Point-to-point blasts across the countryside are thrilling, and Codemasters’ rally heritage is clear in them. The WSR features a host of different racing disciplines. It’s no substitute for the days Codemasters racing games were filled with real-world racing competitions from all over the globe, but overall there is a believable authenticity to the otherwise fake WSR that is absent in most of the racers that opt for fictional leagues over proper ones, and Grid 2 benefits noticeably. All you get is a little clip once or twice a season giving you some context into your own surging fanbase, and an ESPN-branded glimpse into the rise and rise of WSR, but it’s just enough to tie all the racing you’re doing together and give you a sense of momentum through the career mode you wouldn’t get from a simple progress bar. WSR is a great device because it’s really nothing more than an explanation that services the gameplay. You’ll need to race in a variety of disciplines against other racing clubs across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia to attract them, and their fans, to the WSR for this to happen. It’s the brainchild of a cashed-up petrol head who wants to take WSR from grassroots club level to a world-dominating motorsport, and you are his first star.
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For Grid 2, Codemasters has invented a fictional global racing league: “World Series Racing” (WSR). It’s territory Codemasters has dabbled in before, but never this credibly.
The difference here is that there’s somewhat of a story thread holding it all together. Like Grid before it, Grid 2 takes a few dozen recognisable cars, decks them out in fake racing liveries, and sets them loose against one another across the world. Flashback returns to help you undo a nasty write-off or a blown tyre, but it’s a limited-use device. While the handling errs towards the arcade end of the spectrum, the tight courses and mechanical damage still conspire to keep players thinking two corners ahead at all times. It’s a one-size-fits-all model, with no driving aids, but it still clings to one or two of its sim-like characteristics. Grid 2’s handling has a foot on each side of the fence grippy, with a good sense of weight – particularly under heavy braking – but honed to emphasise drifting. However, missteps with how it approaches its track content will harm its long-term appeal, and further shedding of its sim-based roots will continue to alienate fans of the racing games Codemasters made back in the late ’90s and early 2000s. It’s well executed and easily the measure of the award-winning original in all but a couple of areas. Grid 2 is a confident, aggressive, good-looking racer that boasts a level of focus last year’s Dirt: Showdown didn’t have.