GRID (2019) GRID (2019)

[Paul Jeffrey]

Surprise! A new GRID game is heading our way this September 13th.

Having been heavily focussed on their rally and Formula One games since 2014’s GRID Autosport released, Codemasters have today made the surprise announcement that the popular franchise will be making a return to console and PC this year – confirming GRID 4 is set to release this September on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Featuring the usual mix of real world and fantasy tracks located across four continents, plus plenty of racing content from low power machines to Grand Prix cars, GRID should offer plenty of variety for players of all skill levels when it drops later this year.

Although exact details regarding the depth of content set to ship within the game has yet to be revealed by Codemasters, the British development team have confirmed the inclusion of Formula One machinery, in the form of at the least the 2006 Renault RS06.

With the new title having been developed in conjunction with Fernando Alonso and his eSport racing team, players will have the opportunity to race against the former double World Champion and 2018 Le Mans winner in game, as part of the structured career mode the title is so famous for in previous iterations of the franchise.

“We are also delighted to work alongside Fernando Alonso who is arguably one of the world’s greatest ever drivers” said Chris Smith, GRID Game Director at Codemasters. “His experience and knowledge has enabled us to make improvements to both the performance and handling of our cars. We could not be more proud to have signed him both in-game and as a Race Consultant. We can’t wait for our players to experience the final version when it comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC this September.”​

As well as the inclusion of Alonso, images revealed from the game also reveal Brands Hatch will be included in the base version of the title, as well as a selection of tin top machines such as a TCR spec VW Golf and various American muscle cars.

GRID is well known as a ‘simcade’ style game, and it looks like the latest release will continue that trend, but with leanings towards simulation in order to appease a wide variety of driving tastes.

“GRID as a racing franchise is revered by our community and we are delighted to bring it to the current generation of consoles,” continued Smith. “The game offers so much variety and depth, from the number of modern and classic cars through to the locations and race options. Renowned for its handling, the game will appeal to all types of player, from casual drivers who want a lean-in challenge, to sim drivers who want some serious fun”​

The game is already available to pre-order, and it looks like Codemasters will be adopting the DiRT 2.0 approach to post release DLC, with space set aside for 3 ‘seasons’ of additional purchasable content confirmed during the initial announcement.

More news will follow, as and when it becomes available.

GRID will release on Xbox One, PS4 and PC September 13th 2019.

Stay tuned to the upcoming GRID 4 sun forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussions about this exciting new game.

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[Nitro McClean]

"As a team, we wanted to capture the essence of the original GRID which, in its day innovated the racing genre with best-in-class handling" . Best-in-class handling ?!?!? Are they joking? I can understand Codemasters making race games for people who want to have a nice drive instead of struggling with a sim, but don't call it "best-in-class handling" !

 

[ZeldaACFan17]

They probably meant best in class for simcades xD

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

Wait - you mean the market isn't saturated already?

 

[Andy Kettler]

3h Cockpit (Dashcam) Gameplay...

 

[Andy Kettler]

Is The New GRID Game Any Good With A Wheel ?

 

[Mr Deap]

Is it just me or the car have the tendency to drift when you steer? Maybe it happens with the pad?

Car start yaw naturally due to the velocity & inertia. The real thing have the tendency to drift when steering hard.

When the rear end don't yaw & the front has no respond... It plow straight.

I got used to play videogame where the back end doesn't yaw & still have strong front respond despite the rear doesn't yaw.

 

[Andy Kettler]

GRID Wheel Support – All the Details You Need

http://blog.codemasters.com/grid/09/grid-wheel-support-all-the-details-you-need/

 

[GP20]

I like these over saturated colors. For me graphics are a success, kudos to the designers.
It smells oil and tyre's smoke. Atmosphere of this game is great, fantastic lights too.
I will buy it for fun. My dream would be Grid's graphics with AMS ffb.

 

[jeroenalmere]

How anyone can say this is a sim/cade bordering more on sim, which is what a lot of people have said is laughable. This games physics and handling borders closer to need for speed than a sim! It's like all these people that rave about being fast at GTSport.... jesus wept, that is a genuine sim/cade. There is room for these fun titles, but people just stop saying it is a sim, style game... as it's a bloody insult to sim racers. You try driving like this in Pcars, Assetto Corsa, iRacing, any true sim... and you'll be mating with the wall in seconds.

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

How anyone can say this is a sim/cade bordering more on sim, which is what a lot of people have said is laughable. This games physics and handling borders closer to need for speed than a sim! It's like all these people that rave about being fast at GTSport.... jesus wept, that is a genuine sim/cade. There is room for these fun titles, but people just stop saying it is a sim, style game... as it's a bloody insult to sim racers. You try driving like this in Pcars, Assetto Corsa, iRacing, any true sim... and you'll be mating with the wall in seconds.

Yeah! And stop calling the likes of WoW and The Witcher "Roleplaying games." Sure they have stats and magical items and level progression, but they are nothing like real Roleplaying games. It's a bloody insult to real roleplayers.

One day the people who think they are level 12 paladins and the people who think they are real race drivers are going to emerge from the basements...
The lights are green...Roll for Initiative...GO!Go!Go!

Warning: we will probably be outnumbered by at least 50-1.

 

[graham123]

just been playing the new Grid game...I Love it, handling is great , AI is spot on,Graphics are pretty darn good too

 

[thepharcyde]

Is it worth driving with a wheel?

 

[Alex Townsend]

Is it worth driving with pedals?

