GRID Legends is a perfect example of a disastrous game launch. When EA and Codemasters announced the game’s existence, 6 days Before release, most of us in the XR community had a very bad hunch about what that meant for the quality of the game. Upon release, our concerns came true. It’s a sloppy port released just after the holidays, with a cash-earning effort to take advantage of the millions of quests that opened on Christmas Day.
almost everything about this port It’s bad, but the game itself really isn’t. The graphics are bad and the performance can even be pretty bad. The controls are almost terrible and don’t take advantage of the platform at all. It’s clearly ported as is in most respects, including the painful amount of menus you have to sit through before the race and other nonsense.
But even if you’re not the intended audience for this title–I own a 20-year-old Toyota Corolla and know next to nothing about cars–I can see how addicting this game can be. increase. Good at physics. the story is good. The locations are interesting and the rewards for winning are heavy. There are dozens of hours of gameplay, and even longer when you get into multiplayer.
So why didn’t EA at least care when they ported it to the Oculus Quest 2? Boy, I wish I knew.
A sign of things to come. Maybe. Also hopefully not.
EA has dabbled in VR before, but most of the time, the experiments ended in failure. Star Wars: Squadrons is one shining example of all bad or unremarkable endeavors. The most disappointing of them is probably Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. (opens in new tab).
But much like Medal of Honor, GRID Legends’ presence gives us hope that we’ll start seeing larger IPs move to VR.Over the past few years, they’ve happened a little bit with the popularity of metaquests (opens in new tab)I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more in the next few years.
I just hope everyone doesn’t.
A quick touch on the visuals makes it clear that the developers were tasked with porting this game to Quest 2 in the shortest amount of time possible. However, without inside information, we can only speculate on this. That said, here’s why I think so.
It’s clear that the developers were tasked with porting this game to Quest 2 in the shortest time possible.
First, we’re using what Meta calls the Application Space Warp. This is the perfect technology for porting highly detailed games. (opens in new tab) For Quest discreet hardware. The problem is that it’s not meant for games with a lot of fast movement. If it wasn’t obvious by now, this is a racing game. Probably not well suited for such technology.
Second, even with this technique, performance can be terrible. Calculate clearly. When that happens, like in my case in this clip below, my focus can be completely lost.
Next is the control. This is the laziest and sloppy transition to VR I’ve ever seen. Forget the fact that you have not just buttons and joysticks, but an amazing controller that perfectly tracks your arm and hand movements in real space.
Codemasters seems to have forgotten this tidbit of information and decided that buttons were the only thing that mattered to a “real gamer” or something, completely ignoring all aspects of tracking. That hand that looks like a steering wheel? Yeah, those aren’t your hands. They are there just for decoration.
That hand that looks like a steering wheel? Yeah, those aren’t your hands. They are there just for decoration.
To control your car in GRID Legends, tap the left joystick left or right to steer it. The trigger for the right controller is the accelerator pedal and the trigger for the left controller is the brake. Hit that A button frequently for emergency braking and you’re basically done with the driving tutorial.
Admittedly, some of this is due to the meta not yet allowing proper driving wheel accessories in quests. A company as influential as EA could have worked with Meta to release a high-profile racing game and add such big features, but that’s not the case. At least it fits the story that EA didn’t care about this port in the first place.
Finally, the whole interface (even the first person car view) feels completely out of place in VR. Many VR games suffer from “2D UI” problems, but GRID takes it to a new level. Most of the time, you’re just watching the TV floating in front of you, just like you’re playing Xbox or PlayStation on a physical TV.
Can you imagine driving a real car without rearview or side mirrors?
Some of this is fine enough. There’s no need for developers to come up with menus like the Metaverse when they just click to work.But a lot of the problem is combined with the game’s poor visuals.
For example, car mirrors don’t work at all. They are just gray textures with no attempt to reflect or an easy way to know where your opponent is. Can you imagine driving a real car without rearview or side mirrors? I can’t do it either.
At least you can turn your head and take advantage of VR, but most of these race cars aren’t built to experience glorious environments. Built for speed, not for view.
Don’t judge a book by its ragged cover
The problem with this game goes far beyond the usual “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but the same idea applies here. If you can get past the ugly graphics, shoe-laced controls, suboptimal performance and his UI, you’ll find a game that rewards you with tens (or hundreds) of hours of content.
Earn coins during races, level up, and buy different cars, decals, and even power-ups for your friendly AI driver. He can drive everything from semi trucks to racing he pickups, Dodge Chargers and other muscle he cars, F1 cars, offroad rally type vehicles and more.
The track isn’t as interesting as the car variety, but it’s by no means a bad track. As a street racing game, it’s just a touch vanilla.
If you can get past ugly graphics, shoe-laced controls, and suboptimal performance and UI, you’ll find games rewarding you with tens (or hundreds) of hours of content.
Less vanilla is the AI, which often makes human-like mistakes while driving. I’ve seen people speeding too much and sweeping in corners, crashing into walls and ruining their cars, and many other behaviors that are surprisingly convincing. The game also has decent damage modeling and can be penalized in settings.
You can even play this online with other GRID Legends gamers, extending the game’s life far beyond single-player unlocks and story mode.
The point is, despite all the issues, GRID Legends is a great game on Quest 2. It’s a half-baked effort, so it’s not worth the $40 entry price, but if you’re a racing fan and a solid racing sim — even if this is a little more arcade than something like Gran Turismo — you’ll find no more with Quest 2 It won’t get better.
But honestly, if you have other systems with GRID Legends on, you’re probably better off playing there.
