after a very long wait and a lot of hype..... we have grid 2 another massive let down, why do developers feel the need to change things that worked well.... this is far removed from the amazing grid1 and i'm pretty disappointed in codemasters.....what happened to the people who created toca etc.???

It's been five long years since Race Driver: Grid. With the Dirt series and the F1 license sucking all the oxygen out of Codemasters HQ ever since, until recently it seemed the fire for a follow-up had gone out.

Great looking effects; Fun; aggressive racing; Clever career mode

Needed more circuits; May frustrate sim junkies

Born from the ashes of Codemasters' old TOCA Race Driver series, the first GRID was a continuation of the story-driven racer in which you play the central role of a burgeoning raw driving talent, wheel-spinning your way from one event to the next.

Our GRID 2 review delves into the is-it-arcade-or-is-it-sim racer and tries to stay on the road…

A mid-tier racer that offers value and visual splendor, but don't expect it to excel in any category.

Stunning visual effects and variety; Great 'everyman' racer that can appeal to all; Thoughtful progression structure; particularly in multiplayer

Handling is heavier than we'd like; Not a pacesetter in any single aspect; No cockpit view

I had pre ordered this game which was released on a friday and It was not delivered till monday (4 days after release) for this reason I will be trying some different places for pre orders from now on as zavvi has let me down in this way before. As for the game itself it is barely average.

The first few moments of Grid 2 should be a disaster. You're strapped into a bruising muscle car and immediately asked to negotiate the corners of downtown Chicago amid a cavalcade of roaring V8s.

Handling strikes a great balance between arcade and simulation; Stellar audio and visual design; Broad selection of events reflect a variety of driving disciplines; Engrossing multiplayer

No driving assists to fine tune the difficulty; Occasional frame rate hitches during collisions

It's been five years since Codemasters first released GRID , its explosive, energetic racer that took the traditional motorsport of the old TOCA Race Driver games and put them through a Hollywood filter.

Looks exquisite; Plenty to do; Car handling hits the sweetspot

Not much there that's genuinely new

Not a bad game, the graphics system for example is excellent. The central problem is the longevity, inconsistent and ridiculous for a game of 60 Euros. Also I would have preferred a simulation game, enough with the arcade. 6/10

In 2008 Codemasters gave us GRID, an underrated little game that  admirably straddled the line between arcade racer and simulation and first introduced the ‘rewind' feature that's now become commonplace; now, after five long years, Codemasters has returned to the well and finally released the long...