GRID Legends is not a bad car racing game. Certainly not. It offers rich, varied content and a huge lifespan. But the problem is that the whole thing makes no sense. No sense of progress. In addition, GRID oscillates between a serious approach, with the cold and clean aspect of the competition and very arcade driving sensations. And what regarding the ridiculous and awkward scenario mode as the global internets say. So no GRID Legends isn’t a bad car racing game in itself, it’s just another box game drowned among many others, some of which are much better. In the genre, you might as well favor DIRT 5, much more fun and colorful, or the Forza Horizon, or…
I’m not a number, I’m a free man !
Story mode isn’t even a bad joke. Not even a dick, because that would imply that it was unintentionally funny in the 3rd degree. No, following the adventures of a young sprout from a losing stable towards the heights is pathetic. The means deployed, the actors and especially the dubbing make it a show that stretches over eight hours of nothing. The bad guys are very bad. They are of course arrogant, misogynistic, undrinkable and obnoxious. They have nothing going for them. And the small outsider team on the other hand has all the values it takes to promote its rising young talent. Anything but respecting his identity! I will come back to this later.
In the end, the player is the bad guy. Let me explain: whether you drive properly or not, the result is the same. And as humans are lazy, I didn’t get tired for long playing it fair. Anyway, the gameplay is far from the noble practice of car racing to pour rather into the arcade and sometimes the destruction derby. If the scenario is insipid, the comments are just as much with speakers who stun with their stereotyped and stupid sentences. An example : “this straight line is ideal for accelerating”. No kidding. Repeated for eight hours. I cut the sound following two.
Not to mention the constant discomfort around the pilot that we play. So yes we can choose a first and last name. But through and through, I’m the “pilot 22”. I don’t know, a Forza-like nickname system might have left a modicum of dignity. Alas no. So, during the awkward cutscenes, the insipid comments, I’m only “22”, it finished me off. I am not a number, I am a free man! So I escaped, leaving a quickly forgotten game mode. Ah yes, the good guys win in the end. Amazing, right?
Stuck at high speed
In addition to the scenario, there is the extremely rich career mode with dozens and dozens of tests. And as in the previous mode, these are chained in a brainless way. But the most? It no longer has embarrassing cutscenes in between. Phew [émoticône de soulagement]. The racing modes are classic with Time Attack, elimination and the categories of vehicles are numerous enough to limit the boredom a little a priori. But nothing helps. What are we doing here? We earn virtual money, we buy new cars to do the following races and what? I never have the feeling of progressing, of really unlocking something new. I hover at high speed.
The races take place on magnificent circuits with a special mention for that of Barcelona where the Sagrada Familia sits enthroned. That of Chicago is also worth the detour, at night and in the rain, the races are magnificent and furious. With four to six variants per layout, there too the content is massive. Which might augur an infinite multiplayer mode. Alas, I stalled, I readily admit. I didn’t have the courage to go online following 15 hours of going around in circles and in a vacuum.
Accessibility criteria
| Visual Impairment | Hearing impairment | |
| ✘ High Contrast (Aiming Reticle) | ✘ Subtitles with mood indications | |
| ✘ font color size | ✔ Identification of the person speaking | |
| ✘ Marking enemies | ✘ Customizable font | |
| ✘ Customizable interface | ✘ Customizable font color | |
| ✘ Customizable minimap color | ✘ Alternative alert options (vibration, flash…) | |
| ✘ Option daltonisme | ✘ Reported ambient sounds (notifies of presence) | |
| ✘ Option Text to speech | ||
| ✘ Game slowdown |
Test conditions
| TV details | 4K | Game provided by the publisher | Yes | |
| Console | Xbox Series X | Time spent in game | 15 hours | |
| Difficulty level | normal | Game over | non |
