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Zico
23rd April 2014, 19:16
New Codies game due 24-27 June for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It won't be released on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One because Codemasters wants its first next-gen title "to be something really great".




(Snip) …"with GRID Autosport we had the opportunity to make a much more focussed motorsport game
If GRID 2 raced off into a more narrative-led world of racing with more accessible controls, it’s clear that for many of you, that wasn’t what you wanted or expected from GRID 2. So with GRID Autosport we had the opportunity to make a much more focussed motorsport game, a desire that many of you have expressed directly to us, and a game that in spirit goes back to some of our earlier titles in terms of content and handling.


The Handling

As ever, our handling model has had a lot of effort put into it and you’ll really notice the difference, we think, from GRID 2. For GRID Autosport we’ve gone back to a more authentic handling style. It’s definitely not a full simulation – we want it to be authentic, not clinical – but it’s more towards that end of the spectrum than before. If anything, we believe the handling is actually one or two steps further towards simulation than Race Driver: GRID, to give you an idea.


Each car has been tuned and adjusted to really give a sense of its personality so they will act and behave differently from one another, as they would in real life. This is especially noticeable across disciplines. Pick up a WTCC spec Touring Car and it’ll feel completely different to a Formula 3 car for instance. The goal has been to replicate an authentic feeling of what it’s like to race each of these cars in the games as if you were out on the track yourself.

We’ll be talking more about the handling and how we created it in the coming weeks, including how you, our Community helped shape it in ways that you may not yet know.



The Racing Disciplines

You’ll be hearing us talk about disciplines a lot as they make up another of the core foundations of the game. Disciplines are various types of motorsport, of which there are five within GRID Autosport, each with its own unique style and feeling. There’s a vast difference in the way a Touring Car race unfolds compared to that of an Endurance race. Each discipline requires a different approach, strategy and comes complete with its own style of racing.

For instance, in Touring Cars it’s all about aggressive pack racing. You’ll have to manage tyre wear and race into the night in Endurance competitions but look to race smoothly and with precision in our Open-Wheel races. Street Races are about reacting on the fly on claustrophobic streets through cities with unpredictable changes in elevations and drift cars are all about demonstrating your car control. To become an all-around driver, you’ll develop a broad set of skills.



Each discipline has a number of dedicated series within them; ranging from Touring Cars, GT, Single-Seaters, Muscle Cars, Drift, Supercars, Hypercars, Time Attack, Prototypes and many, many more. You don’t just get five broad experiences, but also different racing experiences within those styles.

We’ll be going into more detail of each discipline between now and launch, starting next week with our in depth look at the Touring Discipline.



The Locations

You will have noticed the likes of Hockenheim, Sepang, San Francisco, Jarama and Yas Marina within our announcement video but that’s far from the complete roster, there’s plenty more to come.

GRID: Autosport will feature 22 locations with a combined route list that totals over 100!

…it’s the circuits that make up the bulk of the roster
While we will have a selection of great city based locations it’s the circuits that make up the bulk of the roster and there’s a great variety on offer.

From the iconic to the old favourites, the ones classed as legendary and of course some new faces as well. In fact, there are more circuits in GRID: Autosport than there are in Race Driver: GRID and GRID 2 combined.

The Career

The single player career in GRID Autosport will allow you to become a professional racing driver. As you make progress you’ll be able to join and switch teams, fulfil sponsor demands and beat rivals.

Racing with a teammate is back and at your request he/she will now attack the cars ahead or defend their position. All this is handled by a simple button press on the controller and it’s a feature that will also allow you to request information from your team engineer.



The career is open and this means that you’ll only ever have to compete in the racing disciplines that you want to. If you’re a Touring Car fanatic then by all means find a home within the Touring section, and never leave. If you love the precision of Open Wheel racing and also enjoy the odd bit of Endurance then you can happily bounce between the two.

The choice is entirely yours to make – choose your favourite style of racing or master them all.


The Racing Experience

When you take an authentic handling model, a great selection of cars and a variety of racing disciplines, it still needs the racing experience to hold them all together and in GRID Autosport your racing experience revolves around the paddock.

This is the menu you’ll find yourself in before a race and it’s from here that you’ll be presented with a number of pre-race options, such as practice and qualifying.

If you find yourself racing on an unfamiliar circuit or route then simply head into practice and spend some time on the track. After practice you can jump into qualifying where, as you’d expect, you’ll be able to set your fastest time with the aim of starting higher up the grid come race day.

Much like the career, the choice is entirely yours. If you want to have a practice session and jump straight into a race then great. If you want to give practice a miss and just do qualifying then that option is also entirely possible, as is skipping straight into the race itself should you so desire.

