Race Driver: GRID Comments by Tom Bramwell

Even an arcade game can have crappy handling, man. Complaining about the handling doesn't suggest you are a snobbish simulation geek. I enjoy both types of racer.

I'm dissapointed at the direction they've gone from the TOCA Race Driver series, which was a good mix between sim and arcade (having options for both). This is now a genuine arcade racer, and while the mustang race was fun, the BMW handling is ridiculous. It's too loose and all over the place, yes, like driving on ice. Even the mustang race I had to struggle with the handling at times. It's pivot style and doesn't seem to be fully reacting to the road, like elastic and rubbery.

Also where have all the disciplines gone? I wanted TOCA RAce Driver 4, not this americanised stuff. I won't be buying it.

I have to say the demo was quite fun... I was complaining about drifting in PGR 4 a few weeks ago, but the drift mechanic in GRID is quite fun!

My only issue is with the radio chatter...

Re: 8bitMofo

O_O

But the drifting is awesome fun and seems to be catered just right for that one more try gaming session. I practically played that section until my fingers almost bled I became so obsessed with beating the NPC's score. And I eventually did just that. If you want to experience dodgy drifting, I suggest you try out Juiced 2.

There was another racing game about three years ago that did the whole rewind-time thing, but I'm buggered if I can remember what it was called.

Timedrift!

No wai....

There was another racing game about three years ago that did the whole rewind-time thing, but I'm buggered if I can remember what it was called.

Wasn't it by Milestone? I seem to remember it might have had an Italian theme for some reason.

/Googles...

Found it!

SCAR: Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo and they apparently called their rewindy feature 'Tiger Effect'

So it was. And funnily enough I remembered it was featured in yet another Blackbean creation:

Evolution GT’s features include:

· Unique features like cunning overtaking and the tiger effect where players have the ability to avoid accidents before they happen!

Shame it was still utter trash.

>sigh< Another reason to hate those damn face off articles - now they're not even mentioning the console they're reviewing.

Yeah, I bet that "XBox 360" in the sidebar being highlighted is a COINCIDENCE. It cannot possibly be to indicate the platform the review is for.

Didn't notice any gfx tearing on the PS3 version... did notice shitty handling. Seemed more sensitive than the 360.

Then I put the 360 version on with the MS wheel... think that actually opened the 8th gate of hell. Even more shitty than Dirts wheel implementation.

haha, i've never seen any of the GT games before. that video somebody posted earlier in these comments was hillarious!

the 360 demo for this game was sweet, although i understand those complaining about the cars having no weight.

Septimus

I'd say the implementation of the wheel is markedly better than the Dirt one (when comparing demos).

However, I would say that it is when driving with a wheel that, the pivot turning implementation becomes most apparent - as anyone who has spent years driving soon realises (well maybe they don;t realise it at all, but they do realise it feels very "strange" as noted by several family members that came round a couple of weeks back).

It seems strange to say that the most realistic "sim" like race experience maybe launching on Xbox Live - although this maybe just me wishing it to be so with it being Blimey Games that are developing Kart Attack. Hopefully there will be a sim mode and arcade mode, fingers crossed.

As good as Sega Rally then?

Me think this is more for the 360 crowd. Except for PGR and the Forza thingy, they haven't got much to race with.

@ freedumb
Have you actually seen the British Touring car racing recently? Why on earth should Codemasters support a dull, boring format? The series is NOTHING like it was 10 years ago when it was worthy of a racing game but now, its utter rubbish - and, probably the only sport in the world where the winner gets punished!

Publishers and developers can't afford to make niche market games anymore and that is what ToCA essentially was. The game is an easy pick up and play, have fun racer and it does just that!

'Also where have all the disciplines gone? I wanted TOCA RAce Driver 4'

To quote myself, I'm speaking of the recent TOCA Race Driver series (not the orignal TOCA's), the last two didn't even have the BTCC in it! They had multiple disciplines though, classics, oval racing, offroad, open wheel (Formula 3 and Formula BMW were among my favs), touring cars (like DTM and V8 Supercars), even Supertrucks; basically a mix and match of all types of racing, and sim (arcade) and (pro-sim) sim/realistic options for each and every one.

