Grid (2019)

Grid (2019) is the 4th racing game in Codemasters’ Grid franchise. Better graphics, car damage and being easier to get into are some of the things Grid (2019) brings to the table. As fun as it is, the game is not very Grid like though.

Pros

Grid (2019) is more beginner friendly than the original Grid and Grid 2. There are variable driving assists, racing line guides and steering sensitivity adjustments that work for keyboard as well. For the experts, everything can be turned off and the AI difficulty increased.

The game sounds great. I don’t know how accurate the cars sound are, but everything in the game sounds great to me.

The graphics are beautiful, even on ultra-low settings. The cars, the environments and of course the damage all look superb.

In-car view is back and it looks wonderful.

Free play earns you money that can be used to buy cars for career mode. So, all racing contributes to progression. The con side of the coin is, only loan cars or cars you have purchased are available for use in free play.

Replays look good. The shaky cameras that were in Grid are not in Grid (2019), but there are many camera views that are too low (like Grid 2), so you hardly get to see the top of the car. There are enough nice camera views that make the replays enjoyable though, including the return of in-car views. Original Grid still has the edge in the replay department though. Here is a replay comparison video.

There is car tuning. Although not the most detailed like more accurate driving simulators, it does make a difference. I managed to tune a car to suit my driving, and it took me from always placing near last, to winning the race.

The Nemesis AI system is interesting, but it is also quite difficult to spot. In general the drivers seem to drive just like the original Grid and Grid 2. They will stick to the racing line and bump into you a lot. The only time I noticed a nemesis try to take me out is when I am trying to overtake on a straight section. He/she will veer to hit you. I can only guess they try the same thing during turns, but I just cannot spot it.

In addition to night driving from the previous Grid games, there is now driving at different times of the day and rain driving. There are fixed event races that require driving in different conditions, or you can select the conditions for free play. The handling for driving in the rain is not as slippery as I expected though.

Cons

I recommend anyone with a low spec or old PC to stay away from Grid (2019). There is a very nasty bug where car textures will appear blurry and progress to cars not appearing at all. At this point, the game stops loading and does not allow you to do anything. I could not even alt-F4 to quit. I always had to go to Task Manager and kill the GRID process manually. Sometimes, this would happen after a few races, but there have been many times where it would happen only after one race. Very, very annoying. Updating to the latest graphics drivers does not help with this. One workaround is to set texture quality to high. It may not work for everyone, but both ultra-high and high texture quality worked for me. Unfortunately, that means setting all other graphics settings to ultra-low for my 2016 PC.

When looking at cars to choose from, there are only three pieces of information: power, weight and drive type. No top-speed, no acceleration, no grip, no information that is more useful. I don’t know what on earth Codemasters was thinking. The original Grid had all these on display when buying cars. No excuse to leave them out.

There is multiplayer, but hardly anyone plays online. There are also no challenges like in Grid 2. Replays cannot be viewed or saved, so it is all about racing.

The Bathurst Mount Panorama Circuit is absent from Grid (2019). It is in Grid, Grid 2 and even though I have never played it, I know it is in Grid Autosport. It has already been in three Grid games, why can’t they put it in the 4th?

With some driving conditions, you don’t drive with lights on, and the road is simply too dark to see.

There is a graphical bug where rain can be seen inside some of the cars when looking backwards with interior view. Quite funny.

Other Points

The driving feels more realistic than Grid and Grid 2. This is speaking from the view point of a keyboard driver, so take this with a barrel of salt. There is no tire wear or pit stops, but you will lose control more easily than in the previous Grid games.

Earn money to buy cars for racing in different events, just like the first Grid. More Events can only be opened by completing objectives of available events, just like Grid 2. One departure from both games is the ability to loan one car for an event. You have to give 10% of your winnings for the loan, but at least you do not need to earn enough to buy a car before entering the event of your choice.

I don’t know where the talk about going “back to its roots” came from, because Grid (2019) is missing a lot of stuff that made Grid, Grid. Gone are the other racing varieties like drift, touge and 12 minutes of Le Mans. There is no choosing sponsors with attached objectives to try to earn that little bit of extra cash. The career story is not there at all. It is simply, here are the events, here is some money, go buy a car and race. There is some team management with hiring different team mates, but then it is back to winning races, unlocking events, buying more cars and racing some more. Grid(2019) feels more like just another racing game rather than a Grid game. I still think it is a good racing game, just not a Grid game.

