thirdworldgamer

Pictures of Race Driver: Grid that I took with a DSLR: (Note: the game has no photo mode and doesn't let you save race replays.) - The graphics are so incredible when this game is in motion.....gave me the exact same feeling I got when I played PGR4 last year. It's just exhiliratingly fast! - The best advantage of this game is the career mode, which feels more involved and interesting. I like the idea of having a racing teammate. Also, those 20 car races are just EPIC. - It doesn't take too much of your time. Only a few menu screens to navigate before you get to the actual race. - The racing itself is so exciting and intense. Those two words describe it perfectly. The game never feels as ridiculous as Burnout, but there's a lot more drama and fantastic moments that happen every race compared to racing sims like Forza 2 or Gran Turismo. As a result, you'll never fall asleep on the wheel. There's always something happening at every lap, be it an accident, spin-out...

The Japan racing league is really interesting. If it hasn't been mentioned yet, there are three leagues in the game, one set in American street tracks (usually inside cities a'la PGR series; and there is also a destruction derby mode), another one set in European racing tracks (touring cars and F1000 - F3 cars), and a Japanese league (which feature touge races and drift races). I'm really beginning to like the diversity of styles of racing in this game. It's practically several racing games rolled into one. The only type of racing not featured is RALLY racing, which I guess goes to the Codemasters' DIRT racing series. Spent a bit more time with the Japanese league today. Drift racing has two types (that I've tried so far)....the regular 'Drifting' competition where you have to score points and score higher than everyone else....then there's the FREESTYLE drift competition, where the game puts you in an area that's wide open (though there are road...

I've got nothing but love for this racing game. It sucks you in with the first race, which is just incredibly exciting and straightforward. The controls are simplified compared to something like Forza 2, but the benefit is that your mind is focused on the race and not struggling with simulation controls on a gamepad. The cars move and feel fantastic. Each race feels different and it's quite an experience to have a car that can tumble around and flip over! The damage modeling is insane. What did other devs say about car manufacturers not allowing damage? Clearly, those devs must have been lying....because Codemasters gets away with it, and wonderfully so. Damage is a huge factor in your races. You can get totalled and be removed from the race completely. Your car's performance will suffer with each kind of damage that you can get (engine, steering, suspension, transmission---each part can get damaged pretty severely if you aren't careful). And it's pretty dishearteni...

Based on my impressions from their respective demos, both of these games will be big hits with gamers everywhere. Now I couldn't buy both because of budget constraints, and I ordered GRID first and I don't want to cancel that order even if the Ninja Gaiden II demo which came out later on was so incredibly awesome. I really, REALLY want to buy NGII but real life demands that I eat and pay the bills, hehehe. Eventually I will pick up NGII...with the announcement that it's the last in the series, Ninja Gaiden II is now officially an interesting piece of video game history.