Next In Racing Games: Grid 2

It’s a rare thing that I become excited by racing games at the moment. My favourite racing games are more arcade racers, pulse pounding, light on the physics and just about raw speed (jamming your finger on the boost button) and of course, drifting. It would be no surprise then that my favourite racing games are pretty much all Burnout games. Nothing, and I mean nothing, feels quite as good as starting up Burnout: Takedown and mashing up some metal, gears and carbon fibre, dodging traffic and racers, feverishly aiming for the finish line. However, I do enjoy racing simulations and of course I started, as all racing simulator fans start these days, with Gran Turismo.

I was engrossed with Gran Turismo 3. The sweet satisfaction of nailing the apex of a turn and driving fluidly around the track … it’s all about perfection and satisfied the other side of the gaming racer in me. The ceaseless compulsion for that perfect race. But although the perfect simulator, we all want innovation and a step forward, and I felt Gran Turismo 4 wasn’t that, and after the long wait I was severely disappointed.

I carved to fill the gap in my life – my gaming shelf remained bare of racing games – but soon the good times rolled. I reintroduced myself to the british Wipeout series with the downloadable Wipeout Fury/HD boxset after being unsuccessful at mastering the PS2 Wipeout Fusion (considered by many a backwards step in the series). I then grabbed for the newest open world Burnout: Paradise, but the open world ruined the arcade feel and love I had for the series, so when I heard that Citerion, the developer behind Burnout, were looking to develop a Need for Speed game I groaned, but Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit turned out to be the first perfect ‘Cops and Racers’ kind of game to actually work. But it still didn’t manage to keep my attention for too long.

One racing game that really grabbed me in my second year of university though was Grid from Codemasters. It was the perfect blend of simulation meeting the loose and sweet manic control of an arcade racer. All put together with a great campaign. That’s why, for the first time in many many years, I’m excited for a racing game, and that game is Grid 2 with a 2013 release date in the works.

Image Link: Autoblog.com