A huge load of fun, and still possibly the best handling arcade racer to date. Not dumbed down... requires actual skill
I tried this a year or 2 ago with a gamepad and didn't quite get into it. At the time I didn't have the luxury to spend as many days as possible getting the hang of the handling. Maybe it's because I'm not a gamepad user in general, or maybe its cause the game requires a decent amount of skill... I dunno.
I've tried it again now that I have a G25 wheel and have had a decent portion of LFS and rFactor simming.
* Grid is no sim, it's arcadey... and is alot of fun as an arcade racer
* Drifting... this has to be THE BEST use of drifting in a game to date (2010). LFS does great drifting, but that's got some awesome physics at work and is quite hard to do properly. NFS Underground may have handled arcade drifting well for its time, but Grid blows that away.
* A good variety of race modes, car types, and tracks
* Racing often involves alot of power sliding... massive E-brake powerslides only work with the drifters. The subtle powerslides here are fun, but would really kill performance in any car with real phsyics... just keep that in mind if you're coming into this from a sim background.
* career mode is pretty cool... it's just about right for what this game is.... not too deep, not too shallow
* tracks are nicely layed out
* damage & rewind mechnic is pretty damn cool. It's nice to have a genuine consequence for driving like a moron. Smashing into a wall at high speed means GAME OVER... you may be able to rewind, but only so many times. Even minor damage will have an effect on your handling/performance... hardcore sims would really benefit from having this sense of damage "awareness."
* Still looks pretty by 2010 standards
* Works beautifully with a G25 if you're willing to adapt to the physics. FFB isn't as good as LFS, but what is!?! Just twiddle with your Logitech Profiler (or whatever if you're using a Fanatec, etc)... increase your wheel degree settings, etc. There is no clutch support, but this is an arcade game, you don't really care in the end.... you'll end up loading up rFactor anyway for a real skill fix, don't stress over it.
I haven't tried multiplayer yet, and probably won't because in 2010, from what I've heard and read, it's fairly dry as a regular online community.... waiting for Grid 2 I suppose.
Again... this is not a sim. If you enjoyed the "fun" factor that Dirt 1 and 2 gave, Grid is right up your alley. You will LOVE it. If you liked the idea of NFS Shift but hated how the physics and AI were handled, you'll find this fairly enjoyable. If you're a hardcore sim racer, you can enjoy this as a novelty... so long as you're not an elitist snob.
In 2010, eagerly waiting news about when Grid 2 is done... probably in 2011 after Dirt 3 is out. Grid 1 is alot of fun in the meantime, and well worth playing if you want to make the transition into Grid 2... I'd imagine the drifting style will be similar.