Grid Autosport (stylized as GRID Autosport) is a racing video game developed by Codemasters and available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, iOS and macOS. It is the ninth game in the TOCA series. It aims to move the series back towards "more authentic racing games" following the release of Grid 2, which Codemasters felt was not as well-received by the company's core fanbase as it was hoped for. The developers consequently introduced major modifications to the handling model and built a lean, race-first oriented design for this title.
Many critics who praised the game cited how Codemasters seemed to have "gone back to its roots", with aspects from its early games in the series.
Feral Interactive, who brought the game to macOS and Linux, also brought the game to iOS on 27 November 2017. The Android version and the Nintendo Switch version, also from Feral, are due for release in 2019. On June 26, 2018, Grid Autosport was released on Xbox One as a backward compatibility version.
A succeeding instalment, simply known as Grid, was announced to be released on 11 October 2019 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Gameplay
In Grid Autosport, the player acts as a racing driver with opportunities to start and build their own racing career via the single-player Career mode, enter competitions with fellow players on the web via the multiplayer Online mode, customise their racing experience (vehicle, circuit, race type, difficulty, etc.) to their own tastes via the single-player Custom Cup mode, and play against each other via the multiplayer Splitscreen mode. It is the first video game in GRID series not to feature Vehicle Customization this time in single player career as only featured in online mode.
The Career mode is divided into seasons before which the player each time has to choose between offers from the game's racing teams. The teams – including the best-in-the-business Ravenwest, making a return from Race Driver: Grid – each have different season objectives and sponsor objectives, the achievement of which earns extra experience points (XP) for the players besides those received for their results. Online racing is conducted via RaceNet, Codemasters' own community hub, on which players can form racing clubs, earn XP and cash as they race and fulfill sponsor objectives, then use their earnings to purchase and upgrade vehicles. Soon after the game's release, they were also presented with sets of specific challenges, called RaceNet Challenges, announced by Codemasters.
Grid Autosport emphasises the concept of racing disciplines, making them into the new event categories. There are five main categories: Touring, Endurance, Open Wheel, Tuner, and Street. During Career mode, the player picks a particular event in one of these categories, with each event (a string of races) making up a season. Each discipline features markedly different cars and race types. The latter include standard Races, Endurance races with tire wear enabled, Time Attack events, Drift events, and - as downloadable content (DLC) - Time Trials, Drag and point-to-point Sprint races. These are all accessible in Custom Cup mode as well, in which the player can also choose to participate in certain special event types, such as Checkpoint, Eliminator and Demolition Derby.
Focusing on providing a more realistic driving experience, the studio revamped its damage model, adding new elements, such as a wear and tear system, which means car parts lose performance through general use, and a suspension damage system. It also introduced a new team radio philosophy in which the player itself can request information on car damage, gaps, rival position and teammate position. The player can also ask its engineer to instruct their teammates to attack, defend or hold their position. By popular demand, Codemasters retained its unique Flashback feature from previous Grid installments with which the players can rewind their races a few seconds and resume it earlier, if needed. Cockpit view also made a return, after being absent, very much to the dismay of the core fanbase, in Grid 2. Aside from such elements, the developers generally decided to strip the game down and do away with everything that stood in the way of raw racing. These features included Grid 2’s narrator-driven career mode and superfluous menus.
Cars
The cars in the disciplines of Grid Autosport are further divided into tiers and classes of various strength. Some of the highlights of the vehicles on offer are the contemporary BTCC (Class C), Stock Car Brasil (Class A) and V8 Supercars (Super Tourers) of the Touring discipline (e. g. Chevrolet Cruze, Honda Civic, Holden VF Commodore), the present-day and classic GT cars of the Endurance discipline (like the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 (Category B) and the Ford GT40 Mk I), the Dallara DW12 chassis of the IndyCar Series (Formula A) from the Open Wheel discipline, American muscle cars (e. g. the Ford Mustang Boss 302), among others, representing the Tuner discipline and the likes of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport and the Koenigsegg Agera R (Hypercars) representing the Street discipline. In total, including DLCs, the game features 103 cars. This is the second video game under Grid series not to feature Toyota cars and First in series to not to feature Chevrolet Corvette.
