I absolutely loved Grid Autosport and Grid 2. Sadly this game felt like a hollow shell of what used to be a phenomenal racing series with a nice balance of good physics and tons of car choices for a given class.

For the Pros: the game looks really good, and offers a wide range of race styles. It also includes cut scenes with paid actor dialogue, which is an awesome idea, if only executed well.

And the Cons: This game is, on the whole, superficial. Diverse caste, diverse racing leagues, diverse car offerings. But look no closer because there is really nothing more to see. The characters are so generic that it would have been better to not spend so much focus on them anyway, and none of them even seem like a nod to any famous racing drivers you might actually know. The multitude of racing categories ends up feeling shallow, and if you play through the main story-line, you switch between categories so fast you never truly get to enjoy any single one. And since the categories are so spread out, and each category so broad, you don't get the option of dozens of cars to choose between for the same category that all race competitively.

In the end, I think it would have been better for Grid Legends to choose just one racing category to really explore thoroughly, and either figure out how to write compelling dialogue, or skip the major production cut scenes all together.

(Obtained access via EA Play, did not buy myself)

It pretty much feels like a "Best Of" Album of a Band you like - apart from the one bonus / unreleased song there are no surprises. Depending on how much you like the Band, that's not a bad thing necessarily. The GRID Series took quite some hours of my life and turned it into Playtime, so I like it - kinda.

Codemasters put quite some effort into this title, you get that from the start on - Live Action Scenes, Refurbished Tracks from previous Games, good audio Quality, a lot of Banter and general Communications, etc.

And a story. A story really, just some story. I don't think that many people expect a lot from racing game stories, and neither do I. The most annoying point which made me skip the story cutscenes very soon was that it does not correspond to your actual racing success at all. Some detail that should be in a game released in 2022. It might have been a budget or time constraint, but makes me ask why the story in the first place. E.g., your teammate sometimes falls back into the deep fourth quarter of the Grid, you're on Position 1, yet in the cutscene or voice message she'll let you know that you better "keep up with her" :/

Physics and overall driving feels expectedly, but well made arcady - no Simulation attempts like in Autosport. Sometimes though the feeling of the car is somewhat off - I can't even tell you what it is, but you think it should do what it's able to.

As said, the sound design of engines and environment is fine, the tracks feel like the event is happening, the game tries to sell you it is, and most events / disciplines feel well balanced and are fun to me.

If you're the owner of an EA Play Pass, give it a try definitely, but unsure if it's worth paying full price for, as it's quite steep for what you get.

I'm old. I loved (and still own) the original Racedriver GRID, but it's a PITA to get it running right on newer systems. This has everything I personally wanted from a GRID game, and more - and it looks beautiful.