GRID Autosport

I can see why this is often cited as the best GRID game. From a car nerd perspective, AKA the target audience for this game, GRID Autosport is what GRID 2 should’ve been. I love GRID 2, which does hypercars insanely well, but this is better if you're a car enthusiast since it's a bit more grounded. The physics are incredible, especially for the time but it still holds up better than most games of this type released today. This is a pure celebration of (mostly European) motorsport. The original GRID is still the best in terms of content, but if you’re after something similar, a bit more modern and with perfect Deck support (even displaying the battery charge level on the top-right while in-game), then GRID Autosport is for you.
The AI knows how to defend and attack fairly, at least in the context of the motorsports depicted in which contact is mostly allowed and even encouraged in the case of stock/tourer racing. It’s not crazy like in so many other racing games. The cars handle slightly differently than other games I've played in this series, being a lot more stiff at the rear even with "soft" suspension, which doesn't suit my usual driving style but I've gained tremendous satisfaction in learning to adapt to that. In some ways, I'd go as far as to say that GRID: Autosport has increased my understanding of real life motorsports drivers (such as Sebastian Vettel) who prefer understeer to oversteer - you can be bloody quick if you keep the revs and gears up despite braking earlier. (No wonder Vettel dropped off after F1 went hybrid.)
Playing GRID Autosport on a Deck is frankly the best simcade experience I’ve had on that device. Usually I’d need to bump the difficulty down a notch due to not having proper force-feedback etc, but it works here. I’m just as quick as I would be playing on my desktop. When playing on a desktop, however, it makes use of a second screen to display race information, which can be very handy when attempting to manage your teammate. If you're in an important points battle over a season, it is of course invaluable later on.
Sadly, this cannot be bought officially anymore due to car brand licensing, but it is surprisingly cheap (less than lunch) if you know where to go, even with all DLCs.
Speaking of simcades, as a genre label it's far too broad because that would lump the likes of Need For Speed in with GRID and possibly even the F1 games. I propose a new dumb genre name: simulation racing sim. Tongue in cheek.

its decent for a 10yr old simcade, the graphics hold up well & the game has a decent amount of options for those using a FFB steering wheel, though adjusting fov requires an .xml edit
it is good fun but man the AI drives dirtier than the cops in NFS, its a 7/10 if the AI was programmed better a solid 8

It's a nice racing game with nice graphics and runs on pretty much anything today.

It’s been nearly six years since I last fired up this game, but the memories still hit like a nitrous boost. It reminded me of the glorious chaos of the early 2000s racing titles—more Gran Turismo A-spec meets demolition derby than precision motorsport. Sure, it was supposed to be about clean lines, tight turns, and tactical driving. But my strategy? Cause total carnage. Run rivals off the track, send someone spinning into a wall, break free from the wreckage, and blaze through to victory. Unorthodox? Absolutely. But you’ve got to understand—I’m from the generation that cut its teeth on Twisted Metal and Carmageddon in the '90s, where vehicular manslaughter was practically a game mechanic and nobody blinked twice.
Those were the days when games didn’t pretend to be moral teachers. They just let you cause chaos to a killer soundtrack. Speaking of which, the fact that Iron Maiden was blasting in the background just sealed the deal. GRID may not have been designed as a full-contact combat racer, but the AI drove like it had a personal vendetta—so I gave myself permission to return the favor.
Was it fair? Not really. Was it fun? Hell yes.

This scrapes in as a positive on the slightest of margins.

This is an old game and I get that. It's also SUPER cheap. You can get this for a couple bucks if you wait for sales, given that...you'd probably think this is an easy positive.

Things to consider, rubber-banding AI...I really hate that. No matter on if you destroy the opponents in racing, they are never more than abut 3 seconds behind. Of course you have flashbacks for if you do screw up, but it really does take the fun out of it to see that no matter how well you do, it makes no difference.

2. The game is so grindy. I'm doing touring car championships now. 6 Events...each event has 2 races (same track twice)...and 4-5 laps.. Its just such a bore and an artificial way to extend the game length. If I wasn't watching movies and playing on my Steamdeck, there's no way I would have time for this.

3. The controls are super ordinary. The cars feel floaty, and handling just feels off. Old games have nailed handling. NFS Shift and the old Gran Turismos nailed handling. This just feels off. Everything feels samey.

That's not to say its bad, but going from Gran Turismo 7 and Forza Horizon, this just feels old and ordinary.

This isn't to say its a bad game - just know what you are walking into. I beat this on PS4 years back. I didn't mind it then (I really don't know how I beat this then, its so grindy...I guess I used sleep mode a lot to make the grinding less painful. With the Steamdeck having sleep mode, I'm employing that too. It's really quite boring.

It's still worth playing though. Graphics look great. The concepts for sponsorship objectives are also pretty cool. I've played other Grid games since this came out and they were less grindy than this...I'm purely playing through this as its 'its turn', I have so many games on Steam, I need to start working through backlog, and this was next off the rank. I don't dislike it, but I am looking forward to finishing each of the modes so i can move on.

This 'same race twice' business for events, morning and night....completely unnecessary. The Dev really should have dropped that. It would have made the game better.

Anyway, for execution of what's in it, 6.5/10. It's not a negative experience, but its easy to see why its only a couple of bucks to pick up.

A great game, but GRID Legends is still better than this in terms of gameplay.

In this game, the handling feels very intuitive and nice, cars have some weight and it corners well. It not as enjoyable as the previous Grid 2, with some kind of story and nice progression, but it worth if you are a fan of the series and wanna something new.