first impression personally is that i can see myself taking it back to EB within the week lol. just dont like handling at all, but dont take my word for it, it seems to have generally received more positive reviews. but with gt6 and project cars soonish, this would not end up being played at all after a few weeks and there are some other games id get for $80
all I can add - .. it is 720p on PS3 ...and night and day vs the promo clips from PC version... thumbs down
mine went back the following monday, tried the cars in endurance mode and hated the handling, it mightve been sorta fun for a bit, but no $80..probs buy again when its around the $30 mark, whenever that may be
So I remember reading back many months ago about the speculation on Codemasters next title, and the promising signs that they were employing some touring car drivers as advisors. The hype was bubbling. All of a sudden I walked into EB last week with some mates and we played some 'Knack' and had a good laugh. When we were leaving I saw a good shelf full of this new GRID title and almost wet myself with excitement. Can it be?! The holy successor to Codies last touring car racing simulator of over 8 years ago?? The culmination of 4 years honing F1 to the best arcade-simulator racer in existence? 'Where was the marketing?' I preached to my friends. Here I was looking at this new Codies title that I'm sure had not been commercially known a few months ago, and the box claimed it to be a valient return to circuit racing. I had to stop myself buying it then and there. After going home thinking about how cheated I was having purchased GRID2 on release, I set about to find out about this new game. Research didn't last long. It only took one review to know I didn't want it. This is still not the game we want from Codemasters. Based simply upon what I could see was terrible handling that was just tinkered with from GRID2 and the lack of pitstops, I won't be getting it soon. I've resigned myself to the fact that Project CARS is going to be what I always wanted Codies to make... Since I don't own it, I'm sure there's more reasons and criticisms, but I'm just conveying my annoyance with Codemasters. They could have gone further (and perhaps they still will one day) than just a re-skinned GRID. The F1 games are still the utmost quality that I remember from Codemasters during the Colin McRae and V8 Supercars days. Thank god F1 games are still a demonstration of what Codemasters COULD make of a touring car racing simulator.
You know the game I was thinking about the other day that I wished would of kept going?: I loved this title, and it got stolen, I went to my local game store to be told there was no stock left in Australia and no re-prints scheduled, I was so upset. It had everything, my favourite part was having to bankroll your own team and only race the series you could afford to maintain your car in.
I'm writing again here because I've had around 1 hour hands-on time with it in store at JB Hi-Fi on PS3 with a pad. I need to apologise a little bit to Codies because they have incorporated a few elements that make the circuit racing good, but ultimately, it's still an unfortunately lackluster title. It doesn't kick as much punch as the official series that V8 Supercars had on offer, but they did well to really get the 'race weekend' vibe down with the qualifying and practice sessions. Handling was what I expected, and way too easy to pick up with every single assist turned off. Very first time I picked up the controller I jacked difficulty to maximum (Very Hard) with all assists Off. First race I qualified last (expected) and was 2 seconds off the pace, so it was promising up to that point. Then the race started, and I managed to make my way through to 8th (halfway up 16 grid) before going in too hot to a hairpin. Finished 14th, so I got to start 3rd in the reverse grid for the next race of the weekend. After passing those 2 cars in front within one corner, I managed to edge out a gap to 2nd place that looked (with a visual reference) roughly the size of the entire field by the end. I didn't enjoy the fact that I made it as hard as possible for myself and I still managed to trounce the AI using a pad. After that, I just browsed through the cars and had a spin of Bathurst in some touring cars and it felt pretty sweet on nostalgia. Then tried Yas Marina in one of the Formula C cars and I couldn't get around even the first corner without oversteering, so the technicality does exist. It felt too much like GRID though - remodelled to specialise circuit racing. That's not enough in my opinion. By no means does it suck, and I think it's great to finally have a last generation touring car racer from Codies, but it's way too late in the life-cycle to cause ripples or grab my attention. I would have received this game very, very well in 2012.
I got it when it came out ... Played for couple of days ... Then it got monotonous ... And the graphics are really bad on PS3 - pc different story - then I just traded it in for infinity 2.0 for the young ones
I'll never buy a Codies game again on PC or PS3 for that matter, after Colin Mcrae's "Dirt" they went down hill fast in my opinion and became more interested in cheap "knock it out asap" titles, their F1 series was a joke and it's taken till F1 2014 for them to get remotely close to a decent F1 release with that series, I have F1 2012 on PC played it for like 3 hrs and walked away totally disappointed, still haven't fired it up again till this day. Just my opinion. Cheers
