One of the games on my most anticipated list is Race Driver GRID. After playing DiRT I’ve suddenly become a fan boy for all of Codemaster’s driving titles and it has to be said that GRID is no exception to the rule.
First off GRID is powered by the same engine that DiRT used, that is the Ego/Neon Engine. You can tell by a few minor touches, the graphics defiantly look like an improved version of GRID and the car physics are similar. The game also has some very small details like the loading icon and the data based statical load screens. Thats not to say that this is just DiRT 2 although it is powered by the same engine its not the same. It’s more Project Gotham mixed with DiRT if you have to sum it up.
We got our hands on a ‘60% build‘ for the Xbox 360 and it has to be said that it was suffering from a few frame rate and collision issues although I’ve been assured they won’t be in the final retail version. Cars have the same weightlessness that DiRT had although the game is more focused around drifting a lot more. The game even featured a points system, similar to that of PGR’s Kudos system, that rewarded you for long drifts and air time. You can then combo your points together for massive point totals. To be honest we aren’t sure how this will effect the game but my best guess would be a form of in game currency.
The events we played were two street ones and one circuit based one. Two of them were standard races with 11 other drivers on the track and the other was a time trail based event. These tracks did look slightly dark but they all looked phenomenal and despite the minor problems that were seen, you can’t deny the fact that Codemasters have built a terrific looking engine. If they can get the aforementioned bugs out, this will be a very polished game indeed.
The game is due out on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC in June 2008. There is also a DS version but unfortunately it wasn’t on show.
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