GRID Legends is out on February 25th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5 and PC. It’s the first title in the series after Electronic Arts’ acquisition of Codemasters and as such offers a number of new features and improvements over GRID (2019). Let’s take a look at 15 things you should know before jumping in.
Over 130 Tracks
Touting over 130 tracks, GRID Legends offers numerous real-world circuits like Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Brands Hatch. There are also tracks like the Yakimanka Sprint in Moscow and Strada Alpina in Italy along with locations like Paris, London, Spain and San Francisco to race through. Overall, it looks to offer a fairly decent variety of tracks for fans.
+100 Vehicles
There are over 100 vehicles with brands like Audi, Aston Martin, Porsche, Volkswagen and much more present. These are split into nine categories from Touring and Drift to Trucks and Electric cars. Specials, Open Wheel, Tuners, GT and Track Day vehicles are also present with each category having three tiers – Amateur, Semi-Pro and Pro – offering different performance and handling. Complete enough Career milestones and more cars become available, though you’ll need to spend in-game credits to unlock others. When racing online or in custom races, it’s possible to take an unowned car on loan for that race with the trade off being less rewards at the end.
Driven to Glory
Continuing the trend set by F1 2021, GRID Legends will have a Story Mode called Driven to Glory. Sporting a documentary motif, it features a live-action cast with actors like Ncuti Gatwa and uses virtual production to place them in digital environments (much like in The Mandalorian). As the rookie star of Seneca Motorsport, you take part in the newest season of the GRID World Series and must contend with Ravenwest Motorsport’s long-time champion Nathan McKane.
Career Mode
This time around, Career Mode offers “hundreds” of different events to race in across modes like Drift, Boost and Elimination. While further details are still to be revealed, Polygon confirmed in its preview that progression made in Driven to Glory will carry over into Career Mode, which is a nice bonus.
AI Drivers
GRID (2019) added numerous unique AI drivers with their own quirks and behavior, thus adding to a race’s unpredictability. This returns in GRID Legends and you may see drivers suddenly spin out or face car trouble when they’re not trying to overtake you in a race. The Nemesis System also makes a comeback with some tweaks promised.
Evolved Nemesis System
The Nemesis System in GRID (2019) saw a driver, be it an opponent or someone on the same team, becoming your Nemesis depending on your behavior. Hit them too much in a race and they’ll mark you as a rival while acting more aggressive over the course of numerous races. If a Nemesis winds up on your team, then they’ll be content to let you sink if help is required. Codemasters has confirmed that the system has evolved in GRID Legends to be “more persistent on and offline” though more details will be coming later on the same. Don’t worry – you can still aggravate half of the competitors in a race and accrue numerous Nemeses.
Upgrades
Cars can be upgraded but that will depend on how much racing you’re willing to commit to. As more mileage is accrued, you’ll unlock more performance improvements for your vehicle. Of course, you also need in-game currency to actually pay for those upgrades. How long it will take to unlock upgrades, along with the amount of money earned from races, remains to be seen.
Flashback Returns
The ability to rewind – which is referred to as Flashback – is key for the GRID franchise and seems to be returning in GRID Legends. Though not explicitly promoted, Eurogamer’s preview from December 2021 mentions it’s return. Its functionality seems to be unchanged as well – if you’ve hit a bad corner, simply rewind a few seconds and take it again.
Race Creator
Along with Career and Story mode, players can also create their own races. The Race Creator promises a strong amount of customization for different car classes, routes, conditions, weather, game modes and so on. You can create some truly ridiculous races like trucks versus electric cars as well. Custom races can also be shared online with the ability to race others on the same.
PC Requirements
GRID Legends requires 50 GB of storage space to install on PC but is pretty even-handed as far as requirements go. Its minimum requirements include an Intel Core-i3 2130 or AMD FX4300, 8 GB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 460. Recommended requirements include a Core-i5 8600k or Ryzen 5 2600x, 16 GB of RAM and either a GTX 1080 or Radeon RX 590.
Multiplayer and Cross-Platform Play
Online play supports up to 21 players and Codemasters is touting the connected nature of the experience. Along with finding events as per one’s preferences, players can also enter them in real time or simply hop into another player’s event in Career mode. There’s support for private lobbies and cross-platform multiplayer, with the latter also featuring cross-gen support. Codemasters has also confirmed that you can “play with your friends regardless of which platform you’re using” so PS4 players should be able to match with Xbox Series X/S players while Xbox One players can race against PS5 players.
4K, 60 FPS and 120 FPS on Current-Gen Consoles
Though its graphics modes on current-gen consoles have yet to be outlined, GRID Legends does provide support for 4K Ultra HD, 60 FPS and 120 FPS. This is according to the Xbox Store listing, which also confirms optimization for Xbox Series X/S and HDR10 support. Again, PS5 has yet to be confirmed but expect it to have all of the same options.
Dual Entitlement
Dual Entitlement for an Electronic Arts’ sports title usually means having to pay a premium to own the previous and current-gen version of a game. That’s thankfully not the case with GRID Legends. Purchasing the Xbox One or PS4 version allows for upgrading to the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 versions for free. This even applies to the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, which is a nice bonus. You can choose which version to download on PlayStation while Xbox supports Smart Delivery, though cross-gen save progression is only supported for the latter.
Post-Launch DLC
GRID Legends will have four “major” DLC packs arriving after launch. Available with the Digital Deluxe Edition (though they should be purchasable separately later), they include new game modes, cars, locations, sponsors, “exclusive” Weekly and Monthly challenges, new Story “experiences” and Career events. There’s also the Mechanic Pass, which unlocks upgrades for vehicles at a quicker pace, and the Voltz Pack, which includes the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Audi R8 1:1 vehicles with their banners, logos and team liveries.
No Microtransactions
Though much of the post-launch content must be purchased, there won’t be any microtransactions in the game. This pretty much mirrors Codemasters’ commitment with GRID (2019), though the Mechanic Pass is still essentially a booster for your upgrade unlock progress.