Grid Autosport Review.
My 1st 15 hours with Grid Autosport.
How did I get access to this you ask? Here's the shortish version.
I'd just upgraded and sent my old parts to a friend who is currently out of work in Greece. Hi Miatakias
He NEEDED to upgrade and no-one I knew wanted the bits. So off they went.
He fitted them but after he installed his current GFX card drivers he got blank screen. Nothing we tried fixed it nor did any suggestions from these forums or others.
Then I stumbled on an official 5 month old thread on their site saying a fix is still weeks away.
Having 2 AMD 6970's on the go and a pair of replacements planned, I decided to send him one of my 6970's as well. For me it meant playing half speed for a while but at least I COULD play.
Loore had sent me a message and asked me about Miatakias' problem, I told him the above story and that the GFX card was going soon.
Miatakias was over the moon with the parts when we got them running and asked if I was going to buy GAS? if so he wanted to buy it for me as thank you for the parts I'd sent.
I contacted Loore later to let him know all was now ok with the PC and how Miatakias reacted, I got this back.
"Loore May 10
Tell him not to buy your copy, I've got it covered Consider it a reward for helping make the GRID community a better place."
Cool, a freebe for bein a nice guy and helping someone out
To my surprise, when Loore contacted me again. He supplied me with a passcode for the game plus the access to the press preview levels and cars we've seen in vids. Stroll on!
All hush, hush till now so here goes..
A week with Grid Autosport.
16 hours played and tested as I write this and upload some eyefinity vids.
1st off. The big one... The handling, Is it any good? Did they listen to all the whining we did?
Ooooohhh yes it's good VERY good, and yes again, they did listen to us fans of old and acted on it (or most of it so far?).
FINALLY! After years of waiting, we get a trueblooded, direct descendant of Grids epic gameplay.
Grippy cars on tarmac that you need to DRIVE to succeed. Slide any race car about like you had to in Grid 2 and you'll fail at the first corner.
Driving Autosport right on the limits of speed vs grip round Istanbul Park intermediate and the old grey matter started fizzing again, those Grid ingrained responses to what I was seeing on screen and feeling through the wheel took over and the Grin was back.
The assists are of the same style as Grid 1, where turning them off made every car soo much harder to control leading to slower lap times.
Paradoxically though turning off the assists in GAS lead to the opposite, better times than I got when they were on. I might have been fighting with the stability control instead of letting it do its job here.
Precise throttle control is critical for success but you reap the rewards for such restraint. so analogue controllers or wheels will do well, no idea regarding KB as I never had much in the way of KB skills to start with.
Bear in mind this is press preview and not full release. Only 4GBs it's just the core game elements I'm playing with. I'm playing on this lot.
AMD 9590 @5GHz, Asus Sabretooth Rev 2, 16GB DDR3 @2133MHz, Sapphire 8GB R9 290X all running 3 screens @ 5932x1080 maxxed out GFX, AA, AF settings etc with 50 fps as a minimum. Using my old and trusted DFGT wheel for the tricky bits.
So Here's some vids of the basic career modes, All in eyefinity taken using fraps and saved using windows live movie maker.
1st up, Touring cars Istanbul Park Intermediate.
The racing is just as much fun as the original Grid was for me. trading paint with a bit of shoulder barging here and there, got slapped by the corner cut system, so that works.
The "x5 race" option made for same fun racing over 15 or 20 laps but be warned, In 1 event I lead from pole and no contact with the AI cars, I lost 5th gear all the rest were fine this made the last 2 laps somewhat interesting.
Street Racing, Washington in the Mini Cooper S Works
Trying to get the "lift off" corners just right was soo much fun. as was trying to get clean passes.
I DID manage a complete race with no contact in this class but it was hard to get, you'll see why....
Drift Tuner, An essential for myself and a few others around here.
Ruined in Grid 2 with tea tray on ice handling, Drift's back to the circuits (or 1 at least in the preview) Tracks are split into "Score sectors" so no multilap chains of drifts scaring off all but the pro's.
Precise control inputs are a must here if you want to look like a pro
You can still hoon it like a BOSS with style and get points, I'm off for some much needed practice....;D
Open Wheel, Yas Marina (and dodgy cockpit view)
Slipstreaming is back just a shame the cockpit view looks like it's "unfinished" or an "afterthought" at best and so it's of no practical use to the headcam, hud off players.
The mirrors are like impresionist black and white paintings of the skyline behind you.
Like a tiny wee policeman pops up wherever you look saying "Nothing to see here, move along..." This has to be unfinished or the Modders got some work to do again....
Again though, it's only the press preview surely it'll be better for launch day
Endurance, be careful, this category bites.... No pit stops.
Tyre wear in Grid? HUH? Well much as I wouldn't have missed it, it does add a big tactical element to your driving. In an 8 minute race grip dissapears like an ice cube in a volcano, I kid you not.
1st try, I shot off into the blue, by the end of a lap I shredded 20% in less than 1:30 and had none for the end. You really neeed to nurse the tyres as on the 2nd try I used only 6% in one lap and still won the race albeit with 30 and 32% left of the rear tyres.
Pit stops would help here but it's about tyre management instead of outright speed.
As I said above it's the core of the game here and no where near complete, though with the way it handles, looks and plays right now I would be buying a copy without a shadow of a doubt.
Ferreted about in the mp section and found a few gems when looking at tracks,
You might wanna add to the confirmed track list RallyDriven
http://forums.codemasters.com/discus...ks-features/p1
Autodromo Do Algarve
Indianapolis
Okutama
Hong Kong
Red Bull Ring
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace
Autosport Raceway
Barcelona
aaaaand SPAAAA!!!
No other tracks/locations listed and no cars as a load is still locked in career mode or limited by it being in essence an abridged and unfinished version.