Grid Legends: Deluxe Edition

Grid Legends is a sure step up from Grid 2019 – and its new story mode that looks all the way back to 2002's TOCA Race Driver is a cute and effective flex for a racing series with such history – but it's definitely treading water in some core areas.

A new and likeable story mode caps a decent if not dazzling celebration of 25 years of Codies' racing series.

It’s a strong, tarmac-based counterpart to the Dirt series, and satisfies a wider range of competitive urges than the dedicated F1 simulation that launches every year. And the consistently exciting racing, as both spectator and competitor, that Grid Legends delivers should have every racing fan wondering why something like this can’t be found in real life, too.

Grid Legends finds its niche alongside Forza Horizon and Gran Turismo, offering track-based thrills for all skill levels.

Grid Legends doesn't do anything particularly wrong, but doesn't do anything particularly interesting either. Its racing gameplay is typically solid, as is the Codemasters way, but this studio has pushed the limits of the genre far higher in the past than it does with this relatively safe offering.

Super-slick, arcade-leaning racing from Codemasters, now with better handling and a live-action story mode to enjoy. Instantly enjoyable online and off.

GRID Legends is a solid new entry in Codemasters' racing franchise. It features the same excellent gameplay you've come to expect from the developer, with some nice adaptive trigger implementation in the PS5's DualSense. The game's main draw - the Story Mode - falls short of providing a compelling narrative, ultimately amounting to a mere distracting backdrop to the true star of the show: the races. Visuals look nice, but perhaps not nice enough for the PS5, and the music is overall a bit repetitive and unnecessary. All in all though, GRID Legends is worth a look, but time will tell if it manages to hold its own against the competition.

If you can make peace with a lack of multiplayer outside of online leaderboards, alongside the fact that digital triggers aren't ideal if you're after precision throttle control (grab a GameCube NSO pad to swerve this issue), Grid Legends on Switch 2 serves up an excellent package of slick and satisfying 'simcade' action that looks and plays wonderfully well in both docked and handheld.With lots of options in terms of graphics and accessibility, and all previously-released DLC included, this is easily the best racing package of this type that's currently available on either of Nintendo's Switches and a real blast for solo racing fans.

Overall, GRID Legends feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Its on-track racing is really good fun, and with the right AI and event tweaks, and a little more content, it'd be a really solid sequel to GRID 2019. As it stands, it feels very safe and lacks the personality to really stand on its own amongst the competition. It gets real close to mimicking what PGR did so well all those years ago, but something's missing. Sparks often fly out on the track, but Legends doesn't quite have the spark to make its arcade action stick.

Grid Legends' Driven to Glory story misses more than it hits, but this is an otherwise solid, if unambitious, racing game.