GRID: Best racer for PC in eons.

Post by **Mozgus** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:31 am

I'm really loving this game. Little surprises like this are making my hardware investments worthwhile.

I love how even when you suck at the game, the replay makes you look awesome.

Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:25 am

It's a solid game, to be sure...but I HATE the central pivot point of the cars. I tried all the settings and it still felt too floaty and arcadey for me. I was real disappointed with this because I prefer the more sim-type driving games....their defunct series of Colin McRae and TOCA games have been replaced with something more people will like (DIRT and GRID), but unfortunately not all of us like the new direction.

Post by **Mozgus** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:48 am

Doctor Fugue wrote:It's a solid game, to be sure...but I HATE the central pivot point of the cars. I tried all the settings and it still felt too floaty and arcadey for me. I was real disappointed with this because I prefer the more sim-type driving games....their defunct series of Colin McRae and TOCA games have been replaced with something more people will like (DIRT and GRID), but unfortunately not all of us like the new direction.

I'm not familiar enough with racing games to know what you just said. Remember that I'm a Burnout/F-Zero GX kinda guy, and most racers bore me. But this video speaks the truth:

Post by **Niode** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:43 am

If you like the arcadey feel of PGR/MSR then you'll love Grid. I like it for it's visuals. Which are awesome. Handling... I'm not too keen on. It's not burnout style crazy 150mph cornering but it's not exactly Forza Motorsport either. It's somewhere in between, slightly more realistic than PGR3s but not as unforgiving as PGR4s handling.

I enjoy any racing game from simulation to arcade. I can usually find something to like about either control system once you master the nuances. I definitely enjoy simulations with a force feedback wheel the most though. Maybe that's because arcade racing games never work well with a wheel. I'm yet to see how Grid works with my wheel.

Post by **Citizin** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:48 am

That looks great. I don't normally pay attention to racing games but this one looks like it's worth picking up.

Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:11 am

Mozgus wrote:
Doctor Fugue wrote:It's a solid game, to be sure...but I HATE the central pivot point of the cars. I tried all the settings and it still felt too floaty and arcadey for me. I was real disappointed with this because I prefer the more sim-type driving games....their defunct series of Colin McRae and TOCA games have been replaced with something more people will like (DIRT and GRID), but unfortunately not all of us like the new direction.
I'm not familiar enough with racing games to know what you just said. Remember that I'm a Burnout/F-Zero GX kinda guy, and most racers bore me. But this video speaks the truth:

Yeah, that video is hilarious...I remember seeing it a while ago.

I'll try to explain what I meant by central pivot point for anyone who cares. When you drive a real car, you turn the front wheels with the steering wheel and so the rear wheels follow on a different trajectory...like if you turn right too closely to a curb, your front wheels will miss it but your rear wheels might go over it. So the car isn't actually pivoting (rotating) around the middle of the car but rather near the rear.

In GRID and other games, the pivot point is actually in the center of the car...making for more dramatic slides as the car turns around like a top. Many non-simulation racing games use a central pivot point in the cars because apparently it is less resource-intensive...meaning they can treat all four wheels in the same manner and just worry about making the car go left or right. To me it ends up feeling like the wheels don't even matter...it might as well be a hover car (perfectly fine for F-Zero).

Anyway, I love Burnout (well, not the last two) lots and have a ton of fun with it and other non-sim games; what I am disappointed about with this game is Codemasters have built an amazing tradition of racers that tend more towards a simulation style...and now they seem to be pulling away from that.

Codemasters also just scored the F1 deal...so I'm hoping they return to a more realistic kind of game for that!

Post by **RadarScope1** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:50 pm

I dunno. Tried the demo and couldn't get the hang of the controls. I will admit I did not give it very much time, though.

It's interesting that you guys are describing it as arcadey because I felt like it was a sim. I couldn't slide whatsoever. It just felt stiff.

Loved the presentation though. Very slick. And the rewind feature is genius in a racer.

Post by **Mozgus** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:20 pm

RadarScope1 wrote:I dunno. Tried the demo and couldn't get the hang of the controls. I will admit I did not give it very much time, though.

It's interesting that you guys are describing it as arcadey because I felt like it was a sim. I couldn't slide whatsoever. It just felt stiff.

Loved the presentation though. Very slick. And the rewind feature is genius in a racer.

Um, I slide all over the god damned place. Also, theres a race type entirely dedicated to sliding.

Post by **Niode** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 4:03 pm

RadarScope1 wrote:I dunno. Tried the demo and couldn't get the hang of the controls. I will admit I did not give it very much time, though.

It's interesting that you guys are describing it as arcadey because I felt like it was a sim. I couldn't slide whatsoever. It just felt stiff.

Loved the presentation though. Very slick. And the rewind feature is genius in a racer.

It's not even close to simulation, but it's not as arcadey as Burnout. It's somewhere in between.

Post by **NebachadnezzaR** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 4:28 pm

Interesting. I'm a huge MSR/PGR and Colin McRae (every game, including DiRT, but maybe except 3, that one sucked) fan, but GRID just failed to grab my attention so far. Maybe I'll give it a try since you guys speak so highly of it.

So, Mozgus, do you still think the actual generation of games sucks?