New GRID on the Block

SELECT THE UPCOMING GAMES THAT DEMAND YOUR ATTENTION 35 GRID AUTOSPORT PC, 360, PS3 40 ACE COMBAT INFNITY PS3 42 RISE OF THE INCARNATES PC 46 APOTHEON PC 48 MARIO KART 8 Wii U 52 THE CREW PC, Xbox One PS4 54 MAIA PC 48 34 DAN STAINES tries not to hit anything GRID AUTOSPORT desperate to get away without haven’t driven since. PLATFORM: PS3, Xbox 360, PC being seen, I hurriedly backed This antipathy for all CATEGORY: Racing up and straight into another things automotive extends DEVELOPER: Codemasters Racing bin across the street. Being to videogames as well. I the only responsible adult like arcade racers just fine: PUBLISHER: Bandai Namco present, mum made me get out Project Gotham, Mario Kart, DUE: June 27 and clean up the mess that I’d and Burnout are all favourites made. It was there, squatting of mine, but anything that don’t have a driver’s license. in the gutter and picking up requires a modicum of IThe first and only time I drove other people’s garbage, that I expertise behind the wheel a car I slammed into an otto bin decided that driving was not for – Gran Turismo, Forza, Colin on the side of the road, spilling me. And much to the relief of McRae – leaves me cold. Worse its contents. Panicked and trash receptacles everywhere, I than cold: anxious. 35 DAS AUTO >> It was with some One term that kept coming trepidation, then, that I flew to up was “simcade” – a game Berlin to check out the latest that looks like a simulator, has installment of Codemasters’ all of the trappings of a sim, long-running GRID franchise, but under the hood is a much GRID Autosport. I’ve not simpler handling model.” played a GRID or a TOCA Autosport’s UI and overall before, mainly because aesthetic is spartan, clean. they struck me as hardcore There’s none of the flash and simulators for enthusiasts who pizazz of a game like Burnout own expensive – and let’s face 3 or the later Gothams – no it, massively dorky – steering wooshing menu transitions, wheel controllers. As it turns no hyperactive American DJs out, this is only half true. GRID oozing hi-octane pablum. It Autosport chief game designer wants to be taken seriously, is James Nicholls explains: the impression I got, because “When we got a bunch of the appearance of severity is VERTIGO INDUCING HILLS TEMPT people in from the community part of what makes it, and the YOU TO FLOOR THE ACCELERATOR before Christmas, we asked rest of the GRID series too I them what it was about the guess, such delicious fun. It “radically different” kinds of was sunny San Francisco, Race Driver games, and the flatters you with its trimmings, racing: touring cars, endurance, its tight layout and undulant first GRID in particular, that makes you feel like a Serious open-wheel, tuner, and street. geography perfect territory they really liked. And the thing Racing Game Person even During my (disappointingly for aggressive high-speed/ they kept coming back to time while you’re rocketing down a brief) hands-on session, I high risk driving. Vertigo and time again was that they’d 45° slope at a hundred miles sampled tour and street, inducing hills tempt you to used GRID almost as a kind of an hour. coming sixth in every race. floor the accelerator and palate cleanser. After they’d Which, I’m happy to say, is way damn the consequences while played something very, very FIVE FLAVOURS >> One of better than I thought I’d do – tight corners leave opponents serious and hardcore, they Autosport’s big selling points, especially after seeing Nicholls vulnerable to a well placed loved to come back to the kind hammered on repeatedly by come sixth in his race a few shunt, nudge, or screeching of cathartic, blast around the the developers and their PR minutes prior. full-body powerslam. Naked track race that GRID offered. people, is that it features five The venue for street racing aggression is a viable tactic Here in my car, I feel safest of all... 36 driving clean. “One thing we’re who prefer the “sim” end of very proud of is how human the “simcade” spectrum will like the AI racers are,” says gravitate toward open wheel Nicholls. “Individual drivers in racing (e.g. formula one, the game have got their own sprint cars) for its emphasis characteristics – they might be on precision, control, and more aggressive, for instance, tactical forethought. Tuner or more prone to making competitions, meanwhile, are mistakes – and you’ll see that for car nerds who know what on the track.” terms like “double overhead Of the three autosports I cam” and “stoichiometric ratio” didn’t try, endurance racing refer to – the kind of people seems the most interesting and who’ll spend hours, days, also the