- 1,256
- Vancouver, BC
- Awong124
I got it a day before release date I guess because the post office was efficient 
.
As typical of every recent Codemasters game I've ever played, the first thing I had to do was spend at least 15 minutes messing around with the Advanced Wheel Settings. But this time I kind of screwed it up for myself, because thinking that I have a 900 degree steering wheel I should set Multiturn to ON. That was a mistake. I spent like 10 minutes fiddling around with the settings and nothing I did made the game even remotely playable. I then turned Multiturn OFF, and it was more or less perfect with the default settings *facepalm*. As I've complained with every CM game, they should really have a description for what each setting actually does.
Now that I got the negativity over with, on to the fun bit
I'm playing Career mode with very hard AI, full damage, 5x flashbacks, all aids off except ABS, interior dashboard view (no steering wheel), and 5x race distance. I just did the first race in Touring, and had a choice between Team Oakley with a Chevy Cruz and Team Razer with a Ford Focus. I chose Team Razer because I like the Focus more. I would guess that these are teams at the lower end of the field, and even though Touring has more or less equal cars, the lower end teams are less developed and has less upgrades which make them slightly slower. The first race was on a version of the Istanbul circuit. I did the full Practice session to get the hang of the car and track.
The handling of the cars are very good. They are still a touch floaty, with less sense of weight than I would like, but nowhere near the extent of how GRID 1 was. That being said, however, I was still a bit disappointed because I was expecting for it to feel more like their F1 games. The handling of the cars in their F1 games feel rock solid, with no floatiness whatsoever. So that shows me that they are definitely capable of producing a handling model that feels absolutely solid, but they chose not to. I don't know why they made this choice, maybe it's a distinctive GRID thing. But it's still very good and definitely very playable, even if it doesn't feel like you're as much in control of the car as you'd think you should be. Maybe open wheel would feel more like the F1 cars, but I haven't played that yet. But if I've never played the F1 games to compare, I'd still be more than happy with the handling.
I then did Qualifying, which is just 3 flying laps. I ended up qualifying 5th, behind the two Ravenwest cars on the front row and the two Team Kicker cars in the second row. Now the race is where this game really shines. I'm playing 5x race distance, so this is a 15 lap race. On very hard AI difficulty, the AI are fast. It really seemed like they were wringing out the last ounce of performance in those cars, because I could barely keep up when I was driving flat out. When you first start out with a crappy team, you wouldn't expect to start winning every race... and in this game you don't. I was lucky on the first lap to get past the 4th place Team Kicker car when the field was still bunched together. But as the laps went on, the leading three cars pulled away from me at about half a second per lap, and the Kicker car I just passed was all over my back like a bad suit. The AI are very quick and very professional. They do bump a bit sometimes, but nothing crazy. The odd thing I noticed was that they sometimes hit me on the rear quarter panel at the end of the straight when they cut back across the track to the racing line after pulling out to get alongside me. But I think this is just a bit of a glitch in their programming, and not done intentionally to be dirty. I had to race defensively the whole race to keep the guy behind me. Then around 2/3 through the race, I suddenly saw the 3rd place car a lot closer to me than in the previous few laps. I got closer and saw sparks flying out of the car. Even then he kept a pretty good pace, and it took me a couple of laps to close up behind him. He eventually made a mistake, and I passed him around the outside of turn 1. I ended up finishing 3rd in my first race, 8.5 seconds behind the race winner.
The race was so intense I was literally breaking out in a cold sweat at the end. In real life racing, you wouldn't expect to be winning every race, especially in an inferior car. Unlike most other racing games, which pander to the lowest common denominator, and give you more than a good chance to win every race, GRID Autosport made me feel ecstatic to finish 3rd. I felt happier and more excited getting this 3rd place than winning any race in Gran Turismo.
So far I am very impressed. The racing in this game is far better than any non-Codemasters racing game I've ever played. It is a home run smash hit as far as I'm concerned.
