14 DAY TRIAL // A huge update for Grid 2 is now available for download on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms, bringing many new features, from custom playlists, to an increased level cap, new mechanics, or support for mods.
Grid 2 came out at the end of May and impressed quite a few fans of the original racing title, as well as those who wanted something to better show off their skills.
After examining the game's reception and gathering feedback from players, developer Codemasters has finally released its biggest update yet, bringing many highly-requested features to the game.
These include the ability to create custom playlists that offer more XP and cash, a hardcore playlist, an increased level cap, new liveries, a bigger bonus for clear races, and much more, so check out the full list below, via the Codemasters blog.
Custom Playlist
Previously, when competing online via custom playlists, players would receive 50% of the XP and cash reward that would otherwise be received for a regular playlist game. This reduction is in place to help prevent players rigging up “easy to win” custom events to build XP/cash. Following feedback from the community, the reward for competing via custom playlists has been raised.
Hardcore Playlist
We’ve had a lot of requests for this type of playlist – it removes the use of flashbacks and turns on full mechanical damage and will prioritise race events around circuits for a real test of racing.
Level Cap
Previously, online players could reach a maximum of level 30. We’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many of you guys have hit this level cap, so we are raising the maximum online level to 99.
Fastest Lap Times
The addition of fastest lap times is something that has come up a lot. We have therefore adapted the UI race results screen for online events, so it will now display the fastest lap for each player along with all the other existing information.
New Liveries
Many players have requested additional liveries to use during online play, so we’ve made the single player AI liveries available for you to select during online events.
Maximum Laps
We’ve heard a lot of feedback, especially from Clubs and Leagues, about increasing the maximum number of laps you can set for an online race. As a result we’ve raised it from 5 to 10.
Veto Weighting
Currently, when trying to veto an event type or location it can be difficult to get a passing vote. We’ve made some changes to the system, so it now only requires 51% of the lobby to vote for a change to occur.
Country Flags
We know many players enjoyed this feature in the original GRID and we’ve been made aware of how many of you guys wanted to see it return to GRID 2, so we have re-introduced this functionality. A player’s selected flag will now be displayed next to their name plate while racing and on the event results screen. Represent!
Clean Race Bonus
The amount of money rewarded for racing cleanly has been increased. Seems fair to us.
Vote to Kick
Players within a lobby will now be able to instigate a vote to kick option. This will ensure that everybody in the lobby has a say over who they race against, instead of just the host having the power to “kick” overly aggressive players.
Skip the Level up Graphic
Ok, so not everybody wants to watch the ‘level up box’ at the end of each race – it will now be possible to skip this at the press of a button.
Mod Support
We’ve made some changes to the PC version of GRID 2 that will now allow users to mod the game.
What's more, quite a few bug fixes are also included, so check out some of the most important below.
- Fixed an issue where an invalid distance value is displayed for LiveRoutes events. - Fixed a crash on the second Trans America Pacers event in the career mode. - Fixed a perpetual load in the Miami New Union race in career mode. - Fixed an issue where users saved files were becoming corrupt, this will revert corrupted saves into a usable state (note: this is already live on PC). - Fixed a number of issues relating the upcoming Demo Derby DLC. - Fixed an issue where the minimap was not present in power lap or test drive mode. - Fixed a graphical issue that effected Brands hatch where some sponsor boards would rapidly change textures. - Fixed a graphical issue that effected Chicago where some sponsor boards would rapidly change textures. - In an online custom checkpoint event with several players, the Player Positions OSD fails to update after flashing back over the checkpoint marker whilst overtaking another player, this has been fixed. - When the player applies a dark blue livery to their vehicle and pauses the game whilst in active gameplay, they will observe that the colour will noticeably change to a lighter blue, this has been fixed. - When the player has a custom livery applied to all of their vehicles, any new vehicles which they win via vehicle challenges would not have the player's livery applied by default. The player would need to manually re-apply their livery. This now happens automatically. - When racing around Yas Marina the player could "corner cut" the chicane by a fair amount and would not be flagged for cheating. They can no longer do this. - We have fixed an issue where the replay cameras would lose track of the player if they keep to the left approaching a specific corner on Yas Marina. - Miscellaneous: many various tracks / car geometry, stability, string and difficulty balancing fixes.
The new patch is already live and will be downloaded automatically the next time you start the game and your platforms is connected to the Internet.