Biases

I have only played the original Grid and Grid 2 before Grid (2019). As such, any comparisons are with those 2 Grid games only. It looks like I will never get to play Grid Autosport, so I will never no how that stacks up against the rest.

I played Grid (2019) with keyboard only and varied the AI difficulty between very easy, easy and medium.

I played mainly the single-player parts of the game with only a few multiplayer games. Looking at the number of events available, it looks like I am less than 10% through the single-player career.

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Grid 2

Grid 2 brings to the racing genre more Grid, but not necessarily better Grid. With the improvements also came the disappointments.

Pros

Grid 2 has more event types than Grid like extreme overtake, live routes and point-to-point races that are not Touge races.

There are more tracks than Grid. They include real race tracks as well as fictional ones. Some are just different configurations of a track, going in reverse or have a day/night option. It still adds a good variety. Notably missing though is the Circuit de la Sarthe track and the 12 minutes of Le Mans event.

Graphics have improved since Grid. Among the general improvements to cars and tracks, debris can be seen flying around now.

Flashback is back. It sure keeps the fun rolling for longer to be able to just rewind the few seconds to prevent a bad crash.

There is split-screen play! Pro point just for having the option even though I have not tried it out. The game prevents two people from using the same keyboard, so at minimum another controller is needed.

Cons

Driving with a keyboard is worse in Grid 2 than in Grid. Driving assists have also been removed from Grid 2. It made me wish I didn’t complain about the driving assists in Grid, because now I wish it was there. It did not help much, but it was still better than nothing. As bad as Grid 2’s keyboard driving is, winning races is still possible on the easiest difficulty.

There is no in-car view! Very disappointing considering that it was in Grid.

The single-race mode in Grid 2 only allows you to use cars that you have unlocked in career mode. With Grid, you could select cars that you don’t own in career mode. It sure reduces the fun when you just want to quickly try out some cars.

The replays look worse than Grid. Sure the graphics have improved, and the annoying shaky camera has been removed, but there are more things that ruin the replay viewing. First, the number of drive by camera views have been reduced. I love drive-by/fly-by cameras. Crashes just don’t look as good without drive by cameras. Second, most of the camera angles are close to the ground. You hardly get to see the top of the car. Thirdly, there are some annoying shots of scenery without a car in sight that interrupts the race viewing. Here is a replay comparison video.

Other Points

Just like its predecessor, Grid 2 strikes a good balance between realism and fun. The cars handle fairly realistically and damage will reduce performance, but at the same time there is no tire wear, fuel management or pit stops.

The music is not spectacular, but it has definitely improved since Grid. It is not annoying any more.

There is no damage indicator. The car’s performance will degrade, so that is the only damage indicator.

In Grid 2’s career mode, you must complete objectives to open up more events. You do not always have to come first. This also means you cannot grind to open up events and get more cars like in Grid. There is no money or car purchasing. When new events that require a certain car type appear, you are given the option to choose one car. The other can be won by completing challenges.

The opponent AI drivers are almost infallible. I hardly see them lose control, let alone crash. Other than this point, they seem to behave much the same as in Grid.

Some events are governed by stricter rules than in the first Grid. There are now penalties for cutting corners in circuit races and drift points are removed if you spin-out, even if you did not hit anything.

The online part of the game has a separate career mode. You must win money from racing other people or completing challenges, then use the money to buy more cars. Hardly anyone plays Grid 2 online, so unless you really like the challenges, the online part is pretty pointless.

Grid 2 and its DLCs are no longer available on Steam. At the time of writing, the following stores are still selling Grid 2. Buying means paying a premium for a very old game without any DLCs though. I also don’t know how reliable they are when officially the game is not for sale anymore.
Fanatical

DLGamer

AllYouPlay

Biases

I got Grid 2 for free along with the Bathurst Track Pack and Spa-Francorchamps Track Pack DLCs. Thank you Humble Bundle.

Despite the difficult keyboard handling, I love playing the first Grid.

I have not completed the single-player career mode for Grid 2.

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