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Race Driver GRID is neither a driving simulator nor is it an all out crash and bash Burnout style racer. Instead, GRID takes elements of both these styles of racing and mixes them to create what could be considered as the best driving experience on any console.

To anyone who hasn’t played GRID this may seem like a huge overstatement, but when you get behind the wheel you begin to understand just how well made GRID is.

Everything about GRID is polished to perfection, from the violent AI, to the excellent graphics, right down to the gorgeous rendition of the aforementioned wheel. This is racing at its purest and most enjoyable.

You start the game as a freelance driver, scrounging for wins to fund a new racing team you have in the works. This acts as a sort of tutorial for the rest of the game; you can race for other teams at any time which ends with you getting the first of your licenses. This opens up the three areas of the world you can race in, America, Europe and Japan, all featuring a wide range of events.

There are the straight GT races, as well as Japanese Touge and Drift battles–both of which are hugely fun– with each discipline requiring a different style of racing. You may excel one minute, but be in last place the next. This lends itself to the steady learning curve GRID has, you’ll always be capable of getting through almost all of the events, while on the other hand you can raise the difficulty if you feel that it’s getting too easy. Both levels of play are catered for in GRID, allowing anyone to enjoy it.

The damage the cars experience and how it effects the race is one of the best features of GRID, proving that a tough battle against the odds is always more rewarding than a flawless run, a la Gran Turismo. When you crash, you can either use the brilliant flashback feature–allowing you to rewind your race and try again from an earlier point in time–or you can try and deal with your car being damaged, which can mean different things depending on how you crashed in the first place. Damaged one of your front wheels? Turning will be much more difficult! While damaging you’re the engine will make it more prone to exploding on a second impact. Of course there are some crashes that no amount of trying will solve, but that’s where the Prince of Persia style flashback mode comes in.

By hitting select after a problematic moment, you can rewind time and try again. This may not be realistic in the slightest, unless the best race drivers in the world secretly do this to make up for bad turns, but it fits the game surprisingly well. It makes sure you keep going after you mess up, increasing the longevity of the game. You can of course turn these off, but for those who don’t mind thinking ‘outside the box’ for a minute, the flashbacks are a great addition.

GRID is a stunning looking game when in motion, with slick vehicles and realistic backgrounds. It’s an aesthetic delight all around, despite a lack of a real soundtrack, with realistic engine sounds and crashes that have weight to them. The only problem is a stuttery framerate, which means that at times, the action looks more like a slideshow than a game.

But despite this slight niggle, GRID is a masterpiece that any racing fan owes themselves to play. It’s driving perfection in every way, taking what was great about both Burnout and Gran Turismo, and creating a hugely enjoyable game that keeps on giving. From start to end, its brilliant, which is a lot to say about a game that contains so much content, it will keep you going all summer. This is the game of the summer for racing fans, and delivers on every promise and more. An essential purchase.

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