That was a fun series, which had a variety of racing types to appeal to everyone not just a niche, and the handling was great, but this one isn't imo.

"imo the PC demo played better than the 360 demo. "

No thats not allowed, you are only allowed to compare the 360 version with PS3 version, this is Eurogamer!

Can't wait for it!!!

@simakperrce: *LOL* GT5p has very realistic physics, yes...? Watch this (the crashes are like Matchbox cars)...!
http://xboxer.tv/2008/05/race_driver_gri...

"...the monstrous high-speed straights of Circuit de la Sarthe are a welcome alternative to the usual Nurburgring Nordschleife, which has been the arcade racing game's massive lap of choice for the last few years."

Couldn't agree more, although weren't the races previously touted as 24 minutes, not 12? That's what, four laps? I guess it might just about allow you one lap each of dawn, day, dusk and night.

Still slightly worried about the handling, and a bit disappointed how little time the review spend discussing it. Maybe that's 'cos it's not an issue? Hope so. Whatever, this is certainly a must-have for me; wonder if I can finish GTAIV by next Friday...

Well, I did manage to win a race in the demo, after I realised the little red light next to the speedo tells you when to brake.
Admittedly, the car had no front bodywork left other than the bonnet after I'd bounced off so many walls (so, damage model largely cosmetic?).

It looks very nice. The replays are totally OTT.

But I have to agree with everyone who's criticised the handling. It seems to go from 'stuck to the road like glue' to 'swapping ends' without any kind of intermediary feel, and it has that fabled 'car mounted on a central ball bearing' look & feel.

Not one for me, then.

Okay, I've played the demo a bit more (including online race) and I conclude the handling completely sucks.

This is probably why it can look so pretty, there are no serious calculations in relation to handling/car physics. This is a crap stab at a dev team working on car handling. However, I can see it suits Arcade players who blat around the track (again, nothing wrong with this I can see the appeal) but even so, it could give a little more feedback when cornering! There is nothing, eugh.

Horrid. Shame, as everything else looks quite nice (menus are OTT and slow though).

After initially not liking the handling, I now love the demo, and will be buying the game. I think a lot of the problems are caused by the third person camera - the pivot point is quite far back, exaggerating the appearance of turning and making the car feel over-responsive. A lot of the time when people talk about "cocktail-stick" handling they're actually describing the behaviour of the camera... when you go into any of the 1st person modes you can see that the handling model is actually fine (in my opinion - others will no doubt disagree).

However, I would also say that you need to play around with the driver assists too. I ended up settling for Traction Control as my only assist, as the spinning out you get without it when you give it too much gas was a step too far in the direction of realism for me! I would definitely recommend disabling Stability Control though, as it appears to give the car a much weightier feel, even though you have to take more care with cornering. Braking Assistance can be used if you don't want to worry about locking up the brakes, but personally I like having to deal with this, and it was a feature that was always well implemented on previous TOCAs.

Once the handling clicks, and you find the right combination of assists, it provides a fantastic exciting racing experience - they've brought back that unique TOCA feel of jostling with a huge field of other cars and fighting for your place. And the rewind feature is great too - perhaps this should become a feature for ALL single-player games, not just racing and Prince Of Persia? :)

"Still slightly worried about the handling, and a bit disappointed how little time the review spend discussing it. "

wondered the same too... all those expensive banner ads clouding their judgment? ;)

I cant stand the drifting but i still may buy the game. The demo with the mustangs was pretty good, i have a soft spot for mustangs though, but just like shotguns in shooters thats often a no-win relationship. Damn muscle cars.

Quite surprised by this review. Sure the game looks nice but sim or arcade the handling is awful. I love most types of racing games from games like GPL and rFactor to PGR to Sega Rally.

I expected Grid to err on the arcade side of things, so was hoping for something along the lines of PGR physics but wa left pretty disapointed, not even as good as the medicore Pro Street in this regard.

Both DIRT and GRID are poor compared to the peaks of each series.

It's a shame that Bernie Ecclestone is such a greedy bastard and will only sell the rights to one developer and charge such an extortionate sum of money (although F1 has been so tedious over the past 6 or 7 years i guess its no loss that Codies have it). Thank god for quality mod makers that produce some stunning work for rFactor.

