The game is centred around the fictional World Series Racing (WSR) organisation that has given you the task of signing up racing drivers from around the world and building up the series' fanbase, and we're not talking DIRT 3's hundred or so fans at a time, oh no. You should be aiming for hundreds of thousands of fans, and only your skill will create a popular series. Spurred on by the organiser Patrick Callahan and some nicely made ESPN pieces, you start out in the USA's club racing scene to build up your (and WSR's) reputation, before WSR properly gets going. You'll also try to capture audiences in Europe and Asia.
The game features four tiers of cars, from classic Mustangs and Camaros in tier one right up to GT3 cars in tier four. There is a reasonable mixture of cars, but a wider selection of vehicles would have been nicer. The circuits are mostly fictional, with only a few real circuits included in the game, including Brands Hatch (hooray!), Yas Marina, Dubai Autodrome, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and so on. The vast majority of tracks in the game are fictitious street circuits to maximise the potential of the new LiveRoutes system, where the track changes at several points throughout the race. Whilst this is a good idea in principle, the sections of track do begin to repeat very quickly. Nevertheless, LiveRoutes still gets a thumbs up.
The new TrueFeel handling model is absolutely superb. Grid 2 is able to straddle the line between sim racer and arcade at 200mph and leave an enormous grin on your face in the process. There is a real sense of feel as you plough through the turns, and you can tell when the grip is starting to go, allowing you to slide elegantly (providing you are more dainty than me, anyway) around the corner. You can really feel the difference between every single car in the game, and it rewards you for taking the time to get to know each individual vehicle inside out. Add to that the devastating damage and you have a great all-rounder. Fortunately, the superb damage model isn't all-consuming, as the flashback feature returns to give you a helping hand. Like the original Grid game, flashbacks are the only assists you will get in the game, meaning that it is just you versus everything else. No excuses. Pure driving fun.
The graphics must not be forgotten either. Seeing bits of newspaper waft around in the air in Chicago of intermittent rays of sunshine through the trees in California are just two of the highlights of the gorgeous looking graphics that Grid 2 has to offer. The cars look great, too, as do most of the tracks. A couple, though, do look a bit dull (particularly in Hong Kong), but you won't really notice when you are blasting along at what feels like half the speed of sound, will you? The AI is also top class. They make the occasional mistake under pressure, giving you a chance to nip up the inside at the last corner, but they can also play dirty if you choose to.
There are a couple of niggles though. Firstly, there is a maximum race distance of just five laps in the custom race mode, which feels a bit stingy. There is also the absence of a cockpit cam, but I won't miss it too much as it feels like the money and effort saved by dumping that has gone straight into making the rest of the game as good as possible.
Overall, Grid 2 is an excellent game and well worth a buy.
GAME RATING: 85/100
"Pure driving fun"
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