Codemasters have emerged from beneath the company car, oil-smeared but grinning. This new Codies is more responsive – and more amenable to flipping open its bonnet at a moment’s notice if something’s not right. Hence GRID Autosport – out on PC between June 24 and 27 this year.
“When you’re making games, you always have to make choices – which features to include, what emphasis to put on various aspects of gameplay,” said the devs of the series’ last iteration, GRID 2.
“Even if we had unlimited resources (we don’t by the way!) there’s always people who are going to be disappointed. And we’re obviously aware, that some of you were. We’re not ok with that.”
The game trailered above is a minimalist celebration of motorsports that more closely resembles Forza than some of GRID’s arcadey stablemates. Codies say it’s a “descendant” of the TOCA Touring Cars series that GRID grew from – and a response to the concerns of their “core community”.
“On release of GRID 2, I think it’s fair to say that through listening to you guys and after a substantial amount of reflection, we hadn’t quite achieved everything we set out to do,” wrote Codemasters community man Ben Walke.
“We’re proud of the game, really delighted with some of the great reviews for it, but we’re not above admitting that we made a few decisions that perhaps we shouldn’t have, and perhaps moved some of the aspects of the game too far away from our core fanbase.”
The Community Patch that followed GRID 2’s release damped the fires somewhat – but Autosport represents a “pivot” driven by player feedback.
“If GRID 2 raced off into a more narrative-led world of racing with more accessible controls, it’s clear that for many of you, that wasn’t what you wanted or expected,” elaborated Walke. “So with GRID Autosport we had the opportunity to make a much more focussed motorsport game, a desire that many of you have expressed directly to us, and a game that in spirit goes back to some of our earlier titles in terms of content and handling.
“TL:DR – Yes, we have an in-car view, two in fact.”
Coo! I do wonder whether, even with Forza and Turismo confined to the consoles, Project CARS has proper driving sim types covered on the PC. But who can deny Codies, with all their experience and devotees, their own spot on that grid?