Race Driver: Grid

Jul 13 2008 Sunday Sun

Game: Race Driver: GRIDFrom: Codemasters For: X360 (review), PS3, PC & DS Price: £34.99- £49.99 Rating: 12+ Out: Now (except DS) For: X360 (review), PS3, PC & DS Price: £34.99- £49.99 Rating: 12+ Out: Now (except DS)

DISCOVER a stunning world of motorsport, brought vividly to life in Race Driver: GRID from racing maestros Codemasters, who have a long and distinguished record in the field.

Utilising the expertise and the engine of previous Codies outing DiRT, GRID takes the Race Driver series — formerly TOCA — up a notch and you to locations around the globe, with different racing experiences.

Europe will see you motoring around famous official circuits such as Donington, Le Mans and the Nurburgring, driving top marques and GT and touring cars.

Head Stateside for some downtown street action in San Francisco, Washington and motown itself, Detroit, using V8 muscle cars such as Mustangs and Vipers.

Or you can drift over to Japan for some underground adrenaline- charged racing on tight and twisty neon-soaked streets ideal for drift racing, featuring souped-up Subarus and Nissans.

It all adds up to some exhilarating action in the most aggressive and spectacular races you’ll ever have experienced . . . just check out the video on our website to see what I mean.

Opponents will think nothing of smashing you into the walls, and what I like about GRID in particular is its level of realism, and not just on the graphics front. On most racing games you can crash a lot and still finish races . . . not here. Minor scrapes see bumpers fall off and windows shatter . . . one big crash and it’s game over.

However, an innovative flashback system lets you rewind the race and try again from that point. Difficulty levels affect how many flashbacks you get.

If you think you’ve got what it takes, you can prove your worth online against up to 11 other players, using all the races from the single-player section although with only a few different game modes.

I would recommend GRID to gamers of all ages, it will give you hours of fun and the graphics are excellent. However, as Codies themselves say: “It’s all about the race.”