Race Driver: GRID demo in position

By Robert Purchese Published 8 May, 2008

Win a BMW online.

Codemasters is offering a demo of Race Driver: GRID via Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network - the 360 version is up now, with the PS3 version is expected any minute.

It'll let you try out the lovely-looking arcade racer in single-player GRID World events or in 12-player online showdowns. Yes it is the same demo we told you about earlier this week.

Better still, Codemasters is giving away a BMW 3-Series to the person who posts the fastest lap time in Time Trial mode.

Just submit your fastest jaunt around the course and, once authenticated, you will be ranked against everyone else on the leaderboard. The top five drivers will be picked at midnight on Friday 23rd May, and will then compete a week later at the zavvi store on London's Oxford Street for the star prize.

Race Driver: GRID is due for release on PS3, 360, PC and DS in June.

Pop over to our recent Race Driver: GRID hands-on to see what we thought of it.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (51) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • syphaa #1 4 years ago

    Looking forward to a hands on with this for sure.
    The touring cars series in the game is what has got me interested.
    Not fussed about the road races etc.

  • Beano #2 4 years ago

    Looking forward to try this... quess it will be the PSN demo for starters since I currently only have a XBL Silver subscription ;)

  • Prodigy_BE #3 4 years ago

    Any tips on getting off from work early?

    Seizure faking doesn't work, I've tried that and they just ignore me.

  • ram #4 4 years ago

    Just had a go of the demo and it is pretty fantastic. Has to be the best in car camera yet.

  • optimusprym8 #5 4 years ago

    trying unplugging the network switches or buggering up the air-con ;)

  • UncleLou #6 4 years ago

    What about the PC demo, any news? Was supposed to be out this week as well.

    Shame that I even have to ask, Rob!

    /shakes mouse furiously

  • gav_and_the_gavster #7 4 years ago

    That BMW could pay for my wedding...so can you keep re-trying or does it only take your first attempt in to account? Also please help me everyone and post crap times - i'll send you some cake.

  • rupert #8 4 years ago

    wheres the pc demo......

  • JDub #9 4 years ago

    Just had a chance to check the PSN - Nope, not yet...

  • Beano #10 4 years ago

    Expect it this evening on PSN... thursday PSN updates are usually in the evening or late afternoon.

  • Beano #11 4 years ago

    A question... does GRID have the annoying american announcer which DIRT also featured?

  • syphaa #12 4 years ago

    As in Travis Pastrana? The Moto X champ and Rally driver? He isn't that annoying/random as people think...

  • Beano #13 4 years ago

    I don't know if he's annoying as a person, but he was annoying in DIRT. Will he be in GRID also?

  • monkie_king #14 4 years ago

    But surely an annoyance is by definition exactly as annoying as the annoyee thinks it is?

    /smites you with the +3 sword of pedantry

  • Hughes. #15 4 years ago

    Travis Pastrami on Rye? Not that I know of, as he's a rally driver, I'm expecting American voices though.

    Anyone know how big the PSN version is going to be? My HDD is heaving with stuff, I need to get myself a 320GB pretty soon.

  • KD #16 4 years ago

    Pastrana is a god, may be an annoying voice but for someone who has done as much as him in mx/fmx and now rally i can put up with him

  • boyakoosha #17 4 years ago

    I liked it. impressed. looks lovely, nice frame rate, I can still see a few graphical glitches but after my quick 20 mins with it, yeah I'm looking fwd to it.

    Will have a full blast on it tonight when I get more time.

  • BadBoyBonner #18 4 years ago

    Beat the CM "World Record" Just did a 1:16.91 in BMW on Euro Time trial - not earth shattering (certainly room for improvement) plus smashed the American World Record but realised it is only open to Americans 8-(.

    Lets hope we get a Eurogamer reader in the top five.

    Right I'm off to enter - the massive stupid code!

  • Beano #19 4 years ago

    @boyakoosha : Sound good - looking forward to try it :)

    Can you comment on my announcer question?

  • neilka #20 4 years ago

    If you get GRID and enjoy it, why not consider sharing it with others?

  • BadBoyBonner #21 4 years ago

    http://co mmunity.grid-game.com/win-a-bmw... is the site to do it.

    Not http://co mmunity.racedrivergrid.com/win-bmw as falsely reported in Gamesindustry.biz

    Make sure you use Capitals as the submission is case sensitive.

