Racing is not about winning. Many race drivers at the beginning of their career consider reaching the finish line at the first position as the only way of finishing a race. In fact, for a rookie with no practical experience in racing, being in the middle of the stake is quite an achievement. A wise driver will carefully analyse each competition he/she contended, notice each mistake he/she made and, with help of a skilled trainer, develop his/her abilities. With each lesson learned, he/she will broaden knowledge, which may be a crucial factor on the way to being a future racing legend. A funny thing is that life is similar to racing in some way. Many people want to reach the stars the fastest way possible, but the fact is that the path is not always paved, it consists of many bumps and sometimes it's very curved. With every bump, curve, pit beaten, we are getting closer to achieving the dreamt victory. Every experience we face, each lesson we learn, makes us stronger and makes us closer to our goal. In GRID from 2019, we begin as a newbie and with every race, we will build our path to the top.


The 2019’s GRID is a sequel of 2014’s GRID Autosport . Our goal is to get to the GRID Legends Series (GLS), a prestige competition for best of the best of drivers across the world. Before that, we will have to compete in various championships, divided into 6 categories:

• Touring - Racing versions of some well known vehicles like Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus
• Stock - Muscle Cars like, Chevy Camaro, Plymouth CUDA
• Tuner - Japanese cars like, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, Nissan Silvia
• GT - Sports Cars like Ford GT, Aston Martin Vantage
• Fernando Alonso Racing - F1000 and F1
• Invitational - mixed types of racing, some unusual ones like the Mini Cooper Cup

Each of them consists of several types of race, like time attack, regular race, point-to-point or oval. Depending on the competition, we will be able to choose one of a few iconic licenced cars , from Lancia Stratos, Holden Commodore, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, to F1000 bolid and even Mini Cooper. Their customisation is in some way either extensive and limited . We are able to choose and customize cars’ livery, do some tuning, but we are not able to choose some exterior parts like spoiler or bumpers, which would be innovative and something fresh to the GRID series ( in GRID 2 we were able to change rims, which was sadly discontinued in 2014’s game). Another great thing is that we will be able to race at quite a big number of race tracks, from some Race Driver franchise classics like Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Indianapolis, up to new ones like Okutama and Zeijang Circuits, Barcelona and Havana. All of them are particularly detailed, and some places like Barcelona and Havana have some picturesque sights .

From the technical side game stands on a quite good level. For the first time, we are able to control our second driver by giving him commands like to drive more aggressive or to play it safe and hold his position. Another thing is that we can hire a new second driver which will fulfil our preferences. The graphics also have made a small step forward, the player can spot some more dynamic lights. The interiors of cars are also more detailed , which makes the title more immersive for those who are likely to play with a cockpit camera. On the other hand, there are some faults. The first one might be the fact that the difficulty level is way lowered compared to the previous game. In GRID Autosport, medium difficulty was perfectly balanced for people who want some challenge,( I needed to restart some races to win a race ), whereas the GRID from 2019 on medium is too easy- other drivers are not a challenge at all, you can bump on them with no penalty, you can shorten the route a bit. A funny fact is a new mechanic, called "Nemesis System", which is triggered after aggressive bumping into other drivers, is, In my opinion not working properly. In fact, it does not work at all. After a serious bump you become rivals with the other driver, I think it should make him/her be more challenging for you, but all I occurred is a few failed tries to bump me back. It only works if you bump your co-driver- he will not listen to your commands for the rest of the race . The next thing would be the race commentators . While they are adding some immersion to the game like we were in a real race, their way to comment the course of the race is boring and strange. Of course, they are focused on players’ car, they can tell something about other contestants’ situations, some “crashes” (small scrapes between cars ), but major they will tell what you did with your car. A thing that made me wonder about their logic is the fact that hitting another car in an evidently aggressive way is called a “strategical hit” ( what? ). The final thing is the points system in the game. You earn points during the race for drift, staying in an aerodynamic tunnel, “slingshot” ( passing a car after staying in its aerodynamic tunnel for some time ). That's good, but I have not seen those points after a race in, what particular moment they were added. Proceeding to the plot, its too simple ( we are a driver and our goal is to get to GLS ). Previous games had some more extensive stories . Finally, GRID have some minor bugs, like it is sometimes possible to spot rain In a tunnel . The game also has some DLC's which add more seasons with other types of competition, new challenges and achievements related with them. GRID as a base game is not so long , it is possible to finish it under 30 hours - it makes GRID a perfect game for a free week.

To sum up, the 2019’s release is “just a good game, nothing more” , there are some faults and mistakes made, some good things from previous games are missing, but, all in all, it is possible to finish the title without regretting buying it . For those who are Codemasters’ games veterans, it might be a little disappointing, but others may find it enjoyable. Despite its faults, I can recommend it as a one-time experience- for a longer-term one, I would recommend previous games, as I find them more interesting. Nevertheless, GRID (2019) is a game good enough to buy and play in free time from time to time, as it does not require some racing game experience.




https://store.steampowered.com/app/703860/GRID/