GRID Legends Preview

Quite a lot can change over the course of a couple of years—we’ve only to look at the still-ongoing pandemic for proof of that. However, will it do the same for one of the beloved racing game franchises from Codemasters? Hopefully, GRID Legends is the answer to that question.

GRID (2019) was good fun, but felt like something was missing from the earlier titles in the series. Career progression was mostly just a series of events laid out in front of you to tackle one by one, without much in the way of reasoning for doing so. Gone was any gritty backstory to help it along, and outside of the introduction and final showdown, there wasn’t a great deal of fanfare throughout. GRID Legends is set to change that with the reintroduction of a story called “Driven to Glory”. With live action mixed reality cutscenes featuring Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa (Eric Effiong), it’s touted as being somewhat like the Netflix series Drive to Survive in terms of delivery. If you’ve played F1 2021’s “Braking Point” story mode, you can expect more of the same here.

Outside of the story mode, there is a career mode in which you’ll take your own team through a season featuring over 250 events across a whole multitude of car classes, including newcomers to the GRID series like Stadium Trucks and Electric (with boosts). These events also feature 22 cars on the grid, up from 16, so races should be plenty hectic even against the AI. Also returning are fan-favourite modes like Drift and Elimination, and anyone that just read the word “drift” and started to smirk will be happy to know that the Yokohama Docks are also returning.

Speaking of AI, GRID Legends features some unique driver AI that allows them to have different personalities on track; some will be more aggressive and stick their elbows out to stop you getting past them, and others will be more skilful, utilising the brakes and cornering better to try and outmanoeuvre the player where possible. This goes alongside the AI choreographer which will look to ensure that the AI drivers may make mistakes the same way a human would, or that they suffer from mechanical failures that lead to their own race not being a guaranteed finish. In all, these features lead to the pack feeling much more dynamic than other racing games where the AI all neatly line up one behind the other waiting for their turn at the upcoming apex. Because of these features, the racing feels so much more alive.

There’s also going to be 22 different tracks at launch, with new locations in London, Moscow (incidentally this will be the longest street track ever to grace a GRID title), and the fictional Strada Alpina track, which aims to emulate a Le Mans type of layout. These tracks can also be covered in a chilly layer of snow, another new addition to the franchise which is sure to cause some problems—especially with the higher powered cars.

Finally, there’s the new Race Creator mode, which will allow you to create races in just about any combination that you like. Want a race of MINI versus Trucks on the Stadium Truck’s layout of London that features ramps in the rain and having boost zones usually reserved for the Electric car series? You can do just that, and then take it to the fully cross-platform/cross-generation multiplayer and play it with your friends.

Overall, with this many additions, GRID Legends sure is shaping up to be quite the game when it launches on 25th February, 2022. No-nonsense arcade racing is back, and it’s got GRID Legends’ name all over it.