The Grid games have been through a couple of moderate reinventions since the TOCA spin-off franchise first debuted just over a decade ago. For this fourth instalment – simply titled Grid – Codemasters has instead hit the reset button, opting for an overt return to this series’ 2008 roots rather than yet another metamorphosis. Grid Junior is very much the resurrection of 2008’s Grid Senior and, like its namesake, it straddles the line between arcade thrills and something slightly more demanding, delivering exciting and dramatic racing action alongside a modern makeover.
Codemasters has earned a good deal of acclaim in recent years for its aggressively hard-nosed racing sims like the F1 series and Dirt Rally, but you should know that Grid is an altogether different beast. With some tinkering in the options menu it can certainly be massaged into a mildly intimidating challenge that’ll spin around drivers who grab too much throttle while trying to hustle through an apex – and there’s always the spectre of dealing with terminal damage without those optional rewinds if you so choose – but iRacing this is not. In its default state, Grid is a grippy, hard-braking, and super-responsive racer that errs towards the arcade end of the spectrum, and I can’t fault it for being faithful to the spirit of its forebear. It’s fun to drive.
