When it comes to racing games, Codemasters seems to know the right formula to keeping gamers entertained and thrilled. With its previous effort being Colin McRae’s: DiRT, they never seem to let up. Their latest title, GRiD, is no different as they try to provide you with the most realistic racing experience you can come by. Codemasters recently released a demo for the game over Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. We decided to GRiD for a spin on the Xbox 360 to see how this game is different then your average racer.

Welcome

Codemasters’ latest effort in the racing genre seems to be larger in scope than DiRT. They don’t seem to have much competition in this genre and thus the developer has much more room to create and be as original as possible. Things become easier when you pitch an idea and you just run with it and that’s exactly what they seem to have done here with GRiD. It’s a street racer with some grittiness that seems to take off once you’re in the driver’s seat.

With some sleek features added to the main menu, GRiD tries to make you feel at home as you hear a nice introduction hearing your first name spoken by a nice, beautiful voice in the background. After choosing the event you’d like to participate in, you jump straight into the races. A detailed HUD gives you the standard stats that you always see in other racers.

From the looks of things, cars are very detailed. Tracks and various landscapes are also detailed enough to give the feeling that you’re really in the action. You’ll have plenty of cars to choose from in the final version of the game, but the choices are more limited in this demo. The game will start you off with a bit of cash, but you will have to earn just a bit more through more races in the single player. With ads plastered everywhere on every car in the lot you know you have yourself a realistic racer.

GRiD seems to have very nice multiplayer action to tag along with the single player campaign. With supported online play, GRiD is one racer that players may be jumping on for. Testing out the online, there doesn’t seem to be much lag and it’s simply fun. That’s all you can ask for from a racing game.

Controlling the cars themselves doesn’t take much of an effort although you may find the handling a bit too loose. Your trigger buttons are the brake and gas respectively, and you might be using that emergency brake a little too often. You will quickly gain speed as you head down the track but make sure you brake every once in a while as you will find yourself spinning out of control before you even realize it. Controls need to be tightened just a bit more before release and they’ll be close to perfect.

Conclusion

Running on its long-standing Neon engine, Codemasters has developed the right formula when it comes to the racing genre. GRiD will provide gamers with a sleek racing experience. Shipping June 3^rd, the game will come packed with the depth and fun, and that’s all a racing fan can ask for.

Written by: Jereme Puik, Staff Writer