Grid Autosport

The Questions

Q) Why no next-gen?
A) It's all a matter of timing, really. We exited GRID2 with this vast amount of fan feedback about what people wanted, and we also had the engine and the team around the game. We felt we could make a game for summer '14 that addressed that feedback if we used our existing technology, which is built for 360, PS3 and PC.

Our next-gen EGO engine is underway, and future titles will absolutely support PS4 and Xbox One. However, we don’t have thousands of developers across multiple development houses around the world, so there was no way we could take our existing engine and port it, in a year. If we had taken this approach, all we'd be doing is taking technology designed for the previous generation and porting it to next-generation consoles – it wouldn't be optimal, and it wouldn't be a 'proper' next-gen game, taking advantage of the features and the technology that next-generation consoles offer. In addition, we'd be doing this at the expense of building our actual next-generation technology, whilst our talented programmers were tied down with a port. When we do make a next-generation game, we want it to be exactly that, not a ported current-gen game. James Nicholls, Senior Game Designer

Q) Can you explain a bit how the 5 disciplines are presented within the game, percentage wise? Is the main focus on the Touring discipline? Are we talking about 25 % or 40 % of the content? Or are all the disciplines equally divided?
A) All disciplines are equally divided. So, Career mode is broken down into five sections (one for each discipline). You can choose which discipline you want to race in and the more you progress through it, the more becomes available. For example, if you take Touring Cars. You'll start off racing with entry level cars and by the end of the career you'll be racing in the more powerful Touring Car Spec Cars.

Q) Is there a photo mode during replays
A) No

Q) If the physics & handling model in Autosport was like a brake bias where sim was the front, and arcade was the rear; what would the percentage setting be?
A) Probably around 60:40, hard to put it into numbers really.

Q) Will the lobby host be able to restrict certain assists? For example, allow traction control but disable ABS? This would be really good for leagues especially.
A) Yes, lobby can select what assists are available.

Q) I wanted to know if we are going to unlock cars (like in Grid 2) or we will have to buy them. I think it's better to buy them.
A) Single player you are given specific cars to race in. What car you use is dependent on the team in question.

Q) Will the teammate always have the same car as the player or will we be able to choose which car he'll be driving before each race?
A) Your teammate’s car will also be chosen by the team, it’s normally the same much like it is in real world motorsport.

Q) Will there be a quick race mode? What customisable options are there?
A) Yes, you can jump into what we call Custom Cup, that allows you to race with a vast amount of options, choose the discipline, track, car, AI, practice, qualifying, race length, difficulty settings, pretty much anything you’d need.

Q) How cars unlock work in single player Quick Race? Are you given all out the cars in Quick Race from the get go or you have to unlock one by one from the career?
A) Everything is available in custom cup, it’s not tied to your career progress like GRID 2.

Q) What sort of AI improvements can we expect? Are they gonna behave more like Grid 1 where they occasionally make mistakes which gave the AI some character and realism?
A) AI have been tuned to each discipline, so a Touring Car AI driver will race completely different to an Open Wheel driver, one a bit aggressive the other really disciplined and precise. Yes, AI can make mistakes, I’ve been in a race, making my way through the pack when I’ve suddenly had to swerve out of the way of an accident up ahead. Likewise I’ve come around a corner only to find a car sat in the gravel kicking up dust where he/she has spun off.

Q) Can you choose a name when you play in game or does it choose your PSN/360 nickname?
A) Yes, Audio names are back as well

Q) Is qualifying back? It's missing from most of the current-gen racing titles, so it would be nice to have this feature come back.
A) Yes, as well as practice

Q) Career mode is said it would be massive, how massive in hours?
A) Hard to put it into hours as everyone’s play style will be different, more than enough content to keep you going.

Q) Is there a kind of Tutorial/Introduction when you fire up the game for the first time?
A) Yes, in a similar fashion to our other games

Q) Can you finish a career in GAS without changing a team?
A) Different teams only compete in certain disciplines you you’re likely going to have change at some point. It all depends on your definition of ‘complete’, whether that’s finishing the disciplines your interested in or everything all together.

Q) When you are often in the rev limiter does it damage your engine?
A) Over-revving and shifting at the wrong time, (primarily in manual gears), will cause the gearbox to accrue damage more quickly.

Q) Are we able to race on race tracks with street cars? Like racing on Sepang in a M3?
A) Yes, via Custom cups

Q) Can replays be saved?
A) Not at this time.

Q) Is the AI as good as it was in TOCA2 and Toca World Touring Cars
A) AI has had a lot of improvements made to it, will leave you to decide if it’s better or not.

Q) Is the classical D-pad layout still available and does it match the thumb stick lap times?
A) By default the d-pad is used to talk to your team engineer. The game hasn't really been made with D-pad controls in mind, just controller sticks and wheels. However, you can customise your controls should you wish.

Q) Do AI opponents also suffer from mechanical damage?
A) Yes

Q) Is there a podium sequence when one has made a podium finish?
A) No

Q) Are there bonuses to be unlocked if you reach a certain mileage within a discipline?
A) You do get a ‘discipline level’, more on that soon.

Q) Is there a team manager who keeps you up to date with what's happening on the track?
A) You have an engineer but he doesn't really say much on his own. Instead we've allowed you to take control by giving you the ability to request details via the D-pad.

Q) Can cars loose oil which makes a surface slippery
A) No

Q) Why did Codies not add a flag system to GRID AS
A) There’s a danger if we go down the route of adding all these traditional sim options that the game will lose a bit of its identity. That’s not to say we won’t look at that kind of system in the future but right now it’s probably a step too far towards sim for Autosport, we’re all about that ‘middle ground’

Q) How does qualifying work? one flying lap or several laps?
A) You have x amount of time, set the fastest time. Bit like F1 in that regard.

Q) All cars / all tracks on Custom Online?
A) Yes, with a few exceptions (can’t drive a drift car on a non drift route etc)

Q) Is GRID Autosport going to allow modders to add tracks, not originally in the game?
A) Unfortunately not, there's a potential monstrous issue here as all circuits have to be officially licensed to be included in the game. Supporting the Modding Community is something we're keen on doing though and have had numerous discussions regarding it. We don't want to get into a situation where the Community makes a great track, faithful to its real world variant and us have to remove it from Steam Workshop (or similar) due to getting an angry phone call.

Q) Is it true that all endurance races happen during nights only?
A) Yes