But yeah unless the handling was reworked from the demo I'm surprised anyone thinks thats it's good. To floaty, twitchy and seems to turn on a central axis.

I really enjoyed the demo. Can see how the handling isn't for everyone, but it had that addictive quality., just one more go... :)
Graphics were superb. Definite buy for me. Multiplayer is awesome.

I don't see the so-called 'pivot physics' though, seems fine, from bonnet cam you can see the weight transfer when turning (although it's not as exaggerated and unrealistic as other games), plus you can see it doesn't turn from a central axis when driving slowly, or doing doughnuts on the spot. As has been said before I think it is just a case of the chase camera being really loose and giving that impression. It's fine from bonnet and bumper, and that makes it fine for me :)

(Although that said, I'm one of those who loves the drifting, so that probably makes me weird... ;)

Played both demo's yesterday and just find the game way too punishing, the number of times i had to restart a race 30 seconds in cos my steering was already screwed from damage was just silly!! From other people opinions it would seem that some of you like that. But it's back to PGR4 and GT5P for me. And trying to compare GRID to either is a waist of time as they very dfferent games

Learning to drive the vehicle and understanding how it drives is not that difficult, from a multiplayer point of view trying not to get smashed off the track on the first corners is the big challenge. Thats where most of my poor races have been, when some idiot behind doesnt want to break but use my car to get round the corner. I hope there is an easy way to kick people from inside the race, those that decide to drive the wrong way around the track and not actually race are just muppets!

Played both demo's yesterday and just find the game way too punishing, the number of times i had to restart a race 30 seconds in cos my steering was already screwed from damage was just silly!! From other people opinions it would seem that some of you like that. But it's back to PGR4 and GT5P for me. And trying to compare GRID to either is a waist of time as they very dfferent games

Tried using the flashback function? Select Instant Replay and press X / Square.

Well i have down loaded both version ps3 and 360 and i cant see hardly any differences between the two-hardly any tearing or frame rate poblems on either version-so i have come to the conclusion that all these people complaining about the ps3 version are either 360nfan-boys or dont have their tvs set-up corectly

Either way shouldn't everyone wait until the fullgame is released before comparing the two versions FFS

I was very unimpressed with the PC demo version handling but downloaded the 360 demo and it definitely has more "feel" to it (using a 360 controller on both so that was not the issue with it). Very hard to say what the difference is but I get the sense they are doing more physics updates per second cos it is possible to sense the car going out of line and then bringing it back. So if u hated the PC demo do try the console versions. You might be plesently surprised. (core 2 3ghz with an 8800gtx)

/buy status back on.

And lads since this is a multi format magazine it would be nice if you could give impressions of the diff systems with the review. :)

Really want to like this but after numerous tries at the demo I just don't. It looks utterly lovely, but the it's killed by the horrendous handling, which, as others have said, does indeed feel like you're on ice - there's no feel of traction at all.

I played the demo on my PC - loved it. A definate buy for me.

tried the demo and hated the handling. read this review so tried the demo again and after an hour of driving and adjusting settings I deleted it again. even as an 'arcade' racer i find the handling just wrong. a good 'arcade' racer is PGR with just the right balance of hollywood vs. realism. but to be honest i don't really find arcade racers appealing nowadays. since GT came along and really sorted the physics I've found it hard to appreciate another car game. i'll stick with GT5p until GT5 arrives. but i might just boot up PGR3 from time to time.

I'm not going to be rude or disrespect anyone else's comments but I can't believe how bad this handles. Ok, so I'm into the sim side of gaming but this is never going to tempt me from GT: Prologue or Forza 2. It looks great, don't get me wrong, but this game seems designed for the younger gamer and certainly not for the MS wheel. I spent hours trying to get the settings feel acceptable and that's just not right.

well, thats my view anyway. Just like Dirt, the central pivoting means this is not getting added to my library. I'm gutted, all I wanted was to drive Le Mans too.

