLM]

Yes, taking the #1 spot on every Hall of Fame in the game, or at least that's what I'm intending to do. Hopefully there will be no more jumping a Koenigsegg off San Fran

I did that but it's so long ago I can't remember.

 

[BKGlover]

Yes, taking the #1 spot on every Hall of Fame in the game, or at least that's what I'm intending to do. Hopefully there will be no more jumping a Koenigsegg off San Fran

Funny enough, I've been working on it as well. Have to start again though.

 

[rallymorten]

Thanks for reminding me about this thread

Just for fun I tried the Demolition Derby at Ninja difficulty with no restarts/flashbacks and locked to helmet cam in the hopes that it might have something to say. But it didn't unlock any hidden sponsors. I did, though, have the time of my live trying to move up in the field

 

[zachvin24]

Has anyone ever tried to re-create the Raven West Livery?

 

[BKGlover]

I don't think it's possible. There is no livery available to you that has the raven on it, and I think the hood is carbon-fiber, something you cant recreate at all.

 

[BKGlover]

Hey all, I've been thinking. GRID 2 is a disappointment, the online is meh at best due to contant a-holes, and I've pretty much written off the game as lost money. GRID, on the other hand, is still lots of fun but can get old after a while.

Soooooo after thinking back to Wiegert's 'DiRT 3 Event of the Week', I'm thinking that we could do an EotW for either GRID 1 or GRID 2, OR we could do something over the top and completey ridiculous that has been brewing in my mind.

What I'm thinking of is a GRID 1 Career Challenge. Starting from scratch, we go through the career racing each event, then use the times (or scores, or distance) to compete against each other here, listing each race separately due to the multiple tracks used in some championships. Basic rules would be Hardcore difficulty, locked head cam, and pro mode, but I don't know about using the intro race or the "for hire" period.

Let me know what you think.

 

[rallymorten]

I'm interested in seeing how that'd work. The whole starting career mode over again may seem a bit harsh, but if it's just about the lap times, surely that can be done in test mode (drift events can be done in Race Day)? Just one problem though: how exactly would timing be done?

I'm interested :tup:

 

[BKGlover]

Ehh, not quite. I was thinking like this. I'm guessing on some details so you may have to use your imagination a bit.

Starting with traditional races, and the Ravenwest challenges that apply, you would run each race in a series as it is organized. So the Spa Challenge would only have one time associated, but the time would be the elapsed race time as shown on the race results table (after you close the replay). This also only has one car choice, so it makes comparison easier.

Dunlop Spa Challenge-Euro R License:
=Race 1: Spa-3 Laps=
1. rallymorten-Nissan Skyline GT-R R34-8:48.672
2. BKGlover-Nissan Skyline GT-R-10:23.482

=Overall Championship=
1. rallymorten-8:48.672
2. BKGlover-10:23.482
​

Now, if you take on the Bay Bridge championship, that runs in San Fran which has multiple layouts AND can be reversed, same for Milan. These two inparticular use the Classic Muscle class, which as the DLC doesn't crossover to career consist of only the Boss 302 Mustang and the Plymouth Cuda AAR. Meaning yes, some championships would have to be done multiple times.

Lucas Oil Bay Bridge Trophy-ARL Rookie License:
=Race 1: San Fransisco 2A-3 Laps=
1. rallymorten-Boss 302-4:38.443
2. BKGlover-Boss 302-4:59.392

=Race 2: San Fransisco 2B-3 Laps=
1. rallymorten-Boss 302-4:34.823
2. BKGlover-Boss 302-4:50.992

=Race 3: San Fransisco 3A-3 Laps=
1. BKGlover-AAR Cuda-4:01.932

=Race 4: San Fransisco 3B-3 Laps=
1. BKGlover-AAR Cuda-3:55.823

=Overall Championship=
1. BKGlover-17:48.139
*. rallymorten-9:13.266
​

The math may be fuzzy there. Not sure how if Touge should follow this or the Drift GP type following.

Drift GP events would combine all of the scores in each bracket you participate in, weather you win it all or fail miserably in the first round, but you'd still list your score for each round.

Freestyle Drift would go by individual sessions. Each session the equivalent of the race examples above, as would drift battles.

I'd also require that you run the "24 hours" and give your best time for each class, making it like it's own championship series.

Its very rough, and given some time (and outside interest) I could probably hammer out something respectable. I'm tired right now though, I'mma go to bed now.

 

[BKGlover]

I take it this is a 'No go'?