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.

GRID 2 was long-rumored, but fans of the original felt like the series would never get a chance to continue due to DiRT getting Codemasters' focus for racing action in the succeeding five years. Thankfully, nearly a year ago, a follow-up was announced and the fanbase rejoiced.

The biggest challenge these days for any racing game is to find an audience and make that niche as happy as possible. The most successful racing franchises over the last 20 years follow this philosophy to a tee, whether its Burnout and Need for Speed for the arcade crowd, or Gran Turismo and Forza...

Pitch perfect controls with a weighty arcade feel; satisfying career mode; generally excellent graphics and presentation; very challenging gameplay despite the useful rewind feature; good selection of cars and tracks; excellent car damage model; aggressive AI

Rather bland multiplayer; barely any music; some frame rate stutters in heavy action; no cockpit view

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...

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

Grid 2 is a refreshing racing title all-in-all; whilst there is nothing unique about game modes or the games storyline, it more than makes up for it with its impressive visuals, awe-inspiring collisions and superb gameplay.

Visually stunning; Collisions are immense; Lots of cars to play with

Plot isn't exactly unique; No cockpit view

The age-old question seemingly for every racing game that comes out is whether it is "sim" or "arcade" in its styling. Make no mistake here, while its foundations in the TOCA/Race Driver series were decidedly sim-oriented, GRID 2 offers a distinct arcade-styled experience.

Super fast delivery, great game, Awesome, very realistic. Can be challenging if you desire it too be. Brand new, no problems.

GRID 2 is a racer that cares less about what's under the bonnet, and more about how well a car can screech around a corner at top speed. It's quite far removed from the simulation titles that Codemasters has been known for in the past, but damn, is it ever fun.

+ The rewind mechanic makes everything easier to appreciate; + The handling is a lot of fun to get to grips with; + It looks gorgeous

- Won't please anyone after a simulation experience; - Online is hard to get into initially; - Could use more track variety

Codemasters has been regularly updating its rally-themed Dirt series, but the developer has finally turned its attention to the Grid series.

Slick presentation and impressive graphics; Satisfying race progression in championship mode

No racing lines to assist with track navigation; Races get particularly difficult later on; especially without racing aids