Video Games : Race Driver: GRID (Xbox 360)

Rating: - liked pgr4? this game is better
This game is of a very high quality and is so polished. PGR4 was one of my favourite games, this is better for a number of reasons.
Instant restart, in other games you have to wait for it to load if you have to restart, there is no loading here. Also you can rewind in game if you've misjudged a corner and have smashed into a wall.
There's a lot of potential for spectacular crashes. A car in front smashed into a tyre wall, all the tyres exploded on the track and caused other cars to veer off course and i was able to slip from 9th into first, things like that make you appreciate the potential for unexpected things to happen.Destruction derby is in here and its great.
The sensation of speed is exhilarating, you will probably think it's too fast in some cars.
The threat of damage encourages you to drive like you would in real life but it not so bad that you are scared to take risks.
The graphics and presentation are technically strong. The only problem is the occasional stutter on the 360 but this will be removed by a patch.

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Rating: - Not the game we were expecting...
TOCA has always been a good racing game. All the games have recieved excellent reviews from various sources, mainly because of their realism and huge variety, but GRID takes things to another level.
The graphics are definately next gen. Everything looks beautiful, especially the head to head night time mountain racing tracks. Just watching the light coming off the mountains is breath taking. However, all the levels are great.
However, it is the gameplay where this game delivers in huge doses. The main game mode involves you trying to make it to the top by completing a series of races accross Europe, the USA and Japan. These involve drifting events, touring car races, the Le Manns 24 hour circuit (which simulates 24 hours to roughly 50 secs to an hour so that you drive through the night) open wheel events, destruction derbys and other events. The cars range from BMWs, to Nissans, to Formula 1 cars and other specialties. Theres over 40 cars in total, which doesn't sound that impressive, but when you consider that they all handle and control very, very differently, you have 40 very unique cars. However, thats not the entire game. You also have the option of choosing sponsors for your car. Completing their objectives means more money, and the ability to hire a team mate. Then there are other job offers by other companies, however, we have not even mentioned the online.
With up to 12 people racing, the possibility of lag was enormous. Let me answer here and now that there is VIRTUALLY NO LAG THAT I HAVE SEEN. You can participate in any event, racing with people from accross the world. You earn experience for wins which allows you to increase your rank from rookie, to pro and then further. My personal favourite is the carnage of destruction derby. The two jumps in the track over cars travelling in the other directions causes some spectacular crashes. I have seen many.
Yet there is one last thing I want to talk about. You can now flashback, allowing you to retake parts of the track where you wrote off your car,or where you severly damaged your car (yes all damage to your car is visible). Its a fantastic innovation and is more forgiving then previous games, but pros won't be deterred as this can be turned off in pro mode for extra rewards.
Get this game

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Rating: - The most mental racing game ever
As the title suggests,this is one lunatic of a racing game where anything could happen in an instant,very much like a real racing event.Not like the arcade feel of the project gotham series,it's very good to look at and a lot of fun to play.BUT......Boy is it frustrating,getting spun around if you hit the slightest little thing.you stop and try to get going? forget it,the car will just spin and spin and spin,adding to the ever growing frustration now etched across your face.i like the real damage aspect of the racing,making you race ultra careful if that's actually possible in this game.But i wonder,did they have to make it so real that it takes some of the fun out of it,as frustrating as it may be i always end up coming back to it for the lightning fast gameplay and nice shiny detailed graphics,even though it does annoy me somewhat

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Rating: - Best racing game I've played this year by a mile!
Received this yesterday morning courtesy of Amazon, what a stunning game this is! Brilliant gameplay, large variety of different racing disciplines (even some demolition derby thrown in), excellent presentation, stunning graphics, spectacular crashes, awesome damage modelling, AI that actually has the capability of screwing up... a superb addition to the racing genre. Can be a bit difficult (but that's me, as I refuse to utilise the 'rewind' feature that enables you to correct mistakes), but I don't like games that are too easy. Love the inclusion of the Le Mans endurance race, and they've got the balance just right with that level of endurance; let's face it, the endurance races in Gran Turismo were at best tedious, and at worst an absolute joke at literally 24 hours in length in some instances (GT4). Talking of which, imho this game makes GT5 Prologue look stale and, well, very boring. Purchased that game a few months back, played it for a few hours, considered it 'same old same old' and haven't bothered with it since. Unlike Race Driver: Grid, which really seems new, fresh and exciting. A highly recommended purchase.

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Rating: - BEST RACING CAR GAME FOR 360 TO DATE!!!!
I'll keep this short as it doesnt need a full chapter and verse review. In a nutshell GRID is OUTSTANDING! I preordered mines early this year and received it 28th May on early release. Graphix Excellent, Gameplay Excellent, overall Amazing. It seems to have been built on the back of the Colin McRae DiRT, and the developers have pulled it off by improving it 100 fold. Jobs a good'un lads. This racing game will have the stamina of online racing that DiRT didnt have. I played the demo and the demo doesnt really do it enough justice. The full game is packed with SP racing events, cars, MP racing, drifting ....you name it. BUY IT NOW!