Grid: The Best Choice Between Arcade and Simulation

At first, I found it quite difficult to get into simulators like Gran Turismo, iRacing or Forza Motorsport. For someone who’s grown up wreaking havoc in Burnout 2 or drifting continuously for hundreds of yards in NFS Underground, that’s probably understandable.

Realistic track racing that required proper driving skills simply wasn’t as appealing as jumping off ramps at 150mph, taking shortcuts or abusing the hell out of that ‘NOS’ button.

Back in February 2005, my parents thought Gran Turismo 4 would make for an ideal birthday present, seeing how much fun I was having with the legendary Need for Speed Underground 2 that I’ve got for Christmas the previous year.

I can’t blame them, they must’ve said "right, so he likes racing; this definitely looks like a racing game; he’ll love it." Sadly, that wasn’t exactly the case. It took me about a couple of hours until I gave up on it, after getting closer to throwing my controller at the screen than I was comfortable with.

"Why do I keep spinning out?", "you mean I have to actually brake properly and stuff?", "I think I’m going back to Need for Speed" - those were my thoughts precisely. As I was a pretty competitive kid, however, I did give it a few more shots in the coming days, but to no avail.

Let’s fast-forward to 2008, when Race Driver: Grid was released. I remember being at a friend’s place and seeing him fire it up on his (at the time) next-gen PC. Luckily, the guy was one annoyingly insistent fella and convinced me to give Codemasters’ title a go.

Quite frankly, I loved it. Yes, it was a track-based game with a fairly limited number of circuits, but also my first step toward liking racing simulation. Race Driver: Grid just felt surprisingly balanced, packing a bunch of arcade elements, while giving you the option to gradually increase difficulty and realism by turning off the driver assist functions, which can prove to be a serious challenge.

The career mode gave you a real sense of progression and, although there weren’t as many circuits as we would’ve hoped to see, they were beautifully executed and managed to feel different depending on the time of day you happened to be racing on their tarmac.

Over a decade and a few installments later, I would still recommend the franchise to anyone who finds themselves in the same position as my younger self. The latest title in the lineup, plainly named Grid packs that brutally aggressive, oddly satisfying element from the original, while looking and feeling like a modern game.

The game’s developers seem to have finally broken the habit of generating painfully ‘flat’ surfaces and textures; a weakness we could spot even in the 2014 Grid Autosport. This time around, it feels alive and the stunning weather effects contribute significantly to this achievement.

They also compensate for the limited selection of tracks, as your driving experience will differ considerably based on whether it’s day, night or pouring it down with rain.

A feature worth pointing out is the Nemesis system, which is essentially the AI’s ability to hold a grudge once you've been bumping into their ride too many times. When a racer becomes a Nemesis, they’ll receive a temporary boost to their driving ability and will do anything it takes to knock you off track at the worst possible moment, so try not to perform too many dirty moves out there.

I highly appreciate the way it lets you adjust the driver assist options incrementally, allowing a step-by-step progress in your overall ability. This made Grid appealing to both ends of the racing spectrum since its debut, although the assist functions were merely on/off switches at first. It’s nice to see Codemasters refine these details to make the latest game accessible to all audiences.

To me, Grid has been a franchise that always did a fantastic job at bridging the gap between simulation and arcade racing. The most recent installment simply does it all better; it's more dynamic, far superior to its older siblings in terms of graphics and packs an incredible deal of fun!

It’s been nearly a year since the game’s release date and I still find myself going back to it when defying the laws of physics in the remastered Burnout Paradise get a bit old or I don’t really feel like testing my nerves in Dirt Rally 2.0 (also developed by Codemasters, for the record).

Grid falls right between the opposites, and does so better than almost any other franchise - except for the mighty Forza Horizon, of course.

Nonetheless, it’s worth your attention, so why not go check it out?