Hot on the heels of GRID: Autosport’s near-to-release announcement and early video footage, the first details of content have now come through.
GRID: Autosport – A Sepang Panorama
Beginning with the tracks, there’s an alluring list comprising of some 22 locations and as they currently stand, a total of 115 configurations across those regions. To add some perspective to those figures, Codemasters has said that GRID: Autosport contains more circuits than Race Driver: GRID and GRID 2 combined.
It’s cool to add that a selection of the venues will feature both day and night-time events. All the better to show off Codemasters’ ever-pleasing and now-improved visuals! I can already foresee the feeling of disappointment where evening races aren’t available, but it’s still a positive that such variety exists for a fair portion of the places available in the game.
Closed Courses…
| Autodromo do Algarve | Circuit of the Americas | Mount Panorama |
| Brands Hatch | Autosport Speedway | Hockenheimring |
| Indianapolis | Intercity Istanbul Park | Circuito del Jarama |
| Circuit Mont Tremblant | Okutama | Red Bull Ring |
| Sepang International Circuit | Spa-Francorchamps | Yas Marina Circuit |
Indianapolis is a notable inclusion for featuring Sport, GP, Oval, Infield, North circuits. It reflects the sentiments of the game perfectly, including something in that selection that fans of different championships will know and want to see. Overall, though it’s always easy to point out what’s missing, GRID: Autosport provides a considered and appreciated ‘Best of’ when it comes to the World’s racing courses. As with the car choices, there’s old and new and the picking’s good!
In the City…
| Barcelona | Chicago | Detroit |
| Dubai | Paris | San Francisco |
| Washington |
The city locales are surprisingly daylight-only events. Of the closed courses, Mount Panorama, Autosport Speedway, Indianapolis, Intercity Istanbul Park, Circuito del Jarama and Austria’s Red Bull Ring will host purely daytime events.
Returning to the ‘in yer face’ competition of earlier GRID games, the city racing appears to be slightly pared down when compared to how the closed-circuit venues in Autosport spread over much of the globe. It’s asking a lot but to offer a couple of examples, it would have been nice to see more from Asia and Australia here – even in ‘imagined’ rather than real-world form. Any fan of V8 Supercars will know that there’s a wealth of challenging and exciting courses Down Under.
Across the Blacktop…
Classified into their cars’ respective racing groups, GRID: Autosport makes a further division into three sub-tiers. All together, that makes for some 79 cars!
GRID: Autosport – At Night
Touring Cars
With a nod to Codemasters’ successes of the PlayStation era, GRID: Autosport sets off well with a World-covering spread of high-powered touring machines – starting off as it means to go on with the inclusion of a couple of classics.
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|
| CAT C TOURING CARS | CAT B TOURING CARS | CAT A TOURING CARS |
| Honda Civic Touring Car | Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (Cat B Special) | Peugeot 408 SCB |
| Ford Focus ST Touring Car | Audi RS5 (Cat B Special) | ADC Presteza-14 |
| Chevrolet Cruze Touring Car | ||
| BMW 320 Touring Car | ||
| CLASSIC MINI CUP | SUPER UTES | SUPER TOURERS |
| MINI Miglia | Ford Racing Ute | Ford Falcon FG |
| Holden VE Commodore Ute | Holden VF Commodore | |
| MINI CUP | CLASSIC TOURING CAR CUP | |
| Mini John Cooper Works Challenge | Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth Group A | |
| Nissan (R32) Skyline GT-R Group A, 1991 |
Endurance
Leaning onto the foundation of the modern GRID series, we next get a look at the cars for longer events. Once again, it’s a wonderful cocktail of new and historic icons.
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|
| ENDURANCE GT GROUP 2 | ENDURANCE GT GROUP 1 | ENDURANCE GT ULTIMATE |
| Audi R8 LMS Ultra | Nissan 2008 (R25) GT-R | Lola B12/80 |
| Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 | Nismo GT500 | |
| McLaren 12C GT3 | Honda HSV-010 GT | |
| Aston Martin N24 V12 Zagato | ||
| SHELBY CUP | FORD GT40 CUP | MAZDA 787B CUP |
| Shelby Cobra 'Daytona' Coupe | Ford GT40 MK1 | Mazda 787B |
Open-Wheel
In this post-TOCA, GRID environment, the garage wouldn’t be complete without some open-wheelers and there’s novelty for everyone through a combination of European road-legal track cars and ‘Formula’ categories that ultimately reaches IndyCar.
