Finally got this game yesterday. Played all 5 disciplines to level 3 offline to get a taster of each.
The physics are a mixed bag for me. The sense of weight is better, but there is still that little characteristic floatiness you get with CM games. Unfortunately, everything understeers badly now. In Grid 2, if the rear wheels get more than 10 degree slip angle it instantly breaks loose. In GAS, if the front wheels get more than 10 degree you just plough on straight ahead. If anything, the understeer is even less progressive than in Grid 2. You can still get oversteer if you're not careful with throttle, but Grid 2's snap oversteer is gone, so it's more manageable. Going round a corner sideways definitely slows you down though, which is good. For drifting they have a second set of physics which allows you to hold a slide. It does its job, but again the front end still has too much understeer (it feels eerily similar to using Comfort Hards in GT). ABS off is drivable, but there is not a lot of progression to let you know when the wheels would lock, so you just end up pumping the brakes like crazy instead of feeling it. One thing I like is going to a gravel trap sideways will flip you car - nice touch. Overall, I would say the physics are an improvement over Grid 2, but it's still not as intuitive as Grid 1. It seems like they went too far to the other side of the spectrum and added too much rear grip. I don't know if it's a limitation of the Ego engine, but I hope CM completely reworks their physics engine for next gen.
I did the disciplines in order of Street>Tuner>Touring>Endurance>Open, and the higher downforce cars feel a bit better, but the annoying understeer is still there. Oddly enough in Endurance when my rear tires got really bad towards the end the cars started feeling like Grid 2. So I ended up going faster with worn tires
I tried a wheel (Logitech G25) and it's definitely playable with it, but the chronic understeer means the gamepad is more enjoyable to use since you're not trying to crank the wheel lock to lock every corner. Feedback is as numb as always with CM games unfortunately. Tried increasing wheel strength/weight/etc but all it does is increase resistance. There is not much meaningful feedback of how the car is behaving. Rumble strips are a killer though - unlike in GT where you hardly feel anything. I tried both multiturn on/off (basically choosing 900/200 degree steering), but neither feels right. It's odd because Dirt 2/3 works great with wheels. Probably because on dirt you don't need that much steering precision so the vague feedback is passable.
The rest of the game is as expected. It's Grid 2 v2.0. The new content is welcome but 80% of the game feels "been there done that". Mont Tremblant and Autopolis are definitely the best additions 👍 Adding night time to most of the real world tracks is great 👍 Drifting is quite fun but repeating the same thing 8 times in a row gets tedious IMO. Career mode seems longer then in Grid 2, but still doesn't have the feel of racing through a season like Grid 1 does. Add to that you're not racing for your own team and it feels a bit shallow. I like the teammate order feature though. You're driving and doing B-spec at the same time
And unlike GT5, the orders actually works. For a reversed grid Touring race I stayed behind my teammate and watched him speed up on "Push", and divebomb when on "Attack". He actually held up cars for me on "Defend". Pretty cool feature 👍
Haven't tried online yet except the Racenet challenges. The Demo Derby race Gold/Platinum is impossible to get. They did this a few times in Grid 2 where the Gold time was unattainable, so I hope CM pays more attention and actually QA the times this time round. Apparently not 👎 The paycheck seems to be increased though. Good thing, since you need to pay for repairs now.
The menus are very minimalist, it's quite clear that GAS is rushed. I liked the garage home background in Grid1/2/Dirt2, but since you're not running your own team it probably makes sense that it's gone. The menu music is amazing as always with Codemasters 👍 Hopefully they release the official soundtrack like they did with Grid 2 and F1 2010-2012. The loading times are pretty long though - again probably a sign that development is rushed and they haven't had a chance to optimize certain things.
Overall, I'd say that the concept behind GAS is an improvement over Grid 2, but the execution is marred by its short development time. On its own it's a pretty good game, but it certainly still doesn't live up to the original Grid. Unless you're a die hard CM/Grid fan I might give this a pass and wait to see what CM has to offer on next gen.
Hopefully with something other than the Ego engine.