most intimidating. It’s weeks constructing garish basically a very long race, a eyesores unsuited for any test of the driver’s stamina and purpose save showboating. and doesn’t the AI know it. the car’s durability. “What’s Expect neon lit undercarriages. Even on normal, my fellow really nice in endurance racing EXPERT street racers were a pack is that the field really stretches THERE’S NO “I” IN “TEAM” >> of belligerent, vindictive out, so you’ve got [AI] guys “Autosport is about getting the ADVICE arseholes. who are quite aggressive early experience right,” says Nicholls. As well as consulting their fans, Nicholls tells me that drivers on but then they wear their “It’s about what you’d expect Codemasters Racing has frequently possess unique behaviors for tires out and will gradually get racing to feel like, not what solicited the advice of real racing drivers all five of the game’s titular clawed back into the pack. it actually would be like.” Its durig Autosport’s development. This autosports. I got slammed in Then you’ve got guys who’ll chief concern, in other words, includes luminaries like [British touring car San Francisco because that’s hold back and then in the last is not realism but authenticity. champion] Matt Neal and members of the European All-Star series. “We also worked a just how street racers roll – few laps they’ve got that extra Nicholls wants to facilitate lot with Autosport magazine,” says Nicholls. fast and furious, like in that bit of grip to really attack and your (non-sexual) race driver “The editors of Autosport actually used to movie, Death Race. Touring car push ahead.” fantasies and is willing to play TOCA Race Driver on their lunchbreaks drivers are more disciplined Based on promotional tweak the laws of physics to and were long-time fans of the series.” and restrained, jostling when material and Nicholls’ achieve that end. Reproducing they have to but otherwise comments, I suspect players the quirks and spasms of real RACENET The online component of GRID Autosport is handled by RaceNet, the racing equivalent of Bizzard’s Battle.net – i.e. a dedicated internet ecosystem/match making service/ community hub. In much the same way that there are clans and guilds in games like CoD and Warcraft, Autosport supports clubs, which players may form and race against each other to their heart’s content. I can lock all my doors... 37 world automobiles is desirable the team system contributes only to the extent that it aids to Autosport’s experiential immersion. “With cars, what we mission, Nicholls responds SCUZE ME MATE COULD I quite often do is start with real with an experience of his BORROW A TOURING CAR? simulation values and then we own. “We were endurance work into it, we playtest it, we racing and were quite a low Your main metrics of progress in Autosport’s online modes are XP and cash. Impatient craft it until it feels right.” ranking team, so our goals sorts will be pleased to learn that all vehicles are unlocked from the word go, but you’ll still need the moolah to buy them. Generously, loan cars are available free of The fantasy extends beyond were quite modest for the charge – the only catch is that they don’t earn XP like other vehicles, and you can’t the driver’s seat in Autosport’s season,” he says. “And so customise them. singleplayer career mode, we’re in our last race and up a life-absorbing time-sink until the last lap me and my blessed with dramatic oomph team-mates are racing it really by virtue of its team system, of conservatively, thinking we which Nicholls is clearly proud. already had enough points As you climb the professional to hit our targets. But then ladder in whichever of the five it gets to the last lap and he autosports take your fancy, starts saying “oh, actually, you conspicuously branded teams need three extra points, you will vie jealousy for your loyalty. need to push” – so we pushed Joining a team comes with and we hit our targets, which certain benefits, like cash, and was just an amazing feeling. obligations, which vary from Because, you know, it’s not like race-to-race and team-to-team. we blitzed over the line and As team leader, your job is to won the race: we finished mid- make sure all team members pack, but we did what’s best (including you) are doing their for the team. part and putting the team’s “So when we talk about interests above their own. recreating the race experience, Unusually for a sports game, that’s what we’re talking about you’ll sometimes have to hold – it’s that entire package, back, to let someone else take what it feels like to race the lead and all the glory.

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