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|
| FORMULA C | FORMULA B | FORMULA A |
| Dallara F312 | Lola B05/52 | Dallara IndyCar |
| LIGHTWEIGHT CUP | ARIEL ATOM V8 CUP | SUPER-LIGHTWEIGHT CUP |
| Ariel Atom 3.5 | Ariel Atom 500 V8 | Caparo T1 |
| KTM X-Bow R | ||
| CATERHAM SP/300.R | ||
| Caterham SP/300.R |
Tuner
Moving to Tuner Class, Codemasters has lined up everything from modern and older classic American muscle cars to a range of widely known names from Honda, Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi.
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|
| MUSCLE | MODIFIED | SUPER-MODIFIED |
| Ford Mustang Boss 302 | Ford Mustang Boss 302 Modified | Mazda Panspeed RX-7 (FD3S) |
| Chevrolet Camaro SS | Chevrolet Camaro SS Modified | Honda 5sigen Civic |
| Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 | Honda S2000 Modified | |
| JDM | C2 DRIFT | C1 DRIFT |
| Nissan 2003 (S15) Silvia Spec-R Aero | Nissan 2003 (S15) Silvia Drift Tuned | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Team Orange |
| Honda S2000 | Nissan 2004 (Z34) 350 Nismo Drift Tuned | Nissan 2011 (Z34) Chris Forsberg Racing 370Z |
| Mazda RX-7 Type RZ (FD3S) | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) Drift Tuned | Nissan 1993 (S13) Daijiro Yoshihara 240SX |
| CLASSIC MUSCLE CUP | NISSAN SKYLINE CUP | NSX CUP |
| Dodge Charger R/T | Nissan 2005 (R34) nismo GT-R Z-Tune | Honda NSX R |
| Plymouth AAR Cuda |
Street
GRID: Autosport’s car list concludes with the Street category. Keeping up with the preceding groups, Street holds a wide remit. Codemasters has chosen to take the player on a driving journey that begins with accessible hot hatches and bounds through a selection of grand tourers. From there, it stops not at mere supercars but extends to ‘Concept‘ and the might of the latest hypercars of McLaren, Bugatti, Pagani and Koenigsegg.
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|
| HOT HATCH | PERFORMANCE | SUPERCAR |
| Mini John Cooper Works GP | BMW M3 Coupe | Pagani Huayra |
| Ford Focus ST | Audi RS 5 Coupe | SRT Viper GTS |
| Volkswagen Golf R | Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG | Mazda Furai |
| McLaren 12C | ||
| Aston Martin One-77 | ||
| COUPE | GRAND TOURER | HYPERCAR |
| Honda Integra Type R DC5 | Aston Martin Vanquish | McLaren P1 |
| BMW 1 Series M Coupe | Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series | Pagani Zonda Revolución |
| Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport | |
| Koenigsegg Agera R | ||
| LANCIA DELTA CUP | BMW E30 M3 CUP | MCLAREN F1 CUP |
| Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo 2 | BMW E30 Sport Evo | McLaren F1 GT |
From a Certain Point of View…
San Francisco Rises – A GRID Series Icon
As any racing game fan will know, GRID 2 included an immediately contentious ‘feature’ – the loss of a cockpit view. I’m sure like many other companies in this time of Internet-connected analysis, the Codemasters devs chose – or were ‘encouraged’ – to go with the numbers. The claim back then was that a mere 5 percent of players adopted an in-car view – a low figure that though not inconceivable, nonetheless isolated the long-term followers and near-guaranteed buyers of games in the series. The word now is that the vociferous feedback registered with the right people and not one but two first-person views will be included in GRID: Autosport.
With the tracks and cars covered, we’re going to take a more detailed look at GRID: Autosport in the near future as we learn what to expect later this month. The day of release is the 27th of June and the game will reach the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Discounted pre-orders are available, with GAME offering a GRID: Autosport Black Edition for each format.
The Black Edition will include:
- Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Coupé Black Series Car
- Black Edition White Ravenwest Liveries
- 20 Black Edition Online Livery Patterns
- 10 New Premium Sponsers with Objectives
Early pricing is £5.00 lower than usual, making the PC version £29.99 and the Xbox 360 and PS3 alternatives each carrying a £34.99 price tag.
For digital copies on the PC, “pre-purchases” are available on Steam already and early purchases will have a 10 percent discount. The offer takes GRID: Autosport to £29.99 (GBP) or around €49.99 (Euros) and $49.99 (USD).
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