Race Driver: Grid might just be the peak of racing games for me. The way cars are depicted in this game is equally as graceful as they are bulleting death machines. One wrong crash and your car is a complete wreck not too unlike real life. On top of all of this, the car list is fantastic, the physics themselves are extraordinarily unique, the game looks so pretty even today, and there is so much variety in the race categories. It's practically abandonware at this point so there is no reason not to play it.

i have yet to play the reboot game or its sequel but i get the feeling like this is and forever will be the peak of the franchise. i do have one pretty negative thing to say about it and thats how some of the vehicles are just shit to drive, which is weird to think about considering the handling model is this game's biggest strength. every LMP car (besides the R10) drives like ass, and it makes me wonder why you would ever willingly drive them, its not worth doing 24 hours at le mans in the LMP2s because they're just that bad. same goes for the GT1 cars, only the CCX and the DBR9 feel good to drive but only one of them is available to you for le mans so you're just gonna use the DBR9. and for some reason the 911 (the best GT2 car) isnt available to purchase at all and can only be driven through driver offers. the confusion doesnt quite stop there though. pretty much every racing discipline in the game has some questionable balancing choices and its really a shame because the good cars are so much fun to drive. though it is the only major complaint i have about the game. there so many different even types to play and i never really dreaded doing any of them. drifting is fun as hell, overtaking your opponent in a touge race at the right time will never get old, destruction derby existed i guess and of course theres regular races with a multitude of different vehicle classifications like open wheel, pro tuned, prestige and a lot more. if you can get your hands on the game nowadays i would easily recommend it, just be prepared to do some searching since it's no longer available to buy on steam