@themorganator: I didn't think Dirt centrally-pivoted. Just a chase camera thing, looking at other games the camera is a lot more locked to the back of the car than in Dirt and Grid. Maybe they should add some controls in to allow you to lock it so people wont think that's happening. Bonnet cam shows the turning and weight transfer pretty well. As I said earlier maybe they just need to overexaggerate the suspension like most other games do to show off the weight transfer.

Awesome game. Ignore comments from people that cant play the game (they blame the handling because they cant handbrake turn at 95mph). Just check the other official reviews - they all score it highly as they have spent time with the game and learnt how to play it.

Awesome game. Ignore comments from people that cant play the game (they blame the handling because they cant handbrake turn at 95mph).

I for one had no trouble playing the demo and still think the handling is awful. Yeah, I know, you're confused now, sorry about that.

Anyone having difficulties with the handling - turn OFF Stability Control and see what you think then... makes a huge difference imho. (This option would probably be better named "Ridge Racer handling on/off".... ;) )

Anyone having difficulties with the handling - turn OFF Stability Control and see what you think then... makes a huge difference imho. (This option would probably be better named "Ridge Racer handling on/off".... ;) )

I did that, and tried all combinations between everything off and everything on, it just never felt right to me. Cars feel too light, which influences everything from cornering behaviour to too effective brakes to often not having to use the brakes at all.

I might still get the game because the racing action is superb, as is the damage modelling, but I just wish it would have been a little more Toca of old/Gran Turismo in the handling rather than Need for Speed.

Well i have down loaded both version ps3 and 360 and i cant see hardly any differences between the two-hardly any tearing or frame rate poblems on either version-so i have come to the conclusion that all these people complaining about the ps3 version are either 360nfan-boys or dont have their tvs set-up corectly

I'm glad you posted that... after reading all the above posts, I was just starting to think the exact same thing.

I might still get the game because the racing action is superb, as is the damage modelling, but I just wish it would have been a little more Toca of old/Gran Turismo in the handling rather than Need for Speed.

Um... having played all the Need For Speed games, especially Need For Speeed Carbon, which changes the entire physics model for so-called 'drift' challenges and Need For Speed Pro Street in which your car grips the track as if it's on rails...

... I would say that Race Driver: Grid is more Toca of old/Gran Turismo in the handling rather than Need for Speed.

@tiddles

"Anyone having difficulties with the handling - turn OFF Stability Control and see what you think then... makes a huge difference imho. (This option would probably be better named "Ridge Racer handling on/off".... ;) )"

I tried this mate and it still doesn't work for me... personal preference i guess. It just really grips my shit when people make personal and attacking comments to people who don't agree with the handling. You're all just children.

Personally, I'm still really disappointed with this and I would love someone who loves it to play Forza 2 (on the MS wheel) and then comment about the handling physics. IMHO, Forza doesn't look anywhere near as good as this but it destroys it on the physics front. Also, I cannot understand why Forza continually gets pencilled into the sim category when it has a significant arcade section. If you haven't played FM2, pick up a used copy. Should be less than £20 now.

My 360 copy is on its way from GAME so hopefully it'll come tomorrow. I must say that I loved the demo and haven't been this excited about playing a racing game since... oooooh... PGR 4! :)

Handling is nothing compared to Forza 2 and it is completely arcadey, not matter what aids you turn off.

But, it seems more fun now than PGR4 which became stale really quickly (the single player was a horrid experience all around) and this seems a good replacement for it.

UncleLou , If Im so confused, then I guess all the review sites giving it high scores must be confused too.

Does anybody elses full version of the game keep freezing for 1/2 second (360 version) during a race?

Not had that happen to me once in any of the races I've completed in the retail release.

UncleLou , If Im so confused, then I guess all the review sites giving it high scores must be confused too.


Epic failure on your part. You try to shut up people who dont like the handling with "learn2playn00b", now your only argument is review scores. Waste of time talking to you, bye.

Theres lots of things to do in this game, guessing you havent read much about it :D

I dont think it will get that boring that quick, I mean the demo has only a couple of races, but Ive played it more than I would a full game.

DjWhizzkidd: review scores? Check out the top and right banners on most these sites ... Grid ads everywhere! Explains the scores and reviews that barely mention the handling.