.As typical of every recent Codemasters game I've ever played, the first thing I had to do was spend at least 15 minutes messing around with the Advanced Wheel Settings. But this time I kind of screwed it up for myself, because thinking that I have a 900 degree steering wheel I should set Multiturn to ON. That was a mistake. I spent like 10 minutes fiddling around with the settings and nothing I did made the game even remotely playable. I then turned Multiturn OFF, and it was more or less perfect with the default settings *facepalm*. As I've complained with every CM game, they should really have a description for what each setting actually does.
Now that I got the negativity over with, on to the fun bit
I'm playing Career mode with very hard AI, full damage, 5x flashbacks, all aids off except ABS, interior dashboard view (no steering wheel), and 5x race distance. I just did the first race in Touring, and had a choice between Team Oakley with a Chevy Cruz and Team Razer with a Ford Focus. I chose Team Razer because I like the Focus more. I would guess that these are teams at the lower end of the field, and even though Touring has more or less equal cars, the lower end teams are less developed and has less upgrades which make them slightly slower. The first race was on a version of the Istanbul circuit. I did the full Practice session to get the hang of the car and track.
The handling of the cars are very good. They are still a touch floaty, with less sense of weight than I would like, but nowhere near the extent of how GRID 1 was. That being said, however, I was still a bit disappointed because I was expecting for it to feel more like their F1 games. The handling of the cars in their F1 games feel rock solid, with no floatiness whatsoever. So that shows me that they are definitely capable of producing a handling model that feels absolutely solid, but they chose not to. I don't know why they made this choice, maybe it's a distinctive GRID thing. But it's still very good and definitely very playable, even if it doesn't feel like you're as much in control of the car as you'd think you should be. Maybe open wheel would feel more like the F1 cars, but I haven't played that yet. But if I've never played the F1 games to compare, I'd still be more than happy with the handling.
I then did Qualifying, which is just 3 flying laps. I ended up qualifying 5th, behind the two Ravenwest cars on the front row and the two Team Kicker cars in the second row. Now the race is where this game really shines. I'm playing 5x race distance, so this is a 15 lap race. On very hard AI difficulty, the AI are fast. It really seemed like they were wringing out the last ounce of performance in those cars, because I could barely keep up when I was driving flat out. When you first start out with a crappy team, you wouldn't expect to start winning every race... and in this game you don't. I was lucky on the first lap to get past the 4th place Team Kicker car when the field was still bunched together. But as the laps went on, the leading three cars pulled away from me at about half a second per lap, and the Kicker car I just passed was all over my back like a bad suit. The AI are very quick and very professional. They do bump a bit sometimes, but nothing crazy. The odd thing I noticed was that they sometimes hit me on the rear quarter panel at the end of the straight when they cut back across the track to the racing line after pulling out to get alongside me. But I think this is just a bit of a glitch in their programming, and not done intentionally to be dirty. I had to race defensively the whole race to keep the guy behind me. Then around 2/3 through the race, I suddenly saw the 3rd place car a lot closer to me than in the previous few laps. I got closer and saw sparks flying out of the car. Even then he kept a pretty good pace, and it took me a couple of laps to close up behind him. He eventually made a mistake, and I passed him around the outside of turn 1. I ended up finishing 3rd in my first race, 8.5 seconds behind the race winner.
The race was so intense I was literally breaking out in a cold sweat at the end. In real life racing, you wouldn't expect to be winning every race, especially in an inferior car. Unlike most other racing games, which pander to the lowest common denominator, and give you more than a good chance to win every race, GRID Autosport made me feel ecstatic to finish 3rd. I felt happier and more excited getting this 3rd place than winning any race in Gran Turismo.
So far I am very impressed. The racing in this game is far better than any non-Codemasters racing game I've ever played. It is a home run smash hit as far as I'm concerned.
Last edited:
You get front wheel lockups and everything.... makes you have to change driving styles and adapt instead of just pressing the brake pedal 
What is this magic?!?!