 

[graham123]

OHH Yess with wheel and pedals ( i have a g29 set up) bear in mind it's more arcade than sim and you will love it too

 

[Scifo]

Its a pretty mediocre game if you ask me

Graphics are not that great. Handling is also not great. You cannot push the car like in arcade racers and if you step on the throttle you never know when the rear will loose traction.

The car spins on curbs for no reason.

i also feel there is not much content in the game. Halfway through the "career" in every class and not much choice of cars.

After 2 days i'm allready bored with this game.

 

[thepharcyde]

Will Marsh is currently playing/reviewing.
meh, would annoy me knowing I would have better fun actually playing a sim

 

[Gonira]

I played half an hour with a pad and chase cam and had some fun. With a wheel, i found it worse than mediocre, really weird with default FFB on a G29. Maybe if it had a serviceable camera for triples, I'd like it a bit more. Dash cam is awful and cockpit cam has awfully high FOV. Not worth it. Wreckfest is still the king for mindless fun.

 

[MarkR]

We've completed the 'World Series' events (combined effort with my lad), about 14 hours of play according to Steam.

There is a lot to like and an equal amount that is both frustrating and makes no real sense.

Tl;dr: it's a decent 7/10 arcade racing game, no more, no less, it's worth about £25 for the racing alone. The handling isn't as intuitive as either Wreckfest or Forza Horizon 4. The career is too much of a grind and isn't as anywhere near as much fun as Wreckfest. The events are all way too similar - racing or time attack, that's it compared to the likes of Forza Horizon 4 which has a superb range of events.

Shortcut: if you want a slight shortcut to the final events, complete the GT class as completing the later series unlocks the later invitational events and the showdown. You will need 1.2m credits for the prototype cars.

The good:
+ Control on the TX458 wheel at 270 DOR is generally good- though that is still car and track dependent. On the wheel it is possible to use the kerbs and not have the car thrown violently wide.

+ It plays best from in car view and on a wheel, which is a very strange mix for what is a pure arcade racer.

+ Close, adrenaline-fuelled racing throughout, it's often bumper cars but it's playable all the same.

+ They included qualifying so if you don't like the bump and grind in the mid-pack you can qualify and run away at the front.

+ Turning the interfering TC, ABS and SC assists off makes the cars much more lively and reduces the snappy handling.

+ Game performance (PC) is smooth and locked at 60fps at 1080p, at full 4k it's 60fps most of the time but dips to 40fps on dark street tracks and other circuits in the wet. (i9/1080Ti)

+ Tuning is basic but it works and can help adjust the car's behaviour significantly.

The bad:
--- Gamepad control (Xbox Elite controller on PC) is awful, snap oversteer and impossible to control slides on the throttle.

-- The team aspect, rival and nemesis systems are all pointless - they make no difference whatsoever to the game. It's just a get in and race game, nothing else makes any difference.

-- The tracks look wet but don't feel wet. Again it's car-dependent how much the rain on track impacts the car.

- Many of the tracks are overexposed at dusk and dawn, it just makes the game overly difficult to play.

-- It's a massive grind because the events are so repetitive.

--Teammate and teammate instructions either don't work or are pointless, hard to tell which.

The variable:

--- Car handling is often biased toward oversteer for no obvious reason even cars in the ame class vary widely. I found these cars pretty much awful: Aston GT4, Ford Falcon (Aussie V8), 365 GTB, JEDI F1000 - all had a tendency to wild snap oversteer. This was clearly a design choice in the game because:

++ Other cars handle really well, the Prototypes are glued to the circuit, Vantage GTE, S2000 (great sound), Impreza TCR, Evo VI Time Attack, Evo IX Time Attack (bonkers fast).

+/- Graphics are generally good, even the slightly blurry mirror images are ok, and races atmospheric but too often the overexposure or darkness spoil the experience. Racing a 200mph on an oval with no wipers...hmm.

- Yet others make no sense at all: Invitational M3 & Afla touring cars are glued to the track more than the modern TCR cars, Porsche 917 is a complete handling mess yet the McLaren M8D is superb. Really it's just a mess.

Having played it through my overriding impression is that the arcade racing is good but the rest of the game (team development, teammate etc) either wasn't finished or hasn't been fully integrated in any meaningful way. It could have been so much better.

 

[graham123]

well as I said I love it.. but must admit having played for a while now, MarkR is fairly spot on, with his review. Would like some help with ffb and wheel settings as. off the bat its a bit all or nothing. I am very new to sim racing and I think thats why I like it so much. straight into (for me) close fun racing.

 

[MarkR]

Would like some help with ffb and wheel settings as. off the bat its a bit all or nothing.

Thanks, glad you are enjoying and a couple of suggestions:

- Only 270 and 360 degrees of rotation felt anywhere near natural to me on the TX458 wheelbase, it's a Codemasters game so 270/360 usually work well. Which wheel are you using? Someone here will probably have some good settings for the specific wheel.

- Adjust the FFB either up or down (depending on your wheel) until you get a decent amount of wheel centre resistance. If the FFB is nudging the wheel slightly left and right off centre on the strights the FFB strength is too high. I had to drop the FFB strength slightly on the TX to stop the wheel 'hunting' on the straights.

Once you've got a decent level of feel and force in the wheel:

- Turn off the TCS, ABS and SC for most cars this makes them far more natural to drive. For the really crazy cars like the Porsche 917 I had no choice but to add TCS 3 and SC 2 just to keep it on track.

- Adjust the tuning, even one-click forward on the springs and dampers (for real ciruits) can stop a lot of the snap oversteer. On the street tracks with a lot of kerbs it's usually best to soften the springs and dampers to allow you to use more of the kerbs.

Most important thing is you're enjoying the racing in the game, that's the best part of it!