The paddock will also allow you to tune your car before the race. Tuneable components include: brake bias, differential, downforce, gears, ride height and suspension at both the front and back. All of the cars in the game run great as ‘stock’ but the option to tune is there should you wish to get the car handling to your own preference.


Multiplayer

Powered by RaceNet you’ll be able to join with friends to form Racing Clubs and race under team colours against other clubs in the community. Receive new challenges every week with the new and evolved Discipline Challenge, track your stats including your complete vehicle history and climb weekly and persistent leaderboards.

We’ve got a series of features planned for the coming weeks, all of which dive deep into the multiplayer of GRID Autosport so be sure to keep your eye out for those!



While we were patching GRID 2 and releasing new content we were also busy gathering feedback. We listened to everyone who had an opinion on not just GRID 2 but our older games as well. This feedback was digested and ultimately it played a huge part in the early development of GRID Autosport.

The authentic handling model has been shaped by Community feedback but we haven’t just stopped there. Cockpit view makes a return, and with it a dashboard view too, yes, GRID Autosport will ship with two in-car cameras.


We’re incredibly excited to lift the lid on GRID Autosport and we’re looking forward to the coming weeks and months. We’ve got a regular flow of new information and content coming your way and all of it starts tomorrow when we reveal our first team which sees the return of some old friends…



GRID Autosport launches on June 27th."




http://blog.codemasters.com/grid/04/introducing-grid-autosport/

steveaki13
23rd April 2014, 22:22
Sounds Good. Lets hope its not a let down.

I hope its in the vain of Toca Racing 3 or whatever it was called.

MrJan
29th April 2014, 18:53
If anything, we believe the handling is actually one or two steps further towards simulation than Race Driver: GRID, to give you an idea.

Funnily enough was playing Grid for the first time in ages and the weekend and was amazed by how unrealistic the handling was. If it's only one or two steps towards simulation then it'll still be shit.

Edit: Which is a shame because they do good things with some of the racing, cars and tracks.

Zico
29th April 2014, 21:27
Funnily enough was playing Grid for the first time in ages and the weekend and was amazed by how unrealistic the handling was. If it's only one or two steps towards simulation then it'll still be shit.


Yes, perhaps, but at least it's a step or two in the right direction. I'll be sure to try it first.. ;)

Brown, Jon Brow
29th April 2014, 22:15
Forget all the GRID stuff and just make a racing game based on the BTCC like you used to.

pino
13th May 2014, 18:37
I agree with you John, however I will give a try, whilst waiting for Codies new rally-game :D

Allyc85
13th May 2014, 20:51
New trailer is up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE5CmU79G3g

MrJan
13th May 2014, 21:14
Certainly looks like the intention is to make a touring car game, a bit closer to the roots. Difficult to tell about gameplay from clips but it still looks to me like the handling may be a bit lame...will wait and see though. In the end I probably won't get it either way, simply because I don't spend the time playing games like I used to.

steveaki13
27th June 2014, 22:33
I received mine today but have not had time to play it yet.

Anyone else had a go.

steveaki13
28th June 2014, 15:53
Had my first go this morning. Already a couple of ridiculous things.

Its mean't to be a realisitc Racing game?

I had it set on an easy setting for my first go, but despite being on Pole by 6 seconds, in the race the field stayed on my tail. 6 seconds quicker than there Qualifying times.

I am in Touring cars and the whole field stays within about 14 seconds no matter what. There is no field spread or anything. I saw a tailender spin about 15 seconds behind and within 2 laps he had caught the pack despite his Quali time being way slower than mine.

It appears the pack goes at whatever your own pace is. I drove a slow lap in 2nd and was all over the back of first and we lapped in 1:53. I then passed him and set a 1:41 and he was only about a second behind me. Which is stupid and unreal.

Also credit to codemasters for AI crashes and bumps, but I saw two cars flip over and land on their roof, but they were able to continue and catch the racing pack back up.

I stress I have only played about an hour, but it seems quite poor already. No realism in retirement situations. A field that only goes as fast as you are and no real looking field spread as you get in motorsport.


Anyone else got any thoughts.

Brown, Jon Brow
1st July 2014, 18:30
^You're not exactly selling it to us. Sounds awful!

What is the handling like?

steveaki13
1st July 2014, 18:37
^You're not exactly selling it to us. Sounds awful!

What is the handling like?

To be honest after having played it for a little longer, I have slightly gained some experience.

The field spread or lack of it as a racing simulator is still poor, although I have discovered it does vary from category to category.

