You can select which area of your car to slap which sponsor stickers/paint on, making your car customization in terms of aesthetics pretty varied within the contexts of the game. Unlike other recent titles (such as Forza) you aren’t able to completely paint your own custom design, and are instead limited to some basic color and design options for your racing team. Once you sign a sponsor you don’t necessarily have to win a race to make your money. Sometimes the sponsors will have you perform a specific task, like beat a certain rival racer, other times you need to finish in a specific place, and others you’ll need to win.

The career mode also lets you pick a nickname. If you have a more traditional name, you can find it in the game and selecting it will cause your pit crew and other team members to praise or bash you depending on how you’re currently doing in the race. If you were blessed by parents picking a name with an odd spelling or changing a letter in a common name to make it “unique,” you can always pick one of the many general nicknames.

Along with saying your name, the game also features a fairly large amount of pre-recorded speech, immersing you in races. Unfortunately this makes it suffer from traditional Sports Game Audio Syndrome (or SGAS), and before long you’ll start hearing the same lines over and over again.

When it comes to the Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs PC debate, there’s really no difference between the three outside of what you’ll hold in your hands to play, and what the output quality looks like. If you’re a console owner, the 360 version is likely the way to go as it outputs in a higher resolution, 1080p as opposed to the 720p PS3 version. If you don’t have the DS3 controller for the PS3, definitely go with the 360 version; the feedback in races makes the game that much more entertaining.

Outside of the realistic crashing damage and flashbacks, GRID is pretty much what you’d expect from a racer. It’s fast, cars control differently, and there’s a bevy of modes to play through ranging from the career-like mode to various challenges like 24 “hour” races. Both “x-treme” racing fans and racing aficionados alike will find something to enjoy, making it the possible Great Uniter of racing videogames.

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