  • ligurmatic #22 4 years ago

    While I still mourn the loss of focus on real-world circuit racing, I'm keeping an open mind in the hope that the demo will impress and not just be a PGR clone.

  • Prodigy_BE #23 4 years ago

    Oh man. Just saw some user uploaded replay of GRID on gametrailers.
    All you GT5 prologue fans that where screaming that the GRID footage was pre-rendered are in for quite a surprise.
    I don't think I'll be touching my Prologue ever again after this.

  • BadBoyBonner #24 4 years ago

    One of the things that is much better than PGR 3&4 IMO is the fact that it has instant restarts!

  • BadBoyBonner #25 4 years ago

    1:15.93 - getting faster but so are the others on the leader board!

    http://co mmunity.grid-game.com/win-a-bmw...

  • Prodigy_BE #26 4 years ago

    Germany in first place.
    Don't they have enough BMW's already?

  • BadBoyBonner #27 4 years ago

    Use the Kerbs as much as possible, sometimes have your car completely over the other side, sometimes use it to drag your car round the corner to become faster round the track.

    Right think I need to catch some time in the garden, before it pisses it down!

    Should set a tips thread up so we can ensure the time charts are full of Eurogamer readers!

  • Nill #28 4 years ago

    Regarding PC version:

    "We found a problem with keyboard input stalling single threaded PCs due to a lack of time allowed for the keyboard update to run. A by product of our recent preformance tuning I'm afraid. We could not realease a demo with this problem in it, but it's now been fixed and the demo is being prepped as I speak. Just waiting for the final nod from QA, which I suspect will come early tomorrow morning GMT."

    http://co mmunity.codemasters.com/forum/s...

  • Psychotext #29 4 years ago

    Bloody impressive.

  • Psychotext #30 4 years ago

    @evilfoxhound: Where have you been hiding for the last 6+ months? They made this change ages ago.

  • Miths #31 4 years ago

    I just spent 20 minutes with the 360 demo (haven't checked if the PS3 demo is out yet, but while I wait for my Dual Shock 3 to arrive in the mail, racing games are still a somewhat tame experience on the PS3 - and I still haven't found a way to rearrange my living room furniture so I can hook up my G25 :)), and as I had feared the driving physics are about as far away as you can get from simulation without tipping completely over into Burnout arcade physics.
    I started out with the BMW 320si touring car - one I've used extensively in PC sims like RACE, RACE 07 and the excellent 320si mod for GTR2 - and it was almost like driving on ice, no grip at all during cornering, not to mention that it seemed to brake from 200 km/h to 20 in 20 meters.

    I tried a race in the Mustang as well, and overall I think I ended up at the conclusion that while this is pretty much a pure arcade racer, it does seem like it could be a lot of fun (haven't tried the drifting race yet, I have a feeling I'm going to hate that part of the game no matter what).
    Competive and agressive AI (very aggressive in a few cases), fantastic damage model - my Mustang started out with wild banging noises flying over the jumps on the city track, got a smashed windshield half way through the race (great interior car views a well) and ended up in a rather compact state when I crashed into a wall one time too many on the final lap. Race over :).

    I'm definately buying this, but I think this is one of those games where I really don't have a clue whether I'll truly enjoy it or not just from playing the demo. Same thing with Haze.

  • TagemandBagem #32 4 years ago

    Isn't the Bourne demo out tonight too?

  • Nill #33 4 years ago

    It's like driving on ice.

    What a shame. I had loved a good racing sim to come along.

    I'm still looking back on the glory days of Gran Turismo 1 from time to time. One can dream that once GT5 - the finished thing - comes out, we'll yet again have something along the lines of that experience.

  • Widge #34 4 years ago

    I had no illusions that this was going to be a GT5p competitor, what I am after is a fun, pretty racer with a bit more depth than the shallow Ridge Racer series.

  • NKSR #35 4 years ago

    sounds like forza2 is still king then

    maybe ferrari challenge will be better

    doubt it though from videos ive seen

  • gerald #36 4 years ago

    This is more arcade than PGR4, definitly not a simulation. I still had fun with the demo, especcialy the course in San Francisco looks and plays great. And the presentation is phenomenal.

    The drifting event, though, feels entirely out of place: Vastly different physics and unplayable with a wheel.

    This is announced for Q3, why release a demo now? I do hope, Codemasters uses the remaining time to work on the handling?

