A long, long time ago, two generations before now, racing games were still part of the bread and butter of video games. The PlayStation 2 was awash with Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, Midnight Club, FlatOut, Crash Tag Team Racing, TOCA (which Grid is apart of), Crazy Taxi, Micro Machines, and most importantly Burnout. The following generation let this genre down as the most notable releases were Blur, Burnout Paradise, Test Drive Unlimited 2, and Split/Second; among the continuation of the aforementioned series, and finally Race Driver: Grid.

The Grid series was interesting, whereas many others created cartoons of driving, Grid stayed in some form of reality. For example, this generation’s most notable driving game, The Crew 2, inflates in-game prices of some cheap vehicles to support the premium currency within that game. Meanwhile, Grid prices things more reasonably. Codemasters, known for honing their craft of driving games, applied this to Grid 2 which is currently free with its DLC over on Humble Bundle.

Grid 2, is (as you could possibly gather) a driving video game in the most literal sense. There are no open worlds, no garages to drive to, and no busy work as this was before we saw the push for “live services” to eat away at your busy schedule. If you are looking for a classic style racer with a list of tracks to progress through, a menu to look at your cars, the ability to upgrade them as you gain money, and a “You are a race car driver, drive fast. You are amazing!” story then this is one of the most modern examples of that.

Coming back to Grid 2 was not an easy task, as you are expected to drive properly. You are given control of a classic 70s style Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, or any of the other 70s muscle cars around the Indianapolis Speedway. When the game ordered me to drift, I wound up doing everything BUT drifting.

If you are a casual fan of the genre or a veteran racer, I highly suggest picking yourself up a free copy of Grid 2 soon, before the offer ends. All you have to do is sign up with Humble Bundle and accept their newsletter. Once you’ve done that, you will get your game key for Steam, and you can cancel the newsletter from then on. However, the newsletter will inform you of future free games as well.

Author”s Note: I should first apologize for an inaccurate comment I made in this article. I claimed that Grid 2 was more accurate with prices for upgrades and such. Either I made up some game in my head out of the hundreds of them being homogenized together, or I was thinking of something very similar. In either case, I made a false claim that was unnecessary, and I apologize for that.

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