➤ GRID, the review 🎮

When did we know that Fernando Alonso had collaborated with Codemasters for the new chapter of GRID, of which you read the review, we got a start: we hoped that the series that began in 2008 had taken a slightly more simulative path after the innovative momentum of the progenitor, in the following two iterations, had lost a bit of its bite. The first doubts arose, however, since the introductory tutorial that catapulted the player into the middle of different types of races asking him to reach, within a few laps, the best possible position: the laps are too few to be unbalanced, but the commentary "arcade" and the "technical" aids of the track engineer have paved the way for what will turn out to be a rival of Ridge Racer rather than Forza Motorsport. But let's proceed in order.

The races

Also in this episode the production of Codemasters focuses on the modality single player, with an articulated and varied career. There isn't much room for customization, apart from name, number and emblem, so in a few moments we are ready to start the engines. There GRID World Series it is divided into six categories according to the cars admitted; five of these are in turn made up of thirteen mini-championships (consisting of a minimum of one to a maximum of four Grand Prix), while the sixth is a collection of twenty-six events in which it is not possible to choose the car. Not all trials are immediately available: they unlock as the previous ones are successfully completed (i.e. finishing in the first positions). At the end it is disputed Showdown, whose conquest contributes to giving access to the final championship. There are three types of races: the traditional ones (there is also the possibility of qualifying by attempting the best time with a single lap), Time Attack (where the fastest lap wins) and point-to-point ones, where the track is not closed. A feature they have in common is their brevity: apart from rare exceptions, four / five minutes pass from the green lights to the checkered flag. Of course it is possible to face a personalized challenge and there is no lack of online game supported by servers RaceNet. Due to the exclusive nature of the code we could not try the multiplayer which at the time of the test featured the only "destruction derby" mode already known from previous episodes.

The carreer

In the past we had seen some attempt at storytelling that could add interest to the main modality, namely the career; this is not the case with this GRID where all you have to do is face the various races in an order as you like. The podiums earn money to buy new cars, while the computer judges the driving style (based on ideal trajectory, overtaking, driving cleanliness) providing experience points. The latter serve to increase the level of the pilot who, as he progresses, is rewarded with initially inaccessible badges and liveries. The car park it is good and includes about sixty models belonging to some of the most prestigious houses (even if there are no sacred monsters such as Lamborghini and Bugatti); credit must be given to the designers for having brought some jewels such as the Ferrari 512BB Le Mans and Porsche 935/78 "Moby Dick". Obviously, DLCs are expected that will expand the range in the future. Variety reigns supreme: the Group N cars such as Volkswagen Golf or Audi A3 are joined by American muscle cars, rear-wheel drive Japanese, Group A racing cars and even single-seaters, among which the Renault R26 with which Fernando stands out. Alonso won his second Formula 2006 World Championship in 1. There is no shortage of old glories among which we like to rememberAlfa 155 with DTM-like livery.

Physics and AI

Il driving model is, once again, distinctly arcade. All cars share a tendency to lose the rear, whether you drive a 70s rear-wheel drive or a modern-day "all-ahead" one. Driving aids make recovering from a skid simple and the "bouncing" barriers make cornering even less demanding, so we recommend reducing the level of ESP and ABS intervention. Of course, you have to keep an eye on the health of the car which becomes more difficult to control as it is damaged (until it is completely destroyed), but it is a small pledge to pay. Could not miss the famous "rewind" mode with which to go back a few seconds to correct the wrong trajectory. If on the one hand we must recognize that there is a certain difference in feeling according to the category, on the other it seemed to us that within the same group the cars behave a bit too similar. The Touring are those who have convinced the most, the GT on the contrary, they are those who have offered less satisfaction, above all because of their size, which appeared too light.

Artificial intelligence is one of the most painful keys. As usual, the only way to move up the rankings is to take the adversaries at the doors, since with a clean driving it is practically impossible to overtake someone. The CPU machines close the door as if no one is inside and have the hateful habit of ramming the player. Obviously they are almost completely immune to the same action: try to send out whoever precedes you and you will realize that you are dealing with a tank. Nemesis, heralded characteristic, is a state in which one or more opponents who feel too targeted are transformed and which leads them to be more lethal than Senna in Suzuka in 1990. There are two observations to make: the first is that the "berserk" state is limited to the current GP and the second, and more important, is that the logic that leads the opponent to anger is random. Dab who is in front or use it as a side to stay on the track does not always activate the mode, while it can happen that an overtaking inside makes those who suffered it crumble. To act as a counterpart there should be a more manipulable teammate than Valtteri Bottas, but, apart from the compliance in holding the position, it is an appendix useful only to bring, with its placement, further money in the player's coffers. .

The technique

With its proven EGO Codemasters engine it is on the safe side, even the days when it was able to amaze us are long gone. Just launch the original title (dated 2008), which shares some cars and tracks with the current one, to realize that, in eleven years, the steps forward have been marginal. THE models of the cars are however well detailed (with some slips in the internal view, not very practical to use) and so is the creation of the tracks. We liked the "real" ones more than the citizens obtained for the occasion by joining some streets of the most evocative cities, such as Havana, Barcelona and San Francisco. In these last cases, the designers, in addition to preferring simplified layouts (fast folds connected by 90-degree curves), did not take into account the basic rules of motoring, with an almost total absence of escape routes and very high sidewalks scattered in the most dangerous. All this takes second place thanks to the high speed of execution and the scenography offered by the environmental effects, well realized and evocative especially during the twilight. There is no shortage of competitions in night and with the rain, but the weather conditions they are not dynamic (and in truth you don't miss them, considering the short duration of the races). GRID is very scalable and we are sure that even less demanding configurations than the one used are able to obtain excellent frame rates. The audio side shows the side: already said initially of the unsuccessful dubbing, here we add that even the noise of the engines is not convincing. The rhombuses are all a little alike and in general there is the impression that they are effects recycled from other productions of the British software house.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Windows 10 Pro operating system
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
Memory: 16 GB RAM

Minimum requirements

Operating system: Windows 10 64bit
CPU: Intel Core i3-2130 o AMD Athlon FX4300
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Scheda video: Nvidia GeForce GT 640 o AMD Radeon HD 7750
100 GB of available hard disk space
DirectX compatible sound card

Recommended Requirements

CPU: Intel Core i5-8600k o AMD Ryzen 5 2600x
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Scheda video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 o AMD Radeon RX 590

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 39,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (27)

7.2

Your vote

We cannot be completely satisfied with the new GRID: the driving model is as usual immediate and engaging, but the artificial intelligence seems to be lagging behind by a few years. Too bad also for the management part, practically non-existent. The graphics, on the other hand, are valid. Those looking for a frenetic and not too simulative driving will find exactly what they expect.