  • UncleLou #37 4 years ago

    This is announced for Q3

    It's out in 3 weeks.

  • secret_player #38 4 years ago

    This is a question for all the players who are complaining about the racing physics -
    Have you turned off all of the assists?

  • ozallez #39 4 years ago

    totally agree with the floaty handling comments. Has no feel at all while cornering, quite disappointed in it so far.
    The structure of the online is very good though, lobbies are well thought out and had a bit of fun there. But unless the feel of the cornering sharpens up, i dunno bout the full version...

    And i tried turning off the assists, really didn't help matters. Felt ok with the braking assists off, but without the TC and stability it was undriveable at times ... harder but no better for me.
    Edited by 1 at 08/05/08 @ 23:46

  • dynarama #40 4 years ago

    Well I enjoyed one out of those three races! I quite liked the Touring Cars bit, it looked pretty good but the handling was wholly on the arcade side - not much feeling of weight or momentum. The other two disciplines - waste of time. Ho hum, the wait continues...

  • jim1975 #41 4 years ago

    arcade racer.... driving on ice... are you people driving with alll the aides turned off.

  • vegard #42 4 years ago

    this was pretty sweet, im loving the framerate, nice and smooth!

  • Furfoot #43 4 years ago

    All assists off with the mustang is just silly, back to GT5P.

  • Prodigy_BE #44 4 years ago

    Jeezus, what's with all the negativity.
    GRID rocks, imho.
    Switching between GRID and GT5p is just... well, not good for GT5p
    The online mode shows how racing should be done. Damage, fast as hell, insane stylized graphics and drawbacks if you knock up your car... Oh, and enough opponents.

    The drifting ain't my thing, but it's done well nonetheless. Mustang and BMW are all I want in a racing game.
    Driving aids are a bit too much, but you can switch them off. And I love how the A.I adapts and always makes it hard, so that you only win if you give it your best.

    Great work Codies. In my book, you're the Nr 1 racingame dev. I'll be buying this day 1, and I'll be telling all other gamers to do the same.

  • secret_player #45 4 years ago

    It seems that people are complaining about the arcade handling when the assists are turned on, then when they turn them off they still complain because they can't hack it being harder to control the car.

  • Darren #46 4 years ago

    Tried the GRID demo on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 last night and love it.

    It's a thrilling racing game that looks utterly gorgeous and feels fast, something that not every game manages to get right... it feels faster than either Forza 2 or GT5 Prologue IMO and looks better than both too, especially the former. 12-20 car races are always exciting and although the handling takes some getting used to (I was spinning out a lot at first), it's a lot of fun once you master it. The cars lack a proper sense of weight though and the A.I. drivers tend to mass together, sometimes seemingly totally oblivious to your presence on the track (corners can turn out messy) but otherwise it's great.

    The game engine is really impressive, more so on the 360 where there's a lot less tearing than on the PS3 but both demos are not based on the final build so hopefully the PS3 version will run as good as the 360 when it's released because that aside both games look pretty much identical. I've had the 360 version pre-ordered for months now and fortunately I see no reason to cancel it. Really looking forward to playing it in July or whenever it comes out. :)

  • Vordred #47 4 years ago

    Grid is a wierd one for me. with the assists turned on, i find the game way to arcade for me, though its fun, i just dont like being able to fly into a corner then brake and skid round the corner and still come out the other side with tons of speed.

    but with the assists off, i really enjoy the game. which is my only complaint about the game. in Multiplayer, there is no option to race with assists off. and sinse racing with them on is so much faster, you dont stand a chance. assists annoy me anyway. as all of those are banned in motorsports.

  • Prodigy_BE #48 4 years ago

    @ Vordred

    The previous games of the GRID team all had the option of forcing online players not to use driving aids. So I'm pretty sure it will be in this full version too.

  • Amoebalove #49 4 years ago

    @Darren

    I agree with what you said about the two versions. After playing the 360 demo I was suprised that the PS3's seemed a bit rough around the edges! if my memory is correct wasn't DIRT smoother on PS3?

  • T4RG4 #50 4 years ago

    Tried the demo (turned all assists off) and deleted the thing from my machine within a few corners. It feels absolutely cack! Driving on ice a few people have said, absolutely. Its completely wrong!

    The End.

  • SBfistfun #51 4 years ago

    I enjoyed it. Worth a try if you haven't downloaded it yet