Gaming

Grid Autosport Switch review – Reader’s Feature


GRID Autosport (NS) – a serious racer for the Switch

A reader offers his view on the new Switch version of Grid Autosport and describes it as one of the console’s best-looking games.

Since the Nintendo Switch’s Release in March 2017, one complaint from myself and others has been its lack of a serious racer to play. Sure, you’ve got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Gear.Club but neither of them could be classed as a sim racer. Luckily, Codemasters and Feral Interactive have answered my prayers.

GRID Autosport was originally a last gen release, an apology letter to GRID fans after its woeful sequel. Autosport was developed in 14 months and was a game I really wanted to play. But releasing on last gen consoles in 2014, and never having been ported to the current gen, meant I missed out. So news of a digital release on the Switch had me very excited.

During my time with GRID Autosport, I’ve found myself 10 seasons into the career mode. Rather than starting in a slow car and making you work your way up, all five disciplines are open from the start and you can switch back and forth as much or as little as you choose. It’s a refreshing change to not have to be forced to take part in disciplines I don’t want to, and this open approach was adopted by both Project CARS and is returning in the GRID reboot just around the corner.

From the five disciplines on offer, you can choose from Touring, Open Wheel, Endurance, Tuner, and Street. There’s no lack of variety and it shows after choosing one, as you’ll be offered two teams to race for with different team objectives. This happens with any discipline you choose, but sadly the objectives are nothing more than an XP award. But obviously GRID Autosport would be nothing if it didn’t play any good.

As with every Codemasters game, it plays fantastically. They’ve always been masters at making racing games feel very realistic but also easy to pick and play and this is no exception. Every car I’ve used has had its own feel, for instance an American muscle car can feel slow to accelerate, whilst a McLaren P1 is a beast that needs taming due to its high speed and sensitive steering.

HD Rumble does a great job further improving the feel of each car, with bumps in the road and collisions vibrating realistically. It can have a steep learning curve, but there’s a mountain of assists to help a racing noob to be able to play well.

Graphically, Feral Interactive have to be praised for their work on this Switch port. In ‘Graphics’ mode It runs at 1080p 30fps in docked mode and has kept that performance consistently for the past 10 hours of play time. You’ll see beautifully realised cars, amazing reflections, and lovely filtered rays of sunshine on the track. It stands up brilliantly and is a visual treat to behold and easily one of the best-looking games on the Switch.

But if you’re not liking the locked 30fps and want 60fps with graphical elements knocked down, ‘Performance’ mode has you covered. I didn’t use it much but it’s nice to see a developer go the extra mile, especially when it was in development for well over a year.

Considering there are five different racing disciplines to play, brilliant graphics and handling on offer, how much content is there? Packed with all the DLC, Autosport contains more than 100 cars and 27 tracks, from Brands Hatch to the streets of Chicago. And with all the variations of each track, there’s well over 100 to master.

The career mode is chock full of content with the GRID World Series to reach by getting enough XP through races. There’s quick race and time trial options to muck around with and a side of drag racing and demolition derby. And as promised by Feral Interactive, a free multiplayer update will be added to keep you playing for at least 20+ hours. It’s fair to say it totally justifies it’s £30 price tag, just on content alone.

With GRID Autosport now on the Switch, there is now no better racing game on the system. It plays and looks outstanding in both docked and handheld modes, and with at least 20 hours of content across five racing disciplines in the career mode, there’s now no arguing about its price tag.

If you’re a racing junkie who was hoping for a serious racer or a casual guy looking for some quick races, there’s now a new king in town. An essential purchase.

By reader Charlie Ridgewell

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.





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