The AI collisions and mistakes are good, but the fact they still proceed to barrel roll in single seaters and continue racing??????


As for the handling, that IMO is one of the better aspects. Whether they are 100% correct I cant say, having never driven the real things.

However the handling does seem to vary in each type of car. single seaters are more unstable at the back if you put the power down, while larger cars feel heavier.

Better than my initial reactions I think, but still some issues that for me spoil the realism.

MrJan
4th July 2014, 23:47
Thanks for your review Steve. As a casual gamer I think that I'll save my £40!

steveaki13
5th July 2014, 14:11
I think it depends what you want. I have continued to play it a bit and my thoughts are this now.

I was looking for a sim style racing game of real categories. i.e realism in race gameplay and categories.

This covers Touring, single seater, endurance etc..... with no real categories featured. Its all generic classes. As I also said, in single seater the field spreads in a realistic way I guess, but endurance and Touring the field stay two abreast the whole race.

The racing itself is OK, I mean its close and an absolute bundle, but not like real racing IMO.

No retirements.

The AI are much faster on the straights, but alot slower in the corners.

One of the most annoying issues I have found, is the fact there are no pitstops at all. However they have put in punctures. So you can drive along and get a puncture, but instead of be able to pit. You have to just drive the whole race with a puncture or just retire.

Finally is still the gameplay in the fact that if you spin to last you catch the field at a vast rate of knotts and if you get into 1st through slow traffic, then the whole field start lapping 6 seconds faster and stay on your tail.


All in all a decent idea, but not done very well really.

306 Cosworth
18th July 2014, 18:13
I got this game the day before release, and despite a corrupted save file, I'm loving it so far. I've not really played much of the single player, but the online multiplayer is great fun so far!

bennizw
2nd August 2014, 11:46
So, is it worth the buy?

steveaki13
2nd August 2014, 17:50
I would say depends want you want.

I have played a fair bit of it.

If you want just a fun racing game with various cars and chaotic races - then buy it. Its lots of fun that way.

If you want a realistic and varied representation of the different the different categories maybe wait til its cheaper.

For me is great fun to play, but not a true representation of each category. Just my opinion though

Allyc85
2nd August 2014, 18:22
Bought it the other day and I think its ok for a quick blast! Its fun, but the handling feels very weird and twitchy, while the AI is very eratic, especially on medium difficulty!

steveaki13
2nd August 2014, 21:11
Bought it the other day and I think its ok for a quick blast! Its fun, but the handling feels very weird and twitchy, while the AI is very eratic, especially on medium difficulty!

I agree with you, its a fun game, but not quite as it should be.

I mean if someone said is it a decent simulator of touring cars etc. I think the answer has to be no, but fun non the less.

MrJan
4th August 2014, 15:07
Bought it the other day and I think its ok for a quick blast! Its fun, but the handling feels very weird and twitchy, while the AI is very eratic, especially on medium difficulty!

HOw weird and twitchy though? The handling on TOCA2 was really twitchy but I still rate that as one of the best racing games ever made.

Allyc85
5th August 2014, 21:31
To begin with I just found it very light, needing only tiny movements on the stick to get the car to move a lot! I am slowly getting used to it now though.

Just been doing some practice in the Indycar. Hooning into Eau Rouge in the reverse direction, at 220mph is "interesting" to say the least! :D

Allyc85
18th August 2014, 17:07
So has anyone had the glitch where you restart a race and you are sat facing the wrong way on the grid? Or had the brake marker boards randomly explode when no where near them?

306 Cosworth
20th August 2014, 21:55
So has anyone had the glitch where you restart a race and you are sat facing the wrong way on the grid? Or had the brake marker boards randomly explode when no where near them?


Hahaha no I've not seen or heard that one!

Zico
21st August 2014, 21:23
To begin with I just found it very light, needing only tiny movements on the stick to get the car to move a lot! I am slowly getting used to it now though.

Just been doing some practice in the Indycar. Hooning into Eau Rouge in the reverse direction, at 220mph is "interesting" to say the least! :D


Wheel or pad? Im finding the wheel to work pretty well with it even with only 180 Deg rotation and aside from the pace replicating following pack (which Im willing to forgive because it still keeps things interesting for a far wider audience once you improve to beyond pro level times) I really like it. Think about it.... they are caught between a rock and a hard place and this is arguably the best solution. When racing games set a medium pro level pace to keep it accesible to all levels of players, both ends of the spectrum slag it off for entirely different reasons... or get bored very quickly.

I'm really enjoying this game and find it much more realistic than previous incarnations of Grid, the indycar class is especially good. Imo it's the best release from Codies for a long time.