Codemasters wants to tell more stories in racing games. After F1 2021 (test), the new grid will be the next title that connects races with a red thread and is intended to add more drama to the events on the track.
The tight one The announcement promises action on the route, a high variety of events and an “immersive story”. It should tell in the style of a documentary – here, for example, the hugely successful Netflix format “Drive to Survive” sends its regards – and is the star in the trailer. Competitors can introduce themselves there, with the cast also including managers and providing insights into the paddock.
Once again, the fictional Ravenwest team, which is the traditional opponent in the series, becomes a major antagonist. It becomes clear that Codemasters is taking the action off the track to produce motorsport stories. The competitors are played by real actors who, like in The Mandalorian, are planted in front of virtual backgrounds with “extended reality technology”. Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) appears as the star of the cast. This approach promises to be a sensible evolution of the grid reboot, which brings quite entertaining races to the screen, but packs them dust-dry.
Routes and fleet
Once again, a mixture of real and fictitious routes is used. There should be a choice of 130 routes that can be traveled by over 100 vehicles. These include street circuits in London or Moscow, for example, but also classic slopes such as Brands Hatch and Indianapolis. In the new “Race Creator” mode, players can also determine the parameters of the races themselves. This allows vehicles of several classes to be admitted for an event, explains Codemasters.
The driving model remains in the arcade area. Tension on the track should again produce a “personality AI” through which computer drivers show different behaviors. In this area, Grid has been struggling for a long time, but without resounding success.
Grid Legends should appear in 2022 for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S as well as the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and the PC.