GRIP: Combat Racing

for thirty years the playstation games, rollcage and rollcage stage two, were unmatched in any format. we needed network play, new music, some customisation, and any resolution. of course, after thirty years, we lose hope.
now we have grip. and it's absolutely gorgeous.
most of the menu flow is honed toward quickly getting to a mode and track with all the nuanced options within easy reach at the same time. the complete garage being available at every step, even between tournament rounds, allowing loading a complete set of custom paints and changing vehicles per track. dlc is integrated seamlessly and applied with customisations same as the wide library of in game unlockable content. if seamless rhythm through the menus and outside the game isn't needed then the dlc music tracks are also in the main game with all the wild energy depth and ingenious complexity of rollcage's original offerings. and then there is the race tracks. everything is bigger except the crucial racing lines which are crazy, swooping from one epic landscape to another through precise crevices and conduits. many routes, frequent surprises, and vast expanses of beautiful places.
as of 2025 i add some notes:
the resolution does not yet play well with steamdeck, so screen settings must be twiddled in game and out while most text is still unreadable.
several bugs persist, like the 'insert coin' message even for an unequivocal win, and false 'wrong way' warnings. npc names and pics are inconsistant between every screen and random players are highlighted in race stats. these bugs don't stop the racing but they mess with the experience.
special note for players with ptsd or sensitive to violence, the gameplay is not visceral, only robotic battling and extreme environments. yet from the first icon to the game mode names and trophy names and more is toxically violence coded. i don't know who expects this from a game that instantly replaces every vehicle back on track, but i have to conclude the developers team has bowed to a perceived userbase that favours toxic edginess in multiplayer racing games, even though the nature of the game is like it's wild carefree inspiration, rollcage stage two for the playstation one.
still i give this game a recommendation due to the fluent multiplayer machinations in the sheer beauty of the epic level design which must be experienced by everyone who can cope with the technical and attitude issues.

2 minute TLDR:

Grip is a ton of fun, for people who are fans of the old Rollcage series. While not perfectly polished, the little snags the game does have don't massively hold it back from being enjoyable alone or with friends.

Pretty good remake/reboot of the classic Playstation 1's Rollcage games (plays the same, looks cooler). Really fast combat racer (speeds comparable to Star Wars: Pod Racers at MAX settings (lower pod racer speeds, but still pod racer speeds)), you can drive on the walls, ceilings, under-tracks; while flinging weapons at one another. Is it like F-Zero/Wipeout? If you subtract your wheels, yes. Can you subtract your wheels? Yes. Wheels are optional. Music? Well, you can listen to the default soundtrack, or you can customize the soundtrack. You'd be surprised at what music/soundtracks work well for racing. Oh, and for the brave/iron-stomach, it also has VR mode.
Oh yeah, there's also doing Carkour (Parkour with cars) challenges, and Combat Arena for anyone that remembers playing Twisted Metal back in the day; or Super Mario Kart battles.

Its basically rollcage but better in pretty much every way. The cars are faster and grippier, the music is louder, basey-er, and more intense, the graphics are more graphics than you could graphic ever even. Its not a very subtle or nuanced game, you can tell what you'll get just by watching the trailer, a trait not common for gaming. You either like what you see or you don't.
The biggest downside is that it is a UE game and is therefore kind of unstable and weird. Its not that bad compared to other games on the engine, but my friend crashed during his first hour of play and I DCed randomly. The game runs well framerate wise on my busted up old graphics card so performance isn't a concern unless you play on a toaster oven.
The multiplayer is dead so if you value that, you might have to swindle some friends into buying it with you. Otherwise the campaign bots are surprisingly good for the racing (not so much the combat arenas.)
The game has gone on sale for like 90% off and is absolutely worth it for the nothing you'd pay for it then.

This is really good. One of the absolute best future racing games on PC. Obviously a Rollcage clone but that's selling it very short. Amazing modern drum and bass music and the tracks are gigantic. The vibe in the race is really great and the gameplay is very quick and fun. You can dip in for a race and it's tons of chaos. I'd say this is very underrated actually, I don't really understand the negative reviews. I was playing BallisticNG and that's a wonderful game but I think I had more raw "woah lol" style fun playing this.

Can be a fun game if you are willing to struggle through the difficult learning curve. The courses can also be quite punishing and unforgiving. One little mistake or a hit in a bad place will send you back into last place. Though I did enjoy the lore, the wide variety of vehicles to choose from, spent hours customizing them all with paint/wheels/decals, and some courses are really nice to experience.

VERY fun high octane combat racer. It's just a shame there is no community online. If we could get a competitive community together it would